The Democratic-controlled Massachusetts Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to update the state’s paternity law, adding protections for LGBTQ families and children born through surrogacy and assisted reproduction that advocates say should already have been made. long time.
The Massachusetts Parenthood Act, introduced earlier this year by state Reps. Sarah K. Peake, a Democrat, and Hannah Kane, a Republican, would change how the state defines paternity by expanding protections to non-biological fathers. It would also eliminate gender and outdated language from existing state law, such as “children born out of wedlock.”
“At the heart of this bipartisan legislation lies a simple but profound principle: recognition of legal parentage should not depend on outdated norms or narrow definitions,” Kane said last month in a statement.
The bill, which was also unanimously rejected in the Massachusetts House in June, will need to be approved again by the House before it can be delivered to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D), who has said she will sign it.
“We are proud to be a national leader and trailblazer when it comes to LGBTQ+ equality, but we still have some catching up to do,” Healey, the state’s first gay governor and the fourth LGBTQ person elected governor in the U.S., said in April.
Massachusetts is New England’s last holdout in adopting comprehensive parenthood laws that include explicit protections for LGBTQ families and children born through surrogacy or assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization. Under current law, non-biological parents must legally adopt their children to ensure full parental rights.
Also known as parental recognition laws, paternity laws establish the legal relationship between parents and their children, allowing parents to make medical and other decisions on the child’s behalf.
The Massachusetts Parenthood Act, if passed, will play a critical role in ensuring that all children enjoy the security of legal parenthood, regardless of how or to whom they were born, advocates said.
“With this vote, the Massachusetts Senate demonstrated that justice under the law is for everyone,” said Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, a national LGBTQ civil rights group. in a statement after Tuesday’s vote.
“We are grateful to the many people, families and advocates who have fought for years to get to this point,” said Crozier, who helped write the bill.
“There are many equally valid paths to becoming a father,” said Massachusetts state senator Julian Cyr, a Democrat and one of the bill’s Senate sponsors. told State House News Service this week. “And biological connection alone is not the only factor in establishing a bond that forms a family.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
