Legislature Enacts Massachusetts Parentage Act to Protect Children of LGBTQ Parents
The Massachusetts Legislature has enacted the Massachusetts Parentage Act, updating state parentage laws to better protect the children of LGBTQ parents, those formed via assisted reproduction, and those with de facto or functional parents.
The Massachusetts Senate voted 40 to 0 on Tuesday, July 30, for an Act to Ensure Legal Parentage Equality (known as the Massachusetts Parentage Act, or MPA), which had passed the House unanimously last month. The bill went back for concurrence and final votes on Wednesday, July 31, and was enacted unanimously in both chambers just before 3 a.m. Thursday, August 1, as legislators worked through the night on the last day of the session. The bill (H.4970) is now on the desk of Governor Maura Healey (D), who has already expressed her support.
Massachusetts had been the only New England state that had 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 couples to marry. Its 40-year-old parentage statutes left children vulnerable, as many people testified at a hearing last fall.
"In passing this legislation, we will send a powerful message about the dignity and worth of all Massachusetts families," said Senator Julian Cyr (D), one of the lead Senate sponsors, on the Senate floor Tuesday. He spoke of the many protections that flow from legal parentage, including inheritance, health insurance, custody, Social Security, and more, "Not to mention all of the emotional benefits of being declared your child's legal parent."
For children, Cyr said, legal parentage is "central to their stability, security, and well-being." The bill will have impact beyond Massachusetts, too, he noted, explaining that legal parentage which is recognized in Massachusetts must be granted "full faith and credit" in other states, "regardless of that state's policy."
Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R), also a lead Senate sponsor, spoke on the floor Tuesday about "the urgency and importance of adopting this legislation." He asserted, "No child in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should have to live with the uncertainty that is created when we don't have statutes that are clear and well-defined and responsible.... Every child must have the right to have parentage clearly established, and that is true for parents as well, who may come to this situation from different circumstances, who may have used different technology, but who remain parents, with a parental obligation to the child."
Tarr thanked Cyr, saying, "I am so, so pleased that we've been able to work together to advance this important policy initiative."
And Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), said in a statement: "After more than seven years of advocacy, so many children and families in Massachusetts—and countless future generations—will now have the basic protections that legal parentage provides for children."
Advocacy for the bill was spearheaded by the MPA Coalition, led by GLAD and AllPaths Family Building, along with more than 60 other legal, health care, social service, and LGBTQ organizations.
A version of the MPA had been introduced in the previous session with bipartisan support, but was unable to move forward during a busy legislative season. The MPA was reintroduced in January 2024, again with a show of bipartisanship, by lead House sponsors Rep. Sarah Peake (D) and Rep. Hannah Kane (R) along with Cyr (D) and Tarr (R) in the Senate.
Among other things, the MPA:
The MPA is based on the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act (UPA), model parentage legislation developed by the non-partisan Uniform Law Commission. Massachusetts is now the 9th state to enact comprehensive legislation based on or substantially similar to the 2017 UPA, following California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. (Additionally, New Hampshire and New York have comprehensive parentage legislation that is not based on the UPA, per the Movement Advancement Project.) Pennsylvania is currently considering a bill to update its parentage legislation; it now sits in the House Judiciary Committee.
LGBTQ parents and others forming families via assisted reproduction elsewhere may find that establishing parentage is still confusing, expensive, humiliating, and lengthy, leaving children vulnerable.
Massachusetts families, however, have a more equitable future on the horizon. Once signed by the governor, the bill would go into effect on January 1, 2025.
Dana Rudolph is the founder and publisher of Mombian (mombian.com), a two-time GLAAD Media Award-winning blog and resource directory, plus a searchable database of 1,600+ LGBTQ family books.