Seattle Makes Polyamory, Pansexuality & Asexuality Protected Classes

[RAMROD 118,075]

 

The Seattle City Council voted on Tuesday to adopt civil rights protections for people who are polyamorous or in other nontraditional relationships, as well as people who identify as asexual or pansexual.

Seattle city code already prohibits housing or employment discrimination based on characteristics like race, homosexuality, immigration status or disability. The new measure, which passed unanimously, extends those protections.

“Seattle has long been a leader in recognizing and seeking to protect all of our neighbors’ basic rights,” said Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who sponsored the measure. “This update reflects how people actually live. It ensures that all residents can participate fully in civic, economic and community life without fear of discrimination.”

Seattle joins a small but growing number of American cities — including Oakland, Berkeley and Portland — that have adopted legal protections for polyamorous people. Olympia became the first city in Washington to do so earlier this year.

 

https://www.knkx.org/law/2026-09-16/seattle-city-council-polyamory-pansexuality-asexuality-protected-classes-civil-rights

[Republicanne 7,989]

Explain in pop terms 

[ALonelyNight 772]

4 minutes ago, Republicanne said:

Explain in pop terms 

Buying all 69 vinyl variants is now a protected way of bankrupting yourself

[Roughhouse Dandy 13,902]

Sure! Why not? 

I wonder if the polyamory of it all will cause the fundamentalist Mormons to flock.

Seattle divas: if they open up a Swig shop? DEFEND YOUR HOMELAND. STAND YOUR GROUND. 

Edited 16 hours ago by Roughhouse Dandy

[timdrake 2,658]

someone said something recently about "asexual rights activists" and my instinct was like... what rights do they need not to f*ck? BUT then I read more into it, and yes, it is important to not be discriminated against in the workplace etc. if you are indeed asexual. So even if that's not a large happening, I see no harm in protecting yourself in the future should there be an issue. Good for them!

[Borisapillar 10,166]

When were asexuals not protected?

[MountainMonster 2,862]

I wish I was asexual, I’d be so much more productive if I wasn’t so busy riding that d. 

[JohnWayne92 2,388]

12 minutes ago, Borisapillar said:

When were asexuals not protected?

When you tell someone your orientation, or relationship status, and they always ask at some point, you notice how they take that information in and then treat you different. 

Just because you havent personally experienced something, doesnt mean it doesnt happen. 

[LG10 14,164]

fck yeah!

[ladyabramovic 728]

Dumb waste of time and energy.

[Duella Dvil 12,044]

The baristas out here are rejoicing! Proud of Seattle! Thats my city!

Edited 12 hours ago by Duella Dvil

[Borisapillar 10,166]

2 hours ago, JohnWayne92 said:

When you tell someone your orientation, or relationship status, and they always ask at some point, you notice how they take that information in and then treat you different. 

Just because you havent personally experienced something, doesnt mean it doesnt happen. 

I mean legally. I wasn’t saying there wasn’t a reason, I am genuinely curious.

[PartySick 174,609]

3 hours ago, Borisapillar said:

When were asexuals not protected?

You made me do research so lemme share what I've learned

Federal discrimination laws explicitly dictate "sexual orientation" as either heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. There is a SCOTUS case that changes employment discrimination laws to just generally refer to sexual orientation, so asexuality and others are already protected under that.

What this kind of law does is extend those protections to other forms of discrimination that were previously not covered for anyone who isn't straight, gay, bi, or trans.

Housing, education, certain medical assistance programs, healthcare access, social/family services, and even being able to claim a hate crime if they were attacked.

Asexual people actually face a surprising amount of microaggressions and outright bigotry:

Doctors and therapists often assume their identity is the result of trauma or some kind of defect, which deeply impacts their access to and quality of regular healthcare.

In a lot of states, asexuality is considered a "pre-existing condition", akin to impotence, that can lead to annulment of a marriage. On a related note, if an asexual citizen marries an asexual immigrant, immigration enforcement can accuse the marriage of being a sham because the couple doesn't have sex (or "enough sex") which could risk the spouse's legal status.

They also face a horrifying similar demon as lesbians...when idiots say "you just haven't met the right man". "Corrective rape" is a real problem for ace people and without laws like these they can't seek the specific charges that would bring them actual justice as victims of both assault AND a hate crime.

49% of asexuals say they don't feel comfortable coming out to colleagues compared to 21% of gay men and woman and only 13% of trans people (though a whopping 70% of trans people do tend to mask their actual transitions in the workplace).

When it comes to poly relationships the stigma is obvious to anyone who's lived in the US for longer than a few years. They don't even enjoy equal marriage rights, polygamy is illegal in all 50 states.

Anyway, laws like these are a good step to finally rectifying a lot of these problems.

[sarahb 17,252]

11 minutes ago, PartySick said:

When it comes to poly relationships the stigma is obvious to anyone who's lived in the US for longer than a few years. They don't even enjoy equal marriage rights, polygamy is illegal in all 50 states.

Polygamous marriage would be a legal nightmare 

[LateToCult 42,164]

Probably a long timed coming. I mean, there at least 2 polycule nests on my floor alone.