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Berkeley City Hall (City of Berkeley photo)
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Last night Berkeley, California, prohibited landlords,
schools, businesses serving the public, city officials, or "any person or
agent or employee thereof" from discriminating "against an individual on the
basis of that individual’s family or relationship structure."
The Berkeley law applies to, and defines, four areas for this protection:
housing, educational institutions, city and
city-supported facilities and services, and use of business establishments. It also specifies some exceptions.
Here is
the law's
full text
(starts on page 6).
For decades this kind of discrimination has plagued people in polyamorous
relationships, costing them their homes, jobs, and other things as found in
surveys of the poly community.
Two-thirds
of polyamorous people say they have experienced discrimination because of their relationships.
Berkeley joins neighboring Oakland as well as Somerville and Cambridge,
Massachusetts, in enacting similar measures in the last 14
months.
The Berkeley group
PolyActive had
tried to pass something like this starting seven years ago. City Council
member Terry Taplin, the bill's author, said PolyActive "played a pivotal role
in the advocacy for the initial 2017 bill and continued to support the current
efforts. Their local insight and community mobilization efforts underscored
the immediate need for legal protections within Berkeley."
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Members of PolyActive on July 15, 2023, OPEN's first international
Day of Visibility
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But the big credit goes to the legal and policy whizzes at the national
Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition (PLAC), who crafted the law. In addition, the international
Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy OPEN) helped PolyActive mobilize the local community. The groups worked
proactively with the Berkeley City Attorney's office to ensure that there were
no legal glitches in the legislation. The City Council approved the bill
unanimously on "first reading" May 7th, then again on "second reading" May
21st, thereby enacting it into law.
In December 2017 PolyActive got a similar measure past first reading in
Berkeley — it would have been the first in the country — but that one didn't
make it to second reading. This time, with experience and PLAC's expert legal
work, the ducks were in a row.
Where will be next? Contact PLAC
if you'd like to try to get this measure or something like it passed in your
city or town.
------------------------------------------
As it happens, Sparkle Moose and I
attended a reception put on by PLAC at the Harvard Law School last
Saturday evening. The six PLAC principals were just off their second annual
high-intensity, in-person planning retreat, hosted by Harvard Law's LGBTQ+
Legal Advocacy Clinic. They were full of plans and ideas — for
non-discrimination ordinances in more cities, involvement in other areas of
the legal system, recruiting more lawyers and volunteers for various projects,
building out their anemic social media presence and website, and hiring office
staff. They are beating the bushes trying to fundraise for all this.
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Five PLAC principals celebrating outside the Somerville, MA, City
Council chamber on March 23, 2023. From left: Kimberly Rhoten,
Heath Schechinger, Alexander Chen, Diana Adams, and Andy
Izenson. (Matthew J. Lee/ Boston Globe)
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The larger picture here goes beyond polyamory and non-monogamy. The
ordinances also protect traditional multigenerational families living under
one roof, single-parent families, platonic co-op households of mutual
support, and others. With housing in cities becoming ever pricier and in
shorter supply, and with the isolated husband-wife-kids home becoming an ever
smaller fraction of reality, alternatives must be allowed to grow. Polyfolks
have kick-started these legal initiatives but will be a minority of those who
benefit.
A new force in this direction will be the
Modern Family Institute, a project of Heath Schechinger and others that seeks to raise $5 million
for research and policy efforts over the next three years. It is explicitly
about this larger picture:
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MFI logo
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Families and relationships come in all shapes and sizes.
But our society is not designed to support how people are structuring
their families and relationships today.
Our laws, built environment, and cultural norms were established to
support a monogamous nuclear family structure that does not reflect the
needs of families and relationships today. Families that don’t center two
married adults often face significant infrastructural, legal, and
financial hurdles, as well as stigma and discrimination.
The Modern Family Institute seeks to bring about a world where families
and relationships are defined by their function, not their form.
Our vision is to improve relational, mental, and physical wellbeing by
ensuring everyone has access to resources and systems of care supporting
their unique family and relationship structures. Our research drives
systemic changes in legal, financial, housing, and social systems through
supporting media representation, policy reform, and professional practices
that help people build and sustain flourishing communities of care.
------------------------------------------
The good news just keeps coming! ...
...There can be no doubt that this is our moment, and that the future of
this growing movement is bright.
But let's be clear: the population of these four cities represent a
fraction of a percent of the total US population. The unfortunate fact is
that most people are still not protected from stigma and discrimination on
the basis of their non-monogamous identity or their family structure.
There is much more work to do...
And we're here to do that work. OPEN is collaborating with coalition
partners to develop new tools and resources to help community members like
you bring these protections to your city or town. We're speaking with
community leaders and elected officials in multiple cities to keep the
momentum going. We're talking with the media to spotlight this issue and
the growing power of our movement. ...
And, they too need money.
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Housemates Steph Tranovich (left), Lily Lamboy, Alexei Savtchenko
and Kmo Mogg chat in their co-op kitchen before dinner.
(Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight)
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By Ally Markovich
...Dave Doleshal... began organizing conferences on polyamory in Berkeley at
a time when it was less accepted than it is today. ... Being open about his
polyamorous identity, he was often turned down by landlords. At conferences,
he heard stories of people being evicted, fired or passed up for promotions
at work based on their relationship structure. With other polyamorous
people, he considered advocating for a law to protect their rights, but
didn’t get far.
Over time, Doleshal has seen polyamory and other diverse relationships
become more accepted in Berkeley. “People who were polyamorous a long time
ago, just gradually have started talking about it and being more visible,”
said Doleshal, who has lived in Berkeley since the 1990s. He said the
ordinance was a major step forward, making other legal protections possible.
...
...The Berkeley law has limited purview. It doesn’t extend to other areas
where polyamorous people face discrimination, including the workplace and
courts,
which would need to be addressed at the state or county level.
...Advocates behind the new law said they hope it starts conversations about
the way that monogamy and the nuclear family structure are baked into the
legal and social fabric, from healthcare benefits to hospital rules.
Eventually, they aim to bring a nondiscrimination bill to the California
state legislature.
●
Slate, in anticipation of the Berkeley law passing,
published a look at the larger polylegal picture:
L G B T… P? (May 6)
Polyamory is everywhere these days—except protected under the law.
But some advocates have an idea about how to change that.
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Slate/ Tingey Injury Law Firm/Unsplash/ Ronaldo
Schemidt/AFP/Getty
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By Abigail Moss
In case you hadn’t noticed, polyamory is all the rage right now. ...
And, lest you think all this hubbub is some ginned-up PR campaign,
consider that
4 to 5 percent
of people in the U.S. are in consensually nonmonogamous relationships
(not always the same thing as polyamory, but pointing in a similar
direction), which is comparable to
the number that identify
as LGBTQ+. Research from the Kinsey Institute shows that as many as
1 in 6
people are interested in exploring polyamory.
For polyamorous folks like myself (I’m in a throuple), there’s
definitely a feeling that the tide is changing. ...
Yet, despite all this social progress, the law hasn’t been as quick to
catch up with the rise of these kinds of “nontraditional”
relationships. And that’s a big problem, because major, negative
misconceptions persist among the non-poly public, most of them
stemming from the reduction of these relationships to a sexual kink.
This, in turn, leads to the belief, for example, that a polyamorous
environment is not a safe one for a child, or that a poly relationship
is not a serious or valid family structure. For those on the outside,
polyamory can still seem like a wild and irresponsible lifestyle—and
unfortunately, it’s people on the outside who are making laws and
policy for the rest of us.
Indeed, legally, we polyamorous people find ourselves on very shaky
ground. ... Depending on where they live, a polyamorous person could
be evicted from their home or denied housing because of their
relationship style—I know firsthand that private landlords may be less
likely to want to rent to a throuple, for example, than a monogamous
married couple because of false assumptions that a polyamorous group
will be inherently unstable and unreliable. And a poly person could be
fired or denied promotions at work due to bias against polyamory
(whether that’s the stated reason or not) —without the company facing
the same legal ramifications they likely would if they terminated
someone’s employment on, say, the basis of sexuality.
Which raises an interesting question: Should polyamory be recognized
as a sexuality under the law? And what might be gained, or lost, by
such a recognition? There is a lot of debate in the polyamorous and
LGBTQAI+ community as to whether poly should “count” in this way. But
with so many poly folks believing that their polyamory is not
something they chose, but rather an innate part of themselves, running
a legal gauntlet on an everyday basis can feel exhausting and more
than a little censorious.
...Dr. Eli Sheff is a sociologist and expert witness on cases
involving families who have unconventional setups, including
polyamorous ones. She explains that while the legal changes happening
at a local level are an important step in the right direction, there
are limits to how much they’re impacting polyamorous people’s lives
nationally: “The changes in Somerville, for example,
only apply to city employees. Somerville can’t legislate that a
national corporation must recognize your polyamorous relationship. So
poly people remain extremely vulnerable.... On the national level,
it’s wholly inadequate.”
Andy Izenson knows firsthand how this feels. “It’s been an expensive
year,” they say, referencing medical bills that they and their two
partners have all had to deal with after suffering different
illnesses. They faced limitations on how much they could claim from
their insurance companies because they are not in a more traditional
relationship. Izenson, the senior legal director at the
Chosen Family Law Center, is an attorney and mediator specializing in representing queer
families, including polyamorous ones, and transgender people. I asked
how polyamorous people might begin to advocate for themselves. Izenson
explains that often, dealing with situations in a personal, one-to-one
way is best. “For example, if three parents need to be able to pick
their kid up from school, going to the school, speaking to the
principal, trying to work things out that way is sometimes the best.
You have to think about what systems in society you really need to be
interacting with.”
...[In states ] such as Florida and Alabama, polyamory is effectively
criminalized through bigamy statutes. And considering cases of parents
losing custody battles because of their polyamorous relationships, a
person might rightly think very carefully before coming out to a
school principal, boss, or co-worker.
This is a shame, because we really don’t have anything to hide. Dr.
Heath Schechinger, co-founder of the Polyamory Legal Advocacy
Coalition... [
asked] 175 people engaged in nonmonogamous relationships to list the
benefits of their relationship structure. Responses included gaining a
greater social and support network, fostering greater honesty in their
relationships, and having greater autonomy and independence in their
lives. Sex-related benefits ranked as
only the eighth most-cited reason. Polyamorous people such as
myself already know this—my partners and I argue over what to watch on
Netflix and remind each other to feed our cats, just like any married
couple. But while these misconceptions persist, they’re a major
blocker to legal reform.
Schechinger says that although it may not be possible for everyone,
visibility is a vital first step in improving rights for polyamorous
people: “I think if you have the privilege of being able to come out
as polyamorous, it’s important to consider doing so,” he says. “We are
in an era where we’re on a precipice of significant change.”
...Schechinger feels that the dam is about to break. “We are putting
together
a packet that people can take to their city councilperson and
advocate for similar policies to be taken up in their city,” he said. These materials will
form a toolkit that will be available in the coming months, and have
been created in collaboration with the
Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy, Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition, Harvard Law LGBTQ+ Advocacy
Clinic, and the Chosen Family Law Center. The toolkit will include
relevant research and educational information, case examples, legal
insights, and advocacy strategies.
...“It’s comparable to where LGBTQ advocacy was in perhaps the early
’90s,” says Schechinger. And people are getting behind this advocacy
in droves.
“One of the problems, one of the beautiful problems, that my
colleagues and I have right now is that there are countless numbers of
people reaching out and asking how they can get involved and asking
how they can offer support. Up until now, a huge part of their lives
and their identities was going unrecognized. Finally, now there’s hope
for progress. It’s only a matter of time before we see this start to
scale.” And after all, what is poly if not the belief that things like
understanding and love are capable of growth?
|
(Cute graphic, but how does this thing work?)
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By Mike Bebernes
People in polyamorous relationships could soon have new legal
protections in the San Francisco Bay Area if a bill currently under
consideration by the city council in Berkeley, Calif. is passed. ...
Why there’s debate
The words “family” or “partnership” can mean myriad things to people
colloquially, but when it comes to the law, they have very specific
definitions that typically only allow for two adults in a
relationship.
Poly advocates argue that laws limiting a family or domestic
partnership in this way leaves those outside that mold vulnerable to
discrimination. Nearly everywhere in America right now, there's
nothing to stop a polyamorous person from being fired, denied housing,
or blocked from receiving certain benefits — like
health care
— because of their relationship structure. There are also examples of
poly people missing out on
inheritance
or even
losing custody
of children.
...Though public perception of polyamory does appear to be shifting,
that same
YouGov poll
found that a majority of people still believe polyamory is morally
wrong and oppose legal recognition for poly relationships. Opponents
frequently suggest that poly relationships are
inherently unstable
and may be especially turbulent for children in multi-partner
households. Many also argue that recognition of polyamorous
relationships in things like housing law would be merely the first
step of a larger campaign to expand marriage beyond two-person
couples.
Perspectives
The question of poly rights is too important to be ignored
“Limited definitions of family are all over the legal system. Laws
for domestic violence, rent control, insurance, and … inheritance
rely on narrow understandings of the term, which often prioritize
biological and marital relationships, and relegate other kinds of
relationships.”
— Michael Waters,
The Atlantic
The law is built around harmful misconceptions about how poly
relationships actually work
“For those on the outside, polyamory can still seem like a wild and
irresponsible lifestyle—and unfortunately, it’s people on the
outside who are making laws and policy for the rest of us.”
— Abigail Moss,
Slate
Society doesn’t have to legitimize every relationship style
people conjure up
“Polyamory’s proponents censure those who remain unconvinced that
mainstreaming such sexual perversions serves the public interest. We
must celebrate each and every sexual aberration green-lighted by the
academy, but condemn and exclude any whom the gatekeepers declare
persona non grata for their sins against wokeness.”
— Casey Chalk,
American Conservative
Denying poly people rights isn’t going to make them go away
“I think it's just important for mainstream audiences to recognize
that just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean it doesn't
exist. There are people who are capable of having multiple romantic
connections at the same time, and that is just a thing that is
always going to exist, whether you like it or not.”
— Leanne Yau, polyamory educator, to
USA Today
Polyamory poses a very real threat to traditional two-person
relationships
“We are at risk — culturally and legally — of monogamy becoming a
continuously negotiated agreement between partners rather than a
universally understood axiom of marriage. When that happens,
monogamy gets harder for everyone to ask for and expect; it gets
easier to question and devalue. Marital monogamy will recede along
with the benefits it offers families and society. That’s a price we
don’t want to pay.”
— Alan Hawkins and Daniel Frost,
Deseret News
All poly people want is to legitimize the commitments they’ve
already made
“If people want to take legal responsibility for each other, that’s
a good thing.”
— Alexander Chen, lecturer on LGBTQ+ civil rights at Harvard Law
School, to
Boston Globe
Without legal protections, polyamorous people have to hide who
they really are
“This lack of social and legal acceptance has compelled many
polyamorous people to hide their true identity from their coworkers,
family, and even closest friends. The danger of living openly means
that … polyamory hasn’t found a foothold in mainstream culture,
which in turn has created a cascade of confusion about it that needs
to be corrected.”
— Caroline Rose Giuliani,
Vanity Fair
Poly relationships are fundamentally unstable
“Jealousy is not an emotion invented by men in the 1950s or 1800s
to control women. Both men and women are jealous creatures,
especially about romantic partners, and we have been since the
beginning of recorded history. … This is why every polyamorous
community throughout history … has failed. Polyamory just doesn’t
work.”
— Conn Carroll,
Washington Examiner
"Put bluntly, the legislature did not contemplate polyamorous families
[in designing current law]," Justice Sandra Wilkinson said in
the
decision. ..."
Labels: #Polyamory, #PolyamoryActivism, #PolyamoryintheNews, #PolyamoryLegislation, #PolyamoryRights, #PolyLegal, #PolyRecognition, #PolyRights, activism, legal, legal; #PolyBerkeley, SF Bay Area
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