Increasing awareness of consensual nonmonogamies brings some acceptance and some discrimination.

Research shows that the impact of stigma and discrimination is widespread and detrimental.

Grassroots organizers have successfully lobbied for some cities to include protections for CNM relationships.

The rising popularity and public awareness of consensual nonmonogamies is a double-edged sword for many people in CNM relationships. On the one hand, more public awareness translates to greater discrimination because some people view CNM as a rising threat. On the other hand, the significant upswing in public awareness and number of people engaging in CNM means that more people are advocating for equal rights and protection against discrimination. Currently there are no legal protections at the federal or state level for CNM relationships or for many other forms of relationship diversity.

My own and many others’ research has uncovered significant stigma and discrimination against people in CNM relationships. At the personal level, this stigma can mean that individuals in CNM relationships are ostracized from their families of origin, expelled from friend groups, and excommunicated from their religious congregations. This is not to say that everyone who engages in CNM experiences such difficulties, but research indicates that a significant proportion of people in CNM relationships experience some kind of negative social fallout from the relational nonconformity.

While such social stigmatization can have significant and painful emotional consequences, it is slightly less likely to have the financial consequences that outright discrimination........

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