BOSTON — Massachusetts was the first state in the country to legalize same-sex marriages but still lags behind others in granting LGBTQ couples parental legal rights.
Advocates have pushed for years to change that by updating the state’s parental protections to cover children born through in-vitro fertilization, surrogacy and adopted by same-sex parents. Despite impassioned pleas from couples, who have packed committee hearings to tell their stories, the legislation has failed to pass.
Now advocates are making another push to have the Massachusetts Parentage Act approved with a boost by Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat who took office last year as the state’s first openly gay chief executive. The governor has thrown her support behind the initiative.
Healey said the measure would guarantee equality in parental rights regardless of gender, marital status or the circumstance of birth. Massachusetts is the only New England state without protections for LGBTQ families seeking the legal bond of a parent-child relationship, she said.
“We’ve been proud to be a national leader and trailblazer when it comes to LGBTQ+ equality, but we’ve got some catching up to do,” she said.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell, a Democrat, has also gotten behind the initiative, saying the state is falling behind others on parental rights laws, which “have not kept pace with the diversity of modern-day families.”
The legislation, backed by dozens of lawmakers, received bipartisan support from Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and other Republican lawmakers.
“No child in our state should be left in parental limbo caused by laws that haven’t been updated to recognize the realities of many families,” the Gloucester senator said.
Tarr said the proposal would “create a straightforward path to establishing parentage that avoids unnecessary litigation and the bureaucratic hurdles that too often deprive kids and parents of the stability and well-being that comes from proper legal recognition and the rights that attach to that recognition.”
Under current law, gay, lesbian and transgender mothers and fathers in Massachusetts sometimes have to adopt their own children to ensure parental rights, advocates say, a process that can take several months.
Polly Crozier, director of Family Advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, said the changes are needed “to fill gaps in our laws that leave some children vulnerable and to ensure all families, no matter how they are formed, have the legal security they deserve.”
“We hope to see this bill passed into law this session so that Massachusetts can stand proud as a state that recognizes and protects the dignity and worth of all children and families,” she said.
Earlier this month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a package of bills updating the state’s parentage and surrogacy laws and repealed a law threatening criminal penalties against parents who engage in paid surrogacy contracts.
Crozier said Whitmer’s approval of the changes is a “potent reminder of what strengthening families should look like in 2024 and it should serve as an inspiration to Massachusetts.”
But supporters of the Massachusetts proposal are running out of time to approve the bill before the formal end of the two-year legislative session.
The bill is pending before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, which was recently given a deadline of April 30 to decide on the proposal.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.