Democrats and Activists Celebrate Another State Law Redefining Parenthood

LGBT legal activist group GLAD is celebrating Massachusetts’ new “Parentage Act” that removes words such as “mother,” “father,” “man,” and “woman,” from state law with the claim that use of these terms prevents LGBT families from achieving equality under the law.

On August 9, Gov. Maura Healey (D) signed H1713 /S947 into law to redefine parenthood via a narrative founded in gender ideology that argues terms such as “mother” and “father” are not “inclusive” and, therefore, need to be replaced by words and phrases such as “parent” or “the person who gave birth.”

“Massachusetts becomes the final state in New England, and the 13^th in the nation, to adopt parentage protections,” boasted Boston-based GLAD in a press statement, adding that the new law”:

… updates Massachusetts’ forty-year-old parentage statutes to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ families, families formed through assisted reproduction, and families that include a de facto or functional parent. It ensures all children have equal access to the security of a legal parent-child relationship no matter the gender or marital status of their parents or how their family is formed.

The text of the legislation states:

For the purpose of this chapter, the term “child born out of wedlock” includes the term nonmarital child; the term “man” or “father” includes a parent of any gender; the term “woman” or “mother” includes the term “parent who gave birth; the term “putative father” includes the term “alleged genetic parent” and does not include a presumed parent, an individual whose parental rights have been terminated or declared not to  exist or a donor” any reference to “paternity” includes the term “parentage;” any reference to “nonpaternity” includes the term “nonparentage;” any reference to “voluntary acknowledgement of paternity” includes the term “voluntary acknowledgment of parentage;” and any reference to “husband” or “wife” includes the term “spouse.”

Libs of TikTok highlighted the bill in a recent post on X:

Swimmer and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines reacted, posting, “It’s always been about corrupting our language, destroying the family, then taking away our rights & freedoms.”

According to the governor’s office, the bill “updates the law to ensure that families enjoy the same rights and protections under law without regard to marital status, gender, gender identify [sic] or sexual orientation of the parents or the circumstances of the child's birth, including whether the child was born as a result of assisted reproduction or surrogacy.”

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll referred to the legislation as a means to put “outdated norms aside,” and Democrat lawmakers praised what they view as the measure’s ability to eradicate inequity.

State House Speaker Ronald Mariano (D-Quincy) said the bill “[e]nsures that the Commonwealth’s laws reflect an evolving society, along with the implications of modern technology,” and State Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland) added, “[n]o matter what path you took to parenthood, today you can rest assured that archaic beliefs and laws no longer stand in your way as a parent.”

“With unprecedented and alarming action in other states to strip away the rights of LGBTQ+ people and our families, Massachusetts’ outdated and heterocentric parentage laws put LGBTQ+ families at risk every day,” said State Senator Julian Cyr (D-Truro). “The Massachusetts Parentage Act is personal — LGBTQ+ families like mine face excessive and expensive hoops just to ensure our children have the security of legal parentage.” 

Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), however, worked to defeat the measure, warning it would “prioritize the desires of adults over the needs of children.”

Specifically, MFI observed the legislation will “deprive children of their right to know their biological mother and/or father;” and “turn children into a commodity that can be bought and sold” via surrogacy and sperm and egg donorship.