Polyamory is now officially recognized in Somerville, Massachusetts. But what about neighboring Cambridge, one of the other most progressive cities in the country?
Somerville’s city council voted 11-0 on June 25 to approve an ordinance that would allow polyamorous relationships of three or more people that live together and “consider themselves to be a family” to receive domestic partnership status and benefits, as New Boston Post previously noted. The city’s mayor, Joseph Curtatone, signed it into law on June 29.
One purpose of the proposal is that it may enable unmarried people who live with one another to access their partner’s (or a partner’s) health insurance — which a resident told a city councilor is especially important amid the coronavirus pandemic. It’s not yet clear if private health insurance companies and employers will accept multiple-partner applications for health insurance, which would presumably increase costs.
Cambridge already has a domestic partner ordinance, but it only applies to two people living together.
However, two members of the nine members of the Cambridge City Council tell New Boston Post they would like to change that.
That includes Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who cited making it easier for people who consider themselves loved ones to visit a partner in the hospital.
“Somerville recently removed barriers to recognition for polyamorous relationships by passing a domestic partnership ordinance that doesn’t limit the definition of partnership to two people,” he told New Boston Post in an email message. “I’d be happy to see Cambridge remove those barriers as well so that all our residents can have the same benefit of visiting their partner in the hospital regardless of their relationship status. As one of the Somerville City Councilors noted, government has historically gotten things wrong when it’s tried to define what a family is.”
The quote Sobrinho-Wheeler mentioned came from Somerville City Councilor Lance Davis, who proposed late amendments to the ordinance that removed language implying that a domestic partnership could consist only of two people.
“I don’t think it’s the place of government to be telling people what is or is not a family,” Davis said during the Somerville City Council meeting June 25.
Davis added that “defining families is … something that … historically we’ve gotten quite wrong … as a society. And we ought not continue to try and undertake to do so.”
Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan also sees Somerville’s change as a step in the right direction.
“I am excited about the change in Somerville and I’m very supportive of updating Cambridge’s Domestic Partnership ordinance accordingly,” Zondervan said in an email message to New Boston Post.
“While Cambridge has had a domestic partnership ordinance since 1992, it is limited in applicability and scope to traditional monogamous relationships,” he continued. “Cambridge should build on this pioneering ordinance by joining Somerville in legally recognizing polyamorous relationships, which are valid family arrangements deserving of equal recognition and protection.
“People in polyamorous relationships should be able to access the legal benefits that come with domestic partnership, including the right to confer health insurance benefits or make hospital visits,” he said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues and the community to update this law as soon as possible.”
Conversely, Councilor Denise Simmons told New Boston Post that it’s not an issue that’s on her mind.
“To be honest, I haven’t really given this concept much thought, and my immediate focus remains in helping Cambridge navigate through the worst of the covid-19 fallout,” Simmons wrote in an email message. “If this issue ultimately comes before the Cambridge City Council, I expect I will be in a better position to comment at that time.”
Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Utah decriminalized polygamy earlier this year, although the state does not recognize such relationships, according to CNN.
The difference between polygamy and polyamory is that in a polygamous relationship one person who is married to more than one partner. A polyamorous relationship includes multiple romantic or sexual partners and does not imply that any of the members of the relationship are married, according to e-counseling.com.
As of Tuesday, July 7, the Cambridge City Council does not currently have an agenda item concerning its domestic partnership policy, according to the the city’s web site.
