THREE'S ALLOWED: West Hollywood makes polyamory official

West Hollywood has found a new job for local government: keeping track of who's sleeping with whom.On November 2, the City Council approved an ordinance allowing romantic groups of three or more adults to register their relationships with City Hall. The new arrangement comes complete with official declarations, termination procedures, and a six-month waiting period before someone can register a new relationship after terminating an old one. Romance may be complicated, but leave it to California progressives to make it bureaucratic. Imagine the legal bills when four ex-partners, three breakups, and one shared lease end up in court at the same time.The ordinance, which takes effect December 2, doesn't legalize group marriage or create state-recognized domestic partnerships. Instead, it establishes a municipal registry for relationships involving at least three adults, extending certain housing protections and visitation rights. More importantly, the city explicitly describes the measure as a first step toward expanding recognition and benefits at the state and federal levels.Bedroom blitzMarriage used to mean a serious, lifelong commitment between two people, carrying duties that extended well beyond someone's personal fulfillment and a shared lease. California progressives now view that traditional two-person model as little more than an arbitrary speed bump in need of a thorough flattening. These are the same cultural crusaders who spent decades telling traditionalists to stop imposing their morality on the public. Yet they refuse to leave long-standing institutions alone, insisting on redefining the exact social foundations they once claimed shouldn't have any fixed meaning at all.West Hollywood has been laying the groundwork for some time. In March, the City Council approved a separate ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on family or relationship structure, including polyamorous arrangements. Now it has moved from protecting unconventional relationships against discrimination to giving them formal civic recognition.Naturally, the adults get their headline-grabbing victory while the children are left to navigate the potential collateral damage. Media coverage celebrates grown-ups seeking public approval for their polyamorous setups, yet pays considerably less attention to the children growing up inside them. What happens to parenting, discipline, and daily stability when several adults occupy parental roles, particularly if partners come and go? A child may develop a close attachment to an adult who has no legal parental responsibility and can leave the arrangement without the obligations that accompany divorce.It's not you; it's usWest Hollywood's ordinance doesn't rewrite state custody laws. Indeed, the city's own legal analysis acknowledges that multi-partner relationships lack many of the parental rights, child-support obligations, and property protections associated with marriage. Local politicians are eager to recognize the adult relationship while leaving these considerably more complicated questions for someone else to resolve.Though it's difficult to have sympathy for many city staffers, spare a thought for the poor soul stuck managing the paperwork for this administrative circus. Under the new rules, all partners must sign a declaration, provide identification, and agree to notify City Hall when the relationship changes. Anyone wishing to end the arrangement must file a termination statement and certify that the other partners have been notified.Better yet, anyone who has registered a multi-partner relationship must wait six months after a termination statement is filed before registering another one.Even in the brave new world of officially sanctioned romantic flexibility, apparently there's a bureaucratic cooling-off period.The city anticipates negligible administrative costs and plans to charge registration fees. But West Hollywood didn't merely pass a far-left, non-binding resolution to feel good about itself. It established a formal registry, complete with declarations, amendments, termination forms, and certified copies. City Hall now has a whole new category of relationships to administer.RELATED: That thing critics of gay 'marriage' were promised wouldn't happen keeps happening A Maryland man and his three girlfriends, 2016. Nikki Kahn/Washington Post/Getty ImagesThrouple goalsFor generations, traditional families served a clear social purpose: raising the next generation and keeping communities grounded. Today's progressive policy treats every domestic setup as an interchangeable lifestyle preference. A healthy society can certainly tolerate unconventional, even outlandish, living arrangements without pretending that all are equal or that all help build a stable society.West Hollywood wants to give official standing to domestic setups that may not survive past January. Polyamory is marketed by some of its enthusiasts as an evolved, modern form of intimacy that can overcome old-fashioned jealousy. Yet adding more people to a relationship also multiplies the opportunities for insecurity, petty resentment, and financial squabbles. City Hall can hand out all the official certificates it wants, but no government seal can force three, four, or five different people to agree on who takes out the trash or cleans up after the explosive Pomeranian.West Hollywood has been here before. In 1985, it established a domestic partnership registry that helped give same-sex couples a form of official recognition decades before nationwide marriage equality. City officials now see the multi-partner registry as another pioneering step in that tradition.The city's own staff report acknowledges significant complications in extending benefits and legal protections to multi-partner relationships. Its proposed solution is to establish recognition now and hope that state lawmakers, employers, insurers, and other institutions eventually follow.When these multi-person arrangements break down, the questions become more difficult. Who remains responsible for a shared lease? What happens to jointly purchased property? What obligations, if any, should former partners have toward children they helped raise? West Hollywood's registry leaves most of these questions unresolved. Standard divorces between two people already drag on for years and empty bank accounts faster than a North Korean hacker. Imagine the legal bills when four ex-partners, three breakups, and one shared lease end up in court at the same time.Lawyers may eventually have a field day. But anyone concerned about America's future should be shedding a tear. Because unlike Vegas, what happens in California rarely stays in California.