In Your State: Massachusetts
Statewide Relationship Recognition |
|
| yes | Licenses marriages for same-sex couples. |
| yes | Honors marriages of same-sex couples from other jurisdictions |
| yes | Relationship recognition for same-sex couples: marriage. |
Massachusetts has no explicit prohibition against honoring marriages of same-sex couples from other jurisdictions.
- 2004 Massachusetts began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on May 17.
- 2003 On November 18 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry in Massachusetts.
- 1992 Governor’s Executive Order allows state workers to register domestic partners for purposes of bereavement leave and visitation rights in state prisons and hospitals.
Statewide Employment Protections |
|
| yes | Private employment protections based on sexual orientation. |
| no | Private employment protections based on gender identity. |
| yes | Public (state) employment protections based on sexual orientation. |
| - | Public (state) employment protections based on gender identity. |
See Massachusetts General Laws Ch. 151B, § 3(6) (1989) and Ch. 151B, § 4 (2005).
Statewide Parenting Laws |
|
| Who May Adopt | Any "person of full age" |
| Second Parent Adoptions | Mass. Gen. L. ch. 210, §1 |
| Notes | Approved. See Adoption of Tammy, 619 N.E.2d 315 (Mass. 1993) |
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