The Massachusetts House unanimously passed critical legislation yesterday that would update the state’s parentage laws to better protect the children of LGBTQ parents and others regardless of the circumstances of their birth. Representatives spoke of how current laws shockingly fall short and urged passage of the bill for both personal and societal reasons.
The unanimous vote now sends An Act to Ensure Legal Parentage Equality (HD.4/SD.497), also known as the Massachusetts Parentage Act (MPA), to the state Senate. Governor Maura Healey (D) has already expressed her support.
The legislation is needed because Massachusetts is currently the only New England state that has not comprehensively reformed its parentage laws to account for the diversity of family forms today—although it has one of the highest rates of births through assisted reproduction in the nation, and was the first in the nation to allow same-sex marriages. The lack of updated laws leaves children vulnerable, as many people testified at a hearing last fall.
Rep. Michael Day (D-Stoneham), chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, told the House yesterday that a secure legal bond between child and parent is important for allowing decisions to be made about the child’s long-term care, in cases of medical emergency, in matters of divorce and custody, and other situations. For many children in Massachusetts, however, the person they call a parent has “scant legal rights or recourse,” he said.
In enacting marriage equality 20 years ago, he added, “We chose love and inclusion over intolerance. Today we continue along that worthy pathway, recognizing the love and commitment of parents and meeting them as they are. Today we say no to those oracles of misery who would deprive a parent of the full rights and privileges of parenthood because that person is different from their image of what a parent should look like.”
Rep. John Moran (D-Boston) told stories of two pairs of friends, a two-dad and a two-mom couple, and shared how current law has not simply and clearly protected the nonbiological parents’ legal parentage, even if the parents are married. “Amidst the constant attacks on our rights from national groups, let’s demonstrate to the state, the country, and the world, that Massachusetts is always willing to protect families and the LGBTQ+ community at large,” he said.
Similarly, Rep. Christine Barber (D-Somerville) asserted, “At a time when so many other states are turning their backs on the LGBTQ community and creating barriers to reproductive justice,” the MPA “exemplifies our values and our commitment to our constituents.”
Rep. Sarah Peake (D-Provincetown) spoke of being a beneficiary of marriage equality herself—and explained that she had initially thought issues around parenting “would be taken care of by marriage equality … but that wasn’t the case. What we’re doing today is clearing up and cleaning up archaic laws and antiquated laws. We’re putting a statutory construct around a wide scope of judicial decisions and we’re codifying that in the Mass. General Law.” She called it “giving a tune-up to our statutory structures to reflect the modern and contemporary ways that people become parents,” and observed, “There are ways that people become parents today that couldn’t have been—all pun intended—conceived of when some of these statutes were written.” She added, “This isn’t a bill that is just benefiting the LGBTQ community. This is a bill that is good for everybody in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”
A different perspective came from Rep. Hannah Kane (R-Shrewsbury), who noted that while her and her husband’s parentage was easily established, “Caitlin, our daughter, is lesbian, and if she chooses to, I want her to experience the joys of being a parent someday, with the same rights to establish her parentage and the same legal protections as her dad and I did. I want our future grandchildren to have the security of legal parentage, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, and I want that for all LGBTQ+ families. For our daughter and countless others like her, legal parentage is not just a matter of paperwork or bureaucracy. It is a matter of identity, of belonging, and of affirmation.” She noted, “For too long, our legal system has lagged behind the evolving realities of family life,” and urged, “Let us build a brighter, more inclusive future for all of our families in the Commonwealth.”
An adoptive father with his husband, Rep. Jack Lewis (D-Framingham) said, “Parenting is a beautiful and complex journey,” but noted, “While the pathway to parenthood has always been a diverse one, our laws have not always kept pace, leaving families—leaving children—vulnerable.” He also spoke about the families now losing rights and protections in some states and countries and seeking new places to live, but noted, too, that Massachusetts was falling behind compared to the other states that have already updated their parentage laws. “If Massachusetts wants to continue to be the beacon on the hill for all of our diverse families, if we want these folks with their talents and treasures to come here to the Commonwealth and not other states who have already put similar laws into effect,” he explained, “we need to make sure that today we vote not only for our children and protection of our families, but we vote to continue that reputation of what we are as a Commonwealth.”
Rep. Adrienne Ramos (D-North Andover), who has been a practicing family law attorney, also looked at some of the broader implications of the MPA. “We are expanding not only access to parentage for the LGBTQ community but for so many other families that are formed in a variety of unconventional ways,” she said. “This also opens up access to forming families for low-income, Black, and Brown family members and community members who have been systematically kept out from forming families in these untraditional ways because of the high costs and legal costs incurred through the need for second-parent adoption and beyond. This bill eliminates that barrier.” At the same time, the MPA “stays true to its core goal of what’s in the child’s best interest.”
And looking ahead, Rep. Kay Kahn (D-Newton) said, “Today marks the major advancement in the reinforcement of equal rights for LGBTQ+ families in the Commonwealth, ensuring that children born through assisted reproduction, surrogacy, have a clear route to establish their legal parentage. A child’s relationship to their parents is core to their overall stability and well-being, and it is from that relationship that so many rights and responsibilities flow…. Massachusetts has always led the way, but today we have taken another step closer to guaranteeing equality for all families.”
Let’s hope the Senate takes the next step soon.
The Massachusetts Parentage Act Coalition, which has led the push for the MPA, is asking people in Massachusetts to please reach out to your state senators now and urge them to pass this important legislation.
For more details on what the MPA does, please see my piece from when it was reintroduced last year, along with one from just a few weeks ago on why this type of legislation is needed in many states and how we can make that happen.