FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 10, 1998

Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Finds Probable Cause

New England Medical Center Discriminated Against Gay Man who Was Refused Reproductive Services

(BOSTON, MA) The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) has found probable cause to credit the allegations of Boston resident Robert Carr that New England Medical Center (NEMC) refused him reproductive medical services because he is a gay man and because of their perception that he was at high risk for HIV. In July, 1996, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) filed a complaint at the MCAD, on behalf of Mr. Carr, alleging sexual orientation and disability discrimination by NEMC and Richard Reindollar, M.D., then-Director of NEMC’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology.

“Both the law and fundamental fairness dictate that the full range of health care, services and treatment be available without regard to sexual orientation or unscientific stereotypes about gay men as automatically having HIV,” stated Bennett H. Klein, a GLAD attorney. Klein, together with Mary L. Bonauto, another GLAD attorney, and cooperating attorney Susan Wilson of Brookline, represent Carr.

Carr, who is the father of one child, sought to provide his semen to the mother of what would have been his second child. He was referred by his primary care physician to Dr. Reindollar’s office for banking and transportation of his semen to the mother’s care provider. NEMC and Dr. Reindollar categorically refused to provide the service to Mr. Carr, even though they were capable of doing so and have done so for others, and even though standardized test results on Carr, including HIV test results, indicated insemination with Carr’s semen was safe.

“My decision to have children was the result of many years of careful consideration,” added Carr. “Yet in a few short weeks the New England Medical Center and Dr. Reindollar took that decision away from my family based on the fact that I am gay. This was not their decision to make.”

Underscoring Carr’s concern about the access of gay people to basic medical services, Mary Bonauto, GLAD’s Civil Rights Director, stated, “We cannot have health care providers picking and choosing what medical services they will provide to gay people based on their ideas of what is and isn’t appropriate. Gay men who are willing to accept the joys and responsibilities of fatherhood should be free to do so and are legally entitled to do so.”

GLAD is New England’s leading legal rights organization for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and people with HIV. GLAD’s mission is to achieve full equality and justice for all individuals in these groups, primarily through litigation and education.