Seattle extends civil rights protections to non-monogamous relationships 

Seattle recently expanded its civil rights laws to protect people in polyamorous relationships.

Mayor Katie Wilson signed Council Bill 121278 on Friday, after the City Council approved it Sept. 15.

The law, which takes effect June 1, 2027, expands the city’s section on sexual orientation to include “actual or perceived consensual relationships involving multiple partners such as non-monogamous relationships.”

Protections will encompass employment, housing and places open to the public, as well as business licenses, city workplaces, parks and police conduct.

This means an employer cannot fire someone because that person has several partners in a consensual relationship, and a landlord could not refuse to rent to someone for the same reason.

The law won’t allow anyone to legally marry more than one spouse. It also doesn’t require employers to provide health insurance, leave or other benefits to additional partners.

City officials distinguished between consensual non-monogamy and infidelity.

A City Council staff memo says consensual non-monogamy means every person involved agrees to the relationship structure. The memo describes infidelity as a possible form of nonconsensual non-monogamy. The new protection therefore doesn’t cover ordinary cheating.

Yet the law places consensual sexual relationships involving several people under the same city anti-discrimination system that covers traits such as race, religion, disability and military status.

The city says people in non-monogamous relationships receive unfair treatment because others question whether their relationships are valid or moral.

The law’s findings recognize relationships “involving more than two adults engaged in loving and consensual relationships.” They also cover multiparent families, co-parents and some other living arrangements.

“We all know that every family is different and we need to be clear that every family receives equal protection under the law,” said Councilwoman Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who sponsored the measure. “And chosen family is family.”

“This update reflects how people actually live,” she added.

The law also expands Seattle’s definition of sexual orientation to explicitly include pansexuality and asexuality and removes the words “male or female” from the code’s existing definitions of heterosexuality, bisexuality and homosexuality.

The measure also extends housing anti-discrimination protections to multigenerational households, ensuring families with several generations living under one roof cannot be denied housing.

The move follows several other liberal cities that have protected non-monogamous relationships.

Massachusetts cities Somerville, Cambridge and Arlington have similar laws, as do Oakland, Berkeley and West Hollywood in California, Portland, Oregon, and Olympia, Washington.

Despite those laws, most Americans still consider polygamy and extramarital affairs morally wrong, a 2026 Gallup poll found.

(Image credit: Unsplash/Andrew Moca)