Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) has long been open about being a lesbian, but quiet about her private life—and now, has just shared that she has a partner who has two kids.
Healey is dating attorney and nonprofit executive Joanna Lydgate, reports the Boston Globe in a front-page article on Sunday. Lydgate is amicably separated from her husband, and they have been sharing custody of their children, ages 9 and 11, “each parent living part time in the home outside Boston where the kids are growing up.”
Lydgate was Healey’s former deputy in the attorney general’s office, although they did not start dating until she left the office. Her husband told the Globe’s Yvonne Abraham, “Maura is part of our family. To our kids, she is just this person who has been in their lives since they were very young, and I am really glad they have her as a role model, and a friend, and a caregiver.”
Lydgate said that the kids “get to experience a lot of different kinds of love in their lives, and they have a lot of grown-ups who love them and take care of them.”
Healey’s campaign site said nothing about their relationship, which began in 2020. Healey told the Globe she has kept news of their relationship quiet until now in order to give Lydgate privacy while adjusting to her identity, and to give their families time to get used to Healey being in a more public spotlight. Lydgate added that they also wanted to give the kids time to acclimate to their new life and family.
I hope that the kids and Lydgate are able to maintain their privacy even as Healey leads the Commonwealth. I’ve tried to maintain my own family’s privacy while writing this blog, even though I’m far from as public a figure as Healey. I firmly believe that it is important for kids to be able to control what the world knows about them. Kids with LGBTQ parents, in particular, should be able to come out about their families in their own time and way.
I also love that Healey and Lydgate’s family offers us yet another example of the many ways queer families are formed—and how they can intertwine with other people and families. Families aren’t always trees, but sometimes orchards.
Healey is the first lesbian governor in the country, an honor she holds with Tina Kotek (D) of Oregon. (Technically, Healey is first because she has already been sworn in; Kotek will be on Monday. Since they were elected on the same day, though, let’s be inclusive and count them as simultaneous.)