West Hollywood is protecting modern families. The rest of California should be next

In the 1950s, TV screens beamed out a single picture of “family”: a married straight white couple, two biological kids, and a neat white picket fence. That socially sanctioned image never told the whole story, and it certainly doesn’t reflect reality for many today. Less than 18 percent of U.S. households resemble that so-called nuclear family, yet our laws continue to be built around it.

In our hometown of West Hollywood, LGBTQ+ residents—including bi+, trans, and nonbinary people—build chosen families that remain legally unrecognized under current state law. It’s time for California laws to reflect the diverse ways people live, love, and care for one another. Our city is already leading the way with two historic actions.

The Golden State has long been a trailblazer in LGBTQ+ rights. In 2004, Gov. Gavin Newsom, then mayor of San Francisco, issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of the then-federal ban. Two decades later in 2024, California wiped discriminatory language from the state constitution and cemented the right to same-sex marriage with Prop 3, passed just months before the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case that could have threatened federal marriage rights.

Despite significant progress in our state and country, people in multi-partner families still face legal barriers when co-parenting, sharing health benefits, or accessing family leave. Without legal protections, they remain vulnerable to housing and employment discrimination. A recent study found that less than 1 in 6 people in diverse relationship structures feel safe being out at work. While some company policies prohibit this form of discrimination, no state or federal laws prevent employees from being fired solely because of their family or relationship structure.

With 15 percent of Gen Z reporting they are in—or interested in—relationships with more than one partner, these gaps in the law are becoming harder to ignore.

That’s one reason why West Hollywood recently moved to update its nondiscrimination and domestic partnership ordinances to explicitly include protections for diverse family and relationship structures. The City Council voted 5-0 last month to become the first city in California to advance implementation of a plural domestic partnership registry, building on the city’s legacy as the first city in the nation to establish a domestic partnership registry for same sex couples four decades ago.

Legally recognizing plural domestic partnerships acknowledges the realities of how people live today without diminishing other family structures. For generations, legal and social norms around gender, race, sexuality, and relationship structure have determined which families are visible and which are not. West Hollywood’s inclusive policies will help to correct that imbalance.

West Hollywood also outlawed discrimination based on family or relationship structure in housing, public accommodations, and city contracting. This includes protections for multi-partner and multi-parent families, multi-generational households, step-families, and chosen families. Any company contracting with the City can no longer discriminate in employment decisions based on this newly protected class.

Research by Rewrite the BiLine shows that these advancements in local law are practical, feasible, and fiscally neutral. Last year, the cities of Oakland and Berkeley amended their non-discrimination ordinances to cover non-nuclear families. And in Massachusetts, Somerville, Cambridge, and Arlington revised their domestic partnership ordinances to include partnerships of three or more; none of these municipalities reported any financial burden from expanding their ordinances.

Local laws like these offer a glimpse of a fairer future, one in which the full diversity of families is celebrated. Other cities should follow West Hollywood’s lead, and employers—especially entertainment companies that help define our cultural norms—should update their workplace policies to reflect the realities of family life.

Above all, California must act. The state has long been a bellwether for civil rights, expanding the promise of equality through hard-won anti-discrimination laws. Lawmakers should carry this progress forward by enacting statewide protections that guarantee every family is afforded the same rights, security and dignity under the law.

Chelsea Lee Byers is a Councilmember in the City of West Hollywood and served as Mayor in 2025. Christina Fialho is an attorney and the founder/president of Rewrite the BiLine.

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