Somerville, Mass to recognize polyamorous partnerships

[Grenartia]

https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20200701/somerville-votes-to-recognize-polyamorous-domestic-partnerships-it-is-one-of-first-in-nation

The Somerville City Council unanimously approved an ordinance with language inclusive to polyamorous domestic partnerships.

On June 29, Somerville quietly became one of the first cities in the nation – if not the first – to recognize polyamorous domestic partnerships.

The historic move was a result of a few subtle language shifts. For example, instead of being defined as an “entity formed by two persons,” Somerville’s ordinance defines a domestic partnership as an “entity formed by people,” replaces “he and she” with “they,” replaces “both” with “all,” and contains other inclusive language.

On June 25, the City Council passed the ordinance recognizing domestic partnerships unanimously, and on June 29 Mayor Joe Curtatone signed it into municipal law. The city is in the process of changing the application to include space for more than two partners, but polyamorous partners will be able to file soon.

So, what say ye, NSG? Personally, as a polyamorous person, I think this is a great step forward, and hope more jurisdictions follow suit.

EDIT: Since people keep asking what the benefits are:

In Massachusetts, domestic partnerships provide some of the legal benefits married couples enjoy, including hospital visitation rights, shared health care coverage and sick or bereavement leave for a partner, according to the Miller Law Group.

[Thermodolia]

This is going to end in a massive dumpster fire. Though the lawyers will be happy

[Cekoviu]

eurgh, horrible idea on so many levels. thank god it's only one city.

[The Reformed American Republic]

eurgh, horrible idea on so many levels. thank god it's only one city.

We surprisingly agree here.

[Rojava Free State]

*Joseph Joestar voice* NIIIIICE Huehuehuehue

[Grenartia]

This is going to end in a massive dumpster fire. Though the lawyers will be happy

eurgh, horrible idea on so many levels. thank god it's only one city.

Elaborate.

[Liriena]

Reactionaries and fascists are probably going to milk this and treat it like a catalyst for a second civil war or the collapse of all western civilization or something, as they usually do. But in and of itself... meh, it's fine. Polyamorous relationships aren't inherently bad or anything.

[Rojava Free State]

Reactionaries and fascists are probably going to milk this and treat it like a catalyst for a second civil war or the collapse of all western civilization or something, as they usually do. But in and of itself... meh, it's fine. Polyamorous relationships aren't inherently bad or anything.

Conservative Christians will. Fascists will see it as an opportunity to "preserve the white race," since more wives=more kids.

[Loben The 2nd]

i advocate for mass investigations on the entire city council to see who has the most child sized skeletons in their closet.

[Ostroeuropa]

poly civil unions with no legal meaning that you're allowed to call marriage = okay.

poly relationships causing legal bluescreens = no.

I don't support the normalization of poly relationships. I think society functions best without them, or with them on the fringes.

So the question is, does a mass recognizing them normalize them. I suppose i'm torn. If it came from a request from the couples, I feel like we're in Loving V Virginia territory where they're asking us to respect their love and we're villains if we deny that recognition they are requesting. If it came from the organizers, it feels like a stunt.

I guess I want poly relationships in the closet, to some extent. I don't want them to cause problems for the legal system. I'm fine with them being "Married" and that marriage being recognized as marriage in social terms and as *on the level of love* equal to other forms of relationship. I don't want them pretending this is normal or a functional thing to happen in society.

I'd guess i'd put it at the level of consensual incest frankly. I get that some poly people might think that's an awful comparison and find it offensive, but i'd ask them to consider that *I genuinely do not view this as lesser in terms of love and so on if someone genuinely feels that way.*. I'm not judging you. I am not saying your love is invalid or that you should not be respected in that regard. I simply do not think a society can survive if it becomes normalized.

With incest there's the genetic complications. With poly relationships there are the social fabric ones.

[Necroghastia]

Cool beans.

[Rojava Free State]

Real talk, why should we even care? The worst that happens is horrible divorce proceedings involving 8 people and not two. Overall we will be fine. The sun will still rise in the east and gravity will continue to function.

[Liriena]

i advocate for mass investigations on the entire city council to see who has the most child sized skeletons in their closet.

???

Extremely normal conspiracy mindset

[Ostroeuropa]

Real talk, why should we even care? The worst that happens is horrible divorce proceedings involving 8 people and not two. Overall we will be fine. The sun will still rise in the east and gravity will continue to function.

Because social norms are not as firm as we might like to pretend, and poly relationships can and have been normalized and mainstreamed in other societies, and it usually doesn't end well when you reach them being prevalent and the norm. That's separate to them being tolerated with this understanding in mind.

[Cekoviu]

This is going to end in a massive dumpster fire. Though the lawyers will be happy

eurgh, horrible idea on so many levels. thank god it's only one city.

Elaborate.

this normalizes polyamorous relationships and opens the door to legally recognizing them - big social problem for reasons we have been over previously. this may also complicate legal procedures for those in polyamorous "relationships" and require a lot of bureaucratic reorganization, and now is not really the time for that.

Real talk, why should we even care? The worst that happens is horrible divorce proceedings involving 8 people and not two. Overall we will be fine. The sun will still rise in the east and gravity will continue to function.

if your baseline for whether you should care about something is whether it will affect where the sun rises, i think you're going to have trouble functioning like a normal human

[Rojava Free State]

Real talk, why should we even care? The worst that happens is horrible divorce proceedings involving 8 people and not two. Overall we will be fine. The sun will still rise in the east and gravity will continue to function.

Because social norms are not as firm as we might like to pretend, and poly relationships can and have been normalized and mainstreamed in other societies, and it usually doesn't end well when you reach them being prevalent and the norm. That's separate to them being tolerated with this understanding in mind.

So we should tell people how msny people they can and cannot be miserable with?

Maximum freedom my friend. Let them have their ten thousand wives.

[Necroghastia]

Real talk, why should we even care? The worst that happens is horrible divorce proceedings involving 8 people and not two. Overall we will be fine. The sun will still rise in the east and gravity will continue to function.

Because social norms are not as firm as we might like to pretend, and poly relationships can and have been normalized and mainstreamed in other societies, and it usually doesn't end well when you reach them being prevalent and the norm. That's separate to them being tolerated with this understanding in mind.

normalized and mainstream =/= prevalent

[Cekoviu]

Because social norms are not as firm as we might like to pretend, and poly relationships can and have been normalized and mainstreamed in other societies, and it usually doesn't end well when you reach them being prevalent and the norm. That's separate to them being tolerated with this understanding in mind.

So we should tell people how msny people they can and cannot be miserable with?

Maximum freedom my friend. Let them have their ten thousand wives.

why is maximizing freedom a good thing?

[Mestovakia]

"I don't think we even have a law for trigamy!" - Someone from a series I saw once

[Ostroeuropa]

Because social norms are not as firm as we might like to pretend, and poly relationships can and have been normalized and mainstreamed in other societies, and it usually doesn't end well when you reach them being prevalent and the norm. That's separate to them being tolerated with this understanding in mind.

So we should tell people how msny people they can and cannot be miserable with?

Maximum freedom my friend. Let them have their ten thousand wives.

I outlined my perspective above, and it's one i'm conflicted on. Their love for eachother must be respected and recognized. I would treat it like consensual incest relationships.

We're not going to put you in prison. We're not going to pretend you don't love eachother.

But this is *not functional.*.

This is not a thing society can do at a high rate.

[Rojava Free State]

Elaborate.

this normalizes polyamorous relationships and opens the door to legally recognizing them - big social problem for reasons we have been over previously. this may also complicate legal procedures for those in polyamorous "relationships" and require a lot of bureaucratic reorganization, and now is not really the time for that.

Real talk, why should we even care? The worst that happens is horrible divorce proceedings involving 8 people and not two. Overall we will be fine. The sun will still rise in the east and gravity will continue to function.

if your baseline for whether you should care about something is whether it will affect where the sun rises, i think you're going to have trouble functioning like a normal human

If you can't tell when I'm joking or using hyperbole, you're gonna have a hard time here.

Please explain to me how this one city allowing polygamy affects you and is super dangerous. I'm not saying I suport polygamous marriage (I don't support marriage at all), but I'm not too worked up about this.

[Liriena]

Real talk, why should we even care? The worst that happens is horrible divorce proceedings involving 8 people and not two. Overall we will be fine. The sun will still rise in the east and gravity will continue to function.

Because social norms are not as firm as we might like to pretend, and poly relationships can and have been normalized and mainstreamed in other societies, and it usually doesn't end well when you reach them being prevalent and the norm. That's separate to them being tolerated with this understanding in mind.

Your concerns are historically valid (and I shudder to think what a poly divorce would look like), but I'm not entirely sure we'd be looking at the same negative outcomes, depending on the kind of poly relationships we're talking about. Traditional polyamory, as seen in many religious communities, has a ton of widespread and well-documented problems. But a lot of contemporary poly relationships don't come from those communities nor are structured like traditional polyamory. The dynamics are often very different and I'm not sure we can expect the consequences of their normalization to be the same.

[Ostroeuropa]

Because social norms are not as firm as we might like to pretend, and poly relationships can and have been normalized and mainstreamed in other societies, and it usually doesn't end well when you reach them being prevalent and the norm. That's separate to them being tolerated with this understanding in mind.

normalized and mainstream =/= prevalent

If we can thread that needle, then that's what i'm aiming at. I want their love and rights respected and for them to not be treated like shit over this.

I do not want these relationships prevalent and will fight against that happening because of the consequences to society if that happens.

If forced to choose between the two, i'll choose a functional society over individual rights.

[Tinfect]

About fucking time.

[Liriena]

normalized and mainstream =/= prevalent

If we can thread that needle, then that's what i'm aiming at. I want their love and rights respected and for them to not be treated like shit over this.

I do not want these relationships prevalent and will fight against that happening because of the consequences to society if that happens.

If forced to choose between the two, i'll choose a functional society over individual rights.

[nods in Confucius]