OPEN posted a link on their website to an article highlighting the recent strengthening of the Code of Ordinance in the Somerville, Mass. Jurisdiction.

In R4R, we covered how the initial ordinance came into being in “Polyamorous Relationships Legally Recognized in Massachusetts,” Jul 10, 2020.

The idea was raised and no one could think of a reason why it shouldn’t pass in a ci council meeting. Some of the same terminology was mentioned then… Councilor J.T. Scott:

People have been living in families that include more than two adults forever.  H in Somerville, families sometimes look like one man and one woman, but sometimes it looks like two people everyone on the block thinks are sisters because they’ve lived together forever, or sometimes it’s an aunt and an uncle, or an aunt and two uncles, raising two kids.

This is simply allowing that change, allowing people to say, ‘This is my partner a this is my other partner,’” he said. “It has a legal bearing, so when one of them is sick, they can both go to the hospital.”**

Earlier this year, Councilor Scott introduced more legislation written by activists…

Somerville City Council on Thursday, March 23, ordinances amending section 1of the Code of Ordinance to add definitions for relationship status and intimate personal relationships and amending section 2-326 of the Code of Ordinances, related to the Personnel program were brought forward and passed by the Council A statement issued by the Council explained the ordinances in detail:

Somerville City Council just made history by passing groundbreaking nondiscrimination ordinances protecting polyamorous families and relationships. Th ordinances make Somerville the first city in the United States to extend explicit legal protections to polyamorous and other non-nuclear families and relationships.

The ordinance, introduced by City Councilor At-Large Willie Burnley and Councilor JT Scott, prohibits discrimination in employment, policing, and more based on one’s family and relationship structure. The ordinances protect diverse families and intimate relationships in the city, including multi-partner/multi-par families and relationships, step-families, multi-generational households, nonnuclear family structures, consensually non-monogamous relationships, and consensual sexual and/or intimate relationships, including asexual and aromantic relationships.

The ordinances were drafted by lawyers and activists at the Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition, a project of Chosen Family Law Center and Harvard Law School’s LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. Somerville previously partnered with these organizations to pass their multi-partner domestic partnership ordinance in Somerville in 2020, as well as Cambridge and Arlington, MA in 2021. Similar non-discrimination laws and plural domestic partnership laws based on their model ordinances have been introduced on the west coast and are expected to pass this year. [Emphasis mine]^[1]

You’ll notice there are quite the variety of relationships being bundled in with polyamory.  “Step-families” and “multi-generational households” are rather commo Comparing them with “asexual and aromantic relationships,” not to mention “consensually non-monogamous relationships,” is a stretch.  We already have terms “asexual/aromantic relationships” – they are called friendships, and are not the equivalent to marriage.  The boldness of the reporting noting that activists and thei lawyers wrote the drafts for this legislation – not as a response to a need raised by th citizens of the city, but as a means of engineering change – blew my mind.  It wasn’t surprising to see their efforts extended to the west coast of the US.  The article goes on:

…. “As a polyamorous person, I’m grateful to live in a city that embraces rather that punishes people based on their family or relationship structure,” said Somerville Council member Willie Burnley Jr., who introduced the ordinance. “The protection we extend today not only cement Somerville’s legislative leadership and legacy on non-monogamous rights, they ensure that our neighbors know that they live in a community where they can be who they are freely and love whom they love open without fear of government interference.”

Whoa – no one is being “punished” for being in a friendship, or a family with stepsiblings, or living with their grandparents.  Nor is anyone wanting to sleep with multiple people being “punished.”  Of course people are free to do this – the government isn’t interfering with this practice.  There is no evidence of that happening.  What is being advocated for is special protections based on identities surrounding one’s sexual desires.  A legal representative and activist was then quoted:

…Diana Adams (they/them) is Executive Director of Chosen Family Law Center a an attorney who has been advocating for legal support for polyamorous and nonnuclear families since founding their New York firm in 2007, as described in their TED Talk. They commented: “Since 2007, I have represented thousands of client beautiful constellations of family beyond nuclear, including polyamorous families I’ve represented many clients in child custody cases in which inaccurate stigma about being polyamorous was used against them. I’ve heard countless stories of discrimination, including being Vred for just mentioning being polyamorous.

Again, we see vague claims of discrimination without sufficient details provided ab these cases.  Was it “stigma” or a valid concern about a child being raised in an environment with a adults having multiple partners in and out of the home?  And what kind of job was this individual fired from?  What was the circumstance in which the mentioned their sexual practices at work?  And is there such a thing as “being polyamorous”?  What is the legal / clinical definition of this term?  Isn’t this a status anyone can claim – how do we substantiate it, as we can with a marriage?

The article went on to list a number of organizations backing this legislation:

Organizations such as the Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition (PLAC), Chosen Family Law Center (CFLC), Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic, Organization for Ethical Non-monogamy and Polyamory (OPEN), and Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) played an instrumental role in supporting and advocating for the ordinance’s passage. City council members su as Willie Burnley Jr. and JT Scott, who introduced and supported the ordinance i Somerville, have been unwavering in their commitment to ensuring that diverse families and relationships are protected and recognized. By championing this ordinance, they have helped ensure that citizens in Somerville who formally recognize their plural domestic partnership on Friday will not face the risk of be fired on Monday due to their relationship structure. This collective e9ort has culminated in a groundbreaking achievement that helps these individuals feel more secure in the families they are creating.^[2]

The pathway being followed is the one used for the re-definition of marriage in our legal system.  The security people are longing for can be found in a life-long relationship with Jesus, not in using state pressure to equate the parts of a marriage (parenthood, sharing a home, friendship, sexual intimacy, etc.) as separate relationships to a number of people to the whole of these in a sacrificial commitments of love.  Marriage means saying “yes” to one person and “no” to all others.  People have the right to experiment with separating these aspects out, but not the right to press everyone else to agree with it or regard it as the same thing as a marriage.

Again, we find our inherent worth as being created in the image of God.  Without this foundation, we see this example of people seeking to redefine our existence and our essential attributes.  People are valuable, created and loved by God.  But these “polyamorous” relationships are not inherently valuable – they are created out of “the incredibly messy web” Michael W. Hannon described in his essay in 2013:

….because ultimately, the empirical problem with the sexual-orientation framework we have been handed is that it is too neat, that it works by oversimplifying an incredibly messy web of attractions and drives and temptations, and that it inhibit the taming of those desires by improperly amplifying their significance.^[3]

In Psychology

Unfortunately, there are individuals seeking to develop polyamory studies in the field of psychology:

…As a psychologist, I am fascinated by the ever-changing landscape of human relationships. The recent passage of the non-discrimination ordinance in Somerville comes at a pivotal moment when the Veld of psychology is still in the early stages of understanding and supporting the mental health and well-being o individuals in non-monogamous families and relationships. In 2018, my colleague and I recognized the need for further exploration in this area and took the initiative to launch the first national scientific working group within a subdivision of the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Heath Schechinger is a counseling psychologist and Founding Co-Chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 44 Committee on Consensual Non-monogamy. Heath is also Co-Founder of the Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition and Affiliate Faculty at the Kinsey Institute. For over a decade, Dr. Schechinger has been delving into the complexities of human connections with h research and psychotherapy encompassing a wide range of relationship types. He investigates the essence of erotic attraction, the challenges of monogamy, and the emergence of non-nuclear family and relationship structures including polyamorous platonic co-parenting, “living apart together” arrangements, and more.

https://medium.com/@dr.schechinger/a-historic-step-forward-for-polyamorous-and-non-normative-families-the-impact-of-somervilles-8009c6db5766

As we can see, Dr. Schechinger is using his work to advocate for changes to our legal system.  Let’s be in prayer for all those enraptured by these new words being attach to old practices of relating outside of marriage.  Let’s also pay attention to what is happening in our local government and schools. When we see these terms being mentioned at city council or school board meetings, ask clarifying questions about what they mean and what the implications are.  Highlight the underlying assumption that conflate identity with behavior and desire.  We can do this in a kind and loving way that helps everyone understand what is being asked of them (or foisted upon them by this new movement.