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Civil Rights Project

LGBT rights have never been easy to win. Fighting for them takes passion, skill, and an absolute determination to prevail. That’s what GLAD delivers every single day.

Civil Rights Project

Since 1978, GLAD’s bold and effective advocacy has achieved scores of precedent-setting legal victories to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status, and gender identity and expression, benefiting individuals, couples, and families across New England and through the United States.

We fight because we care, and we win because we’re good. Each time GLAD argues a case or tackles an issue, we tear down more of the outdated laws and stereotypes that have denied LGBT people basic protections and opportunities in every area of daily life – family, school, employment, housing, government, health care, and beyond.

Whether it’s marriage for same-sex couples or non-discrimination policies in the workplace, GLAD doesn’t shrink from tough issues.  And we don’t compromise on our belief that every LGBT citizen deserves full equality under the law – without exception.

Mary L. Bonauto, Esq.

Mary L. Bonauto has been the Civil Rights Project Director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) since 1990. Her practice concentrates on impact litigation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, as well as people living with HIV or AIDS. She has litigated widely in the state and federal courts and agencies of the six New England states since 1990 on issues of employment discrimination, custody, free speech and civil rights. In 1999, she and two Vermont co-counsel won a ruling that same-sex couples are entitled to all of the benefits and protections of civil marriage in the case of Baker v. State of Vermont. This ruling prompted the Vermont legislature to enact the nation’s first “civil union” law for same-sex couples. Mary was lead counsel in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, which resulted in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's landmark decision that prohibiting civil marriage for same-sex couples is unconstitutional. She is currently leading GLAD's challenge to the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in two cases in federal court.

Mary is a graduate of Hamilton College and Northeastern University School of Law. She serves as a Co-chair of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee of the IRR Section of the ABA.

New York Times Magazine May 2004: Toward a More Perfect Union
Mary Bonauto featured in The Advocate, December 2004
The Boston Globe Magazine's People of the Year, December 2004

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Loss • Civil Rights ProjectNew England Marriage Campaign • November 9, 2006

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Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2004

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T.F. v. B.L.

Loss • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2004

GLAD represented T.F., a biological mother seeking child support from her former… Read More

C.E.W. v. D.E.W.

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2004

GLAD, along with Maine co-counsel, won the right to seek full parental… Read More

In re Nancy Walsh

Victory • Civil Rights Project • January 26, 2004

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Blanchflower v. Blanchflower and Mayer

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2003

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Victory • Civil Rights Project • November 18, 2003

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Brindamour, et al. v. Manchester Board of Education

Victory • Civil Rights Project • November 18, 2003

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Guardianship of I.H.

Victory • Civil Rights Project • November 4, 2003

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Rose v. YMCA of Nashua

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2002

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Boy Scouts of America v. Wyman

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2002

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Albano v. Reilly et al

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Brett, et al., v. Town of West Hartford

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GLAD successfully challenged the discriminatory policy of the Town of West Hartford… Read More

Burns v. Burns

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Muzzy v. Cahillane Motors, Inc.

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2001

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Ayer v. Sommi & Keller

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2001

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In re R. C.

Victory • Civil Rights Project • August 31, 2001

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Doe v. Kelley (State Police)

Victory • Civil Rights Project • March 1, 2001

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Rubano v. DiCenzo

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2000

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In re Baby Z & An Act Concerning The Best Interest Of Children In Adoption Matters

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2000

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In the Matter of Jane Doe

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 2000

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Jason H. v. Boston Public Schools

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1999

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Baker et al. v. State of Vermont

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1999

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Connors v. City of Boston

Loss • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1999

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Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1999

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In re D.G.

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1999

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M.G. v. Providence School Department

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1999

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Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1999

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In re South Kingstown High School

Victory • Civil Rights Project • December 31, 1998

GLAD intervened successfully on behalf of a high school gay/straight alliance that… Read More

Aaron Fricke v. Richard B. Lynch

Victory • Civil Rights Project • May 28, 1980

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