Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Massachusetts enjoy the same rights as non-LGBTQ people. The state is widely regarded as one of the most LGBTQ-supportive states in the country. In 2004, it became the first U.S. state to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, and the sixth jurisdiction worldwide, after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec.
Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1974, in accordance with a landmark decision affirming the right to sexual privacy from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. State law bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and union practices. In November 2018, it became the first state in the country to support transgender protections through popular vote. In addition, same-sex couples are allowed to adopt, and transgender people may change their legal gender without undergoing sex reassignment surgery. In April 2019, Massachusetts became the 16th U.S. state to ban conversion therapy on LGBT minors.
Boston, the state capital, has been ranked one of the most LGBTQ-friendly cities in the United States, noted for its LGBT dating scene, events, nightlife, clubs and bars. Provincetown, located at the tip of Cape Cod, is famous internationally for high LGBT acceptance and visibility. Northampton, on the other hand, is the town with the most lesbian couples per capita in the entire United States.
Massachusetts has still not legislatively repealed its defunct sodomy ban, and the common-law gay panic defense usage within the state courts, as of December 2024; despite being regarded as a Democratic Party stronghold. July 2025 saw increased efforts to pass legislation repealing the state's aforementioned sodomy law in the Massachusetts legislature.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity
In 1641, Nathaniel Ward's legal code was enacted in the state, which prohibited sodomy.
In Commonwealth v. Balthazar, in 1974, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the statute which prohibited "any unnatural and lascivious act with another person" was inapplicable to "private, consensual conduct of adults".
Massachusetts has not repealed its sodomy law and it remains on the books. The Massachusetts General Court has voted down bills in committee for years, to repeal and abolish sodomy laws within sections of both §34 and §35. During the 2018 session of the Massachusetts General Court, outdated laws on abortion, adultery and fornication were repealed, but not the laws on sodomy, anal sex, and oral sex still listed within sections 34 and 35. Presently, Massachusetts does not restrict private sexual behavior between consenting adults, as these laws are permanently enjoined by Commonwealth v. Balthazar and Lawrence v. Texas. It has two statutes that criminalize homosexual activity: §34 prohibits the "abominable and detestable crime against nature" and §35 prohibits "any unnatural and lascivious act with another person."
In January 2024, a bill unanimously passed the Massachusetts Senate to repeal the state's archaic 400-year-old laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity. In June 2025, the Massachusetts House of Representatives advanced the bill, and on July 17, 2025, a Senate committee scheduled it for floor consideration on July 24, 2025. Massachusetts is the only state in New England which has not legislatively repealed its sodomy laws. Michigan and Massachusetts are the only northern U.S. states where same-sex sexual activity is still legislatively criminalized.
Recognition of same-sex relationships Marriage
Massachusetts authorized same-sex marriages within the state following the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling on November 18, 2003 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the state Constitution for state agencies to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples only. The Court gave the state Legislature 180 days to enact laws pursuant to the judgment. In the absence of legislative action, Governor Mitt Romney ordered town clerks to begin issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples beginning May 17, 2004. Attempts to enact an amendment to the state Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, the last in 2007, were all unsuccessful.Boston Globe: Frank Phillips, "Legislators vote to defeat same-sex marriage ban," June 14, 2007 , accessed March 9, 2011
A 1913 state law that forbade non-residents from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would be void in their home state was repealed on July 31, 2008.Boston Globe: Michael Levenson," Governor signs law allowing out-of-state gays to wed," July 31, 2008 , accessed March 9, 2011
On July 26, 2012, the SJC ruled in Elia-Warnken v. Elia that the state recognizes a civil union established in a different jurisdiction as the equivalent of marriage. It termed a Massachusetts marriage entered into by a man who was already a party to a Vermont civil union with a third party "polygamy" and therefore void. On September 28, 2012, the SJC ruled in that "Because the parties to California [registered domestic partnerships] have rights and responsibilities identical to those of marriage", it is proper to treat such relationships "as equivalent to marriage" in Massachusetts.
Adoption and parenting In May 1985, in response to a public controversy about same-sex couple Don Babets and David Jean, who were acting as foster parents, Massachusetts issued regulations designed to prevent such couples from serving as foster parents.Nancy D. Polikoff, "Lesbian and Gay Couples Raising Children: The Law in the United States," in Robert Wintemute, Mads Tønnesson Andenæs, eds., Legal recognition of Same-Sex Partnerships: A Study of National, European and International Law (Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2001), 159-60 The state rescinded those regulations in April 1990 as part of an out-of-court settlement of a suit brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), following a five-year campaign by an ad hoc group formed around the issue, Foster Equality.Patricia A. Gozemba, Karen Kahn, Marilyn Humphries, eds., Courting Equality: A Documentary History of America's First Legal Same-Sex Marriages (Boston: Beacon Press, 2007), 48 The state has allowed second-parent adoption by a parent of the same sex as the existing parent since a court decision, In re Adoption of Tammy, in 1993.Yuval Merin, Equality for Same-Sex Couples, 182 In July 1999, the same court awarded visitation rights to each of two mothers after their separation.
In 2004, following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Governor Mitt Romney prevented the state's Registry of Vital Records from revising its birth certificate forms to allow for options other than one mother and one father, instead requiring hand-written changes to the documents only after receiving approval from the Governor's legal counsel. The forms were changed when Governor Deval Patrick took office in 2007.
In March 2006, Catholic Charities of Boston announced it would no longer provide adoption services because it could not comply with Massachusetts law prohibiting discrimination against homosexuals.Boston Globe: "Catholic Charities Transfers Caseload, Staff," April 29, 2006 , accessed March 9, 2011. See also: Robin Fretwell Wilson, "Matters of Conscience: Lessons for Same-Sex Marriage from the Healthcare Context," in Douglas Laycock, Robin Fretwell Wilson, eds., Same-sex Marriage and Religious Liberty: Emerging Conflicts (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), 102, et passim
In February 2011, Massachusetts Health Commissioner John Auerbach announced plans by the end of March to standardize birth certificates, formerly designed by each city or town, by providing hospitals with electronic forms with fields labeled "mother/parent" and "father/parent". He called the system "more sensitive to the circumstances of the family and to the children."Boston Globe: Stephen Smith, "Mass. moves to standardize birth certificates," February 17, 2011, accessed March 9, 2011
On August 1, 2024, the Massachusetts General Court unanimously passed a bill to recognise and implement legal parentage from both IVF and surrogacy - regardless of marital status. The governor signed it into law on August 8, 2024 and its goes into effect on January 1, 2025.
City of Boston In August 2023, the City of Boston removed all gender and sex on marriage licence forms and documents.
Discrimination protections Since 1989, Massachusetts has prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in credit, public and private employment, union practices, housing, and public accommodation.New York Times: "A Gay Rights Law Is Voted in Massachusetts," November 1, 1989 , accessed July 29, 2011 It was the second state to add sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination statute, following Wisconsin in 1982.
On February 17, 2011, Governor Deval Patrick issued an executive order banning discrimination on the part of the state or its contractors against transgender employees of the state Government. He reiterated his support for legislation to extend similar protection to all transgender persons in the state.; Massachusetts enacted such legislation prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity in credit, public and private employment, union practices and housing—but not public accommodations—on November 23, 2011, effective on July 1, 2012.Bill H.3810: An Act relative to gender identity , General Court of Massachusetts By the end of 2015, a bill was pending to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity in public accommodations, but its future was still uncertain. Finally, on May 12, 2016, the state Senate voted 33–4 to approve the bill. The Massachusetts House of Representatives on July 7, 2016 passed a bill by a vote of 117–36 to include gender identity to the public accommodations law. The bill was signed into law the next day, by Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker, and scheduled to take effect on October 1, 2016. In October 2016, however, anti-transgender activists submitted the minimum number of signatures necessary, to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, to put the law up for repeal on a statewide ballot measure. Voters decided on November 6, 2018 to retain the law, with 67.8% in favor of upholding law, and 32.2% opposed. The Massachusetts Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Initiative was the first-ever statewide ballot question of its kind in the United States.
In June 2012, on instructions from Worcester's Roman Catholic Bishop Robert McManus, diocesan officials declined to sell a property owned by the diocese to a same-sex couple and in July lied about what happened when questioned about the sale. In September, the couple filed suit against the bishop and other parties to the negotiations.
On January 29, 2014, Matthew Barrett represented by GLAD filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination against Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic secondary school, because in July 2013 the school had withdrawn an offer of employment as food service manager when officials learned he was in a same-sex marriage. The case moved to Massachusetts Superior Court, and on December 16, 2015, Judge Douglas H. Wilkins ruled in Barrett v. Fontbonne Academy that the Academy had violated the state's laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender.
Anti-bullying legislation was enacted in May 2010. It "requires schools to adopt clear procedures for reporting and investigating cases of bullying, as well as methods for preventing retaliation against those who report problems."Boston Globe: Sarah Schweitzer, "Activists urge lawmakers to expand bullying law," February 10, 2011, accessed March 9, 2011