LGBTQ Parenting Roundup
Here’s the latest roundup of LGBTQ parenting news I haven’t covered elsewhere, with important progress in several countries, sports stars growing their families, and a major win for a queer-led family film!
massachusetts
Massachusetts Parentage Act Has Bipartisan Support: Let’s Move It Forward
The Massachusetts Parentage Act (MPA) would ensure that all children in the state, including those with LGBTQ parents, have equal access to the protections of legal parentage. While it had a hearing last November and has strong support, it still needs a push to become law, said advocates of the bill at a panel today.
The First Queer Families to Benefit from Connecticut’s New, Comprehensive Parentage Law
Two queer couples and their children have become the first LGBTQ families to benefit from the Connecticut Parentage Act (CPA), which Connecticut Rep. Jeff Currey (D), the bill’s lead sponsor, said “may be the most impactful moment for LGBTQ families since marriage equality.”
LGBTQ Parents, Children, and Others Testify on Impact of Outdated Parentage Laws
Queer parents, their children, LGBTQ and children’s rights advocates, and others told Massachusetts legislators Tuesday about the negative impact that the state’s outdated parentage laws have on people’s lives, and called for the state to update its statutes so that all children, including those born to LGBTQ parents, have equal access to legal parentage.
Massachusetts Bill to Better Protect Children in All Families Gets Hearing Next Week
A Massachusetts bill that would better protect children born through assisted reproduction, surrogacy, and to unmarried same-sex parents will get a hearing next Tuesday, November 9. Learn more and find out how you can help all children have equal access to legal parentage!
Parentage Law in Massachusetts Is Outdated, but Bill Could Change That
Massachusetts, which led the nation in marriage equality, has fallen behind in protecting the children of LGBTQ parents. It is now the only New England state that has not comprehensively reformed its parentage laws to protect children regardless of the circumstances of their birth or the gender or marital status of their parents. The Massachusetts Parentage Act (MPA), a bill now in the Legislature, could change that.
Marriage Is Not Enough: Securing Parentage in New England and Beyond
Marriage equality has been the law nationwide since 2015, but married and unmarried LGBTQ couples who use third-party assisted reproductive technologies (ART) still face significant obstacles in most states to securing ironclad legal parentage for both parents. Progress in a few states, most recently in New England, may point the way forward.
Making it Easier to Secure Nonbiological Parents’ Rights: Take Action in 3 States
Yes, even in Massachusetts, which led the nation in marriage equality, married same-sex couples who use assisted reproduction still need to do lengthy, expensive, and intrusive second-parent adoptions in order for their children to have ironclad legal ties to both parents. A new bill would greatly simplify the process. Bills in New Hampshire and Rhode Island would also streamline the recognition of nonbiological parents—but they all need your support.
Massachusetts Moms Who Were First to Marry Talk About the Trauma
Fifteen years ago today was the first legal wedding of a same-sex couple in the United States—moms Hillary and Julie Goodridge. Now they and their daughter Annie are sharing more about their fight to marry and the stress that it caused on their relationship—stress that caused them to divorce five years later. It’s a sobering tale about the price that progress can have on activists and their families.
More States Seeking to Add LGBTQ History, People, to Curriculum
Both Massachusetts and Illinois have recently taken steps towards including the history and achievements of LGBTQ people—and the authentic telling of their lives—in the states’ education curricula.