Massachusetts News
MA Gov. Patrick Signs New HIV Testing Bill
Today, Governor Deval Patrick will sign into law “An Act to Increase Routine Screening for HIV.” The bill changes the Commonwealth’s HIV testing law by requiring a patient’s verbal, instead of written, consent in order for a doctor to test for HIV.
Bennett Klein, GLAD’s AIDS Law Project …
GLAD Calls on Doctors to Offer HIV Test to Patients Following Passage of House Bill
Bennett Klein, AIDS Law Project Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), issued the following statement about the passage today in the House of “An Act to Increase Routine Screening for HIV”. The bill changes the Commonwealth’s HIV testing law by requiring a patient’s verbal, …
Federal Court Hears First Appellate Arguments Challenging DOMA
For the first time, a Federal Appeals Court heard arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Seven married same-sex couples and three widowers, plaintiffs in GLAD’s case Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the …
GLAD Argues One Spouse At A Time Rule Applies to Civil Unions As Well As Marriages
In a case involving a man who married in Massachusetts without dissolving his Vermont civil union to a different man, GLAD will argue before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) that the marriage should be considered void.
“It has always been the law of the Commonwealth that a person …
Advocates Praise House for Advancing Transgender Equal Rights Bill
BOSTON, NOVEMBER 15, 2011 – In an historic move, the state House of Representatives passed the Transgender Equal Rights Bill today by a vote of 95-58.
“This bill includes essential protections for transgender residents, who are not currently protected in any areas of the Commonwealth’s civil …
GLAD Responds to Favorable Committee Vote on Transgender Equal Rights Bill
Statement of Jennifer Levi, Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders’ (GLAD) Transgender Rights Project, on the Joint Committee on the Judiciary’s favorable vote on the Transgender Equal Rights Bill:
“GLAD is happy that the Joint Committee on the Judiciary has finally released the …
Great News for Transgender Taxpayers
(Photo: Rhiannon O’Donnabhain)
Great news for transgender taxpayers!
The IRS has issued an advisory known as an “action on decision” making clear that it will fully comply with GLAD’s Tax Court victory on behalf of Rhiannon O’Donnabhain. This means that going forward, the IRS will treat …
Business, Labor, Congressional Reps, Medical and Legal Experts Take Aim at DOMA
(Photo: Plaintiff Dean Hara with his late spouse, Rep Gerry Studds)
Supporters of Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, GLAD’s challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), have filed 11 amici curiae briefs in the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The amici briefs (which …
GLAD Defends its Win in Gill Case and Attacks BLAG’s Justifications for DOMA
GLAD has filed another vigorous attack on the constitutionality of the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA). In a legal brief submitted to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, GLAD defended an earlier District Court ruling finding DOMA unconstitutional. GLAD’s brief counters the …
Federal Bureau of Prisons Makes Major Change in Transgender Medical Policy
A settlement was announced today in the case of Vanessa Adams, a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate at FMC Butner in North Carolina who has gender identity disorder (GID). Ms. Adams sued BOP in order to receive appropriate treatment for her GID.
Ms. Adam’s challenge to BOP’s treatment of …