In New England and across the country GLAD is active in state legislatures and in the courts. Some of our current priorities include:

  • Fighting book bans and school censorship laws that seek to erase history and discussion of LGBTQ+ people and issues in school. In January, GLAD joined the ACLU of Massachusetts in sending a letter urging state public school districts to protect students’ legal rights by rejecting book bans and censorship in school libraries. In New Hampshire, a federal court recently ruled that the government can’t dismiss our lawsuit with NEA-NH, ACLU-NH, and Disability Law Center-NH challenging the state’s dangerous “banned concepts” school censorship law.
  • Supporting public health and working to end the HIV epidemic. GLAD is advocating for legislation in Massachusetts that would allow people to obtain a limited supply of PrEP at a pharmacy without a prescription, and that would ensure full insurance coverage so cost is never a barrier to HIV prevention medication.
  • Working for equal opportunity for family building. GLAD is part of a coalition advocating to eliminate discrimination in fertility care coverage in Connecticut. And we are working to finally update state parentage laws in Massachusetts by passing the MA Parentage Act so that children of LGBTQ+ parents are legally protected, and all families are respected
  • Guarding against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the country and in New England. GLAD is monitoring against any effort in New England states to force schools to out transgender youth before they are ready and working with partners against an extreme New Hampshire bill (HB 619) which could eviscerate protections against conversion therapy, ban access to essential healthcare for transgender youth and force public schools to misgender transgender students.
  • Ensuring that the religious views of a business owner can’t be used to deny medically necessary healthcare to transgender employees. Learn more about our case on behalf of Lillian Bernier, who is challenging the discriminatory denial of healthcare by her employer, manufacturing company Turbocam, Inc.
  • Challenging an outdated federal law that denies essential healthcare for transgender loved ones in military families ensured under TRICARE.

If you have questions about LGBTQ+ or HIV legal rights in New England, contact GLAD’s legal information help line, GLAD Answers.

To support GLAD’s work advancing equality and justice, make a tax-deductible donation today.

Learn more about GLAD’s work in the March/April 2023 issue of Boston Spirit Magazine.