Portland is poised to be the largest U.S. city to allow polyamorous families to sue over discrimination.

The Portland City Council advanced a policy on Wednesday that protects people from discrimination based on their “family or relationship structure.” The policy, part of a larger ordinance upholding LGBTQ+ rights, allows people to sue over claims of discrimination related to employment, housing and other areas.

Polyamorous families are households where more than two adults are in a consensual relationship without being married, sometimes co-parenting children together. Marriage between more than one adult – polygamy – is illegal in the U.S.

“Nobody should fear that who they care for could jeopardize their job, their housing, or their ability to live in public as their authentic selves,” said Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane, one of the councilors who sponsored the legislation.

Koyama Lane introduced the policy alongside the council’s four LGBTQ+ members: Councilor Eric Zimmerman, Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Councilor Angelita Morillo and Councilor Dan Ryan.

Establishing these new protections isn’t a Portland-specific effort. Since 2023, at least four cities have adopted similar protections for polyamorous families, including Oakland, Calif. and Cambridge, Mass.

If adopted next week, Portland would be the largest city to adopt such policies.

The proposal advanced Wednesday unanimously, despite some councilors’ concerns that the policy took attention away from the larger proposal enshrining LGBTQ+ rights – and could potentially attract unwelcome attention from right-wing groups.

“I thought that we could both take an action and not put a particular spotlight on Portland, by those who would do us ill,” said Zimmerman. “Perhaps that was a mistake.”

Zimmerman also sponsored the policy, which would enshrine the rights of Portlanders to use a public bathroom consistent with their expressed gender and reaffirm the city’s commitment to LGBTQ+ Portlanders facing discrimination.

While he and other councilors supported the added protections for nonmonogamous people and their families, Zimmerman raised an issue with explicitly defining those types of relationships in the policy.

Koyama Lane introduced these definitions in an amendment debated on Wednesday.

Specifically, it defined “family or relationship structure” to include “multi-partner or multi-parent families and relationships, step-families, multi-generational households, diverse family structures, consensually nonmonogamous relationships, and consensual sexual and/or intimate relationships, including asexual and aromantic relationships.”

Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney said the policy sponsors had previously agreed in private not to include this language.

“That doesn’t feel like negotiating in good faith to me,” she said of Koyama Lane’s decision to introduce the amendment.

Koyama Lane and other councilors said the amendment reflects concerns raised by several Portlanders who testified last week.

That included Amy Nash-Kille, a Portlander who lives with her two romantic partners and four children.

“Despite our stable relationship, we have not always been treated as a valid family structure,” she said. “We have learned that vague language leaves room for bias and hate instead of inclusion and care.”

Yet Zimmerman suggested that, by including this extra language, Portland could attract an “extra spotlight by the Fox Newses of the world” and drum up “undue fervor in the conservative ecosphere.”

Whether or not this level of detail is needed to legally uphold the new policy is unclear.

The majority of councilors agreed that heeding some Portlanders’ call for an expanded definition was the right move.

“I think at the end of the day the question before us is pretty simple,” said Councilor Candace Avalos. “Do we believe that Portlanders have the right to live lives free of discrimination? And if the answer is yes, then it should be easy to support this amendment in front of us today.”

Zimmerman accused his non-LGBTQ+ councilors of brushing aside his concerns. Yet he pushed councilors to unanimously support the amendment and policy, to avoid further attention.

Councilors will hold a final vote on the proposal next week.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/25/portland-advances-antidiscrimiation-protections-for-polyamorous-families/