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This year on Give OUT Day we want to say thank you to all of our supporters for showing up for us all year long. We also want to share the love by encouraging GLAD supporters to learn about groups doing important work near you.

The following list features some of our New England partners and other organizations whose innovative work we want to highlight. Our sincere gratitude– we couldn’t do this work without you.

Affirming Spaces Project

New Hampshire

Affirming Spaces Project (ASP), scheduled to launch in August 2021, will serve the trans and GNC community of NH, primarily by connecting TGNC persons with local TGNC-friendly businesses and services. ASP also plans to engage in community education and advocacy.

Donate to Affirming Spaces Project

Coyote RI

Coyote RI Logo

Rhode Island

Coyote, which stands for “Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics,” was originally founded in 1973 by Margo St. James, who filed and won a class-action lawsuit in 1979 to decriminalize indoor sex work in RI. Coyote, which resumed its activism in 2010 in response to Rhode Island’s full criminalization of prostitution in 2009, is a coalition of current and former sex workers that advocates for the human, health, labor, and civil rights of sex workers in RI and across the nation.

Donate to Coyote RI

Kamora’s Cultural Corner

Hartford, CT

Founded by activist Kamora Herrington, Kamora’s Cultural Corner (KCC) centers Black LGBTQ+ artists and their perspectives, intentionally creating spaces for community building, healing, and connection through Black queer art. In November 2020, KCC held a “Black Art Heals Tour” to exhibit their art throughout the Southeast.

Donate to Kamora’s Cultural Corner

Maine Inside Out

Portland, ME

Maine Inside Out (MIO), founded in 2008, holds theater programs at Long Creek Youth Development Center, Maine’s youth correctional facility. MIO continues to engage youth upon their release from Long Creek through community engagement, peer and adult support, participant-led advocacy, leadership development, and practical skill-building.

Donate to Maine Inside Out

Out in the Open

Brattleboro, VT

Out in the Open is a multi-issue social justice movement connecting rural LGBTQ people to build community, visibility, knowledge, and power. Last year, Out in the Open organized a Rural Community Care Support Network to provide mutual aid to the rural LGBTQ+ VT community during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Donate to Out in the Open

Out Now

Springfield, MA

Out Now, founded in 1995, provides a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth to learn about and explore themselves and the history of the LGBTQ+ movement while developing leadership skills. Out Now’s many programs include an Our Liberation! Theater of the Oppressed workshop.

Donate to Out Now

Sisters Unchained

Jamaica Plain, MA

Founded in 2015 by Ayana Aubourg, Meron Teklehaimanot, and Vanessa Ly, Sisters Unchained provides a safe space for the daughters of formerly and presently incarcerated mothers to heal and realize transformative social change. Sisters Unchained is a prison-abolitionist organization supporting community-based alternatives to incarceration.

Donate to Sisters Unchained

TGI Network of RI

Providence, RI

TGI Network was founded in 2011 and serves trans, intersex, and GNC (TGI) Rhode Islanders through support, advocacy, and education. TGI Network currently offers three peer-led support groups for questioning persons, TGI persons, and their loved ones.

Donate to TGI Network of RI

Support, Not Solitary, for People Under DOC Mental Health Watch

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GLAD Senior Attorney Bennett Klein has submitted testimony in support of S 1283, “An Act to ensure the constitutional rights and human dignity of prisoners on mental health watch.”

S 1283 “would address the severe constitutional violations and disregard for prisoners’ mental health outlined in the Investigation of the Massachusetts Department of Correction (DOC) by the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division,” states Klein in his testimony.

The DOJ Report revealed the harrowing consequences of DOC’s policy of placing individuals under mental health watch in solitary confinement (restrictive housing) for long periods. Solitary confinement has been defined as torture by the United National and inflicts profound and lasting psychological harm.

This bill would take decisive steps to remedy these inhumane practices by:

limiting the duration of placement in mental health watch for individuals with mental illnesses or at suicide risk
requiring placement of those with extended mental health watch needs into appropriate psychiatric hospital settings
requiring a range of regulations and policies intended to ensure that those with mental health needs receive medically sound treatment and protection

Read GLAD’s joint statement on the DOJ Report

Read Bennett Klein’s testimony

Expanding Access to PrEP in Massachusetts

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PrEP is the most effective tool we have to prevent HIV transmission and bring an end to the HIV epidemic.

An Act Enabling Pharmacists to Prescribe, Dispense and Administer PrEP (S.1407) would significantly advance the Commonwealth’s goal of ending the HIV epidemic by expanding access to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and permitting a pharmacist to dispense a 60-day supply for those facing barriers to care.

According to GLAD’s testimony in support of the legislation:

GLAD strongly supports S.1407 because it expands access to a simple, safe, and effective medication that reduces the risk of HIV transmission by close to 100% and provides our best opportunity to end the HIV epidemic. The bill, which authorizes pharmacists to dispense PrEP without a prescription on a short-term basis, will: (1) allow the most vulnerable populations to obtain PrEP quickly; and (2) improve access to care by requiring pharmacists to link customers to medical care for ongoing PrEP oversight and other vital health needs.

UPDATE: On July 31, the Massachusetts legislative session ended without a vote on this bill. We will continue to advocate for legislation that will provide needed access to this essential medication.

UPDATE: On June 30, the Massachusetts Senate took a bold step toward ending the HIV epidemic by passing the bill. Learn more.

Read the latest coverage in the Boston Globe

Protecting Children With the Massachusetts Parentage Act

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To close out Pride Month, we are hosting a special conversation about a critical piece of legislation that would provide powerful protections for children of LGBTQ parents, and beyond. RSVP below to receive the Zoom link.

Join the Massachusetts Parentage Coalition to learn about the Massachusetts Parentage Act (S. 1133/H. 1714) that is pending this session. The MPA would ensure Massachusetts parentage law protects all children no matter their parents’ gender, marital status, sexual orientation, or the circumstances of their birth. The panel will include parent speaker J. Shia, an overview of the bill, and information on how to get involved in supporting this critical legislation.

Massachusetts is the only New England state without comprehensive statutory protections for LGBTQ parents – please join us in supporting this work.

Featuring:

This event is free and open to all. ASL interpretation and live captioning will be provided.

Register for the event:

Click here to learn more about the Massachusetts Parentage Act

Stop Profiling Transgender People and Low-Income Women

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UPDATE July 31, 2022: The 2022 MA legislative session ended without moving this bill forward. GLAD will continue to advocate for legislation and policy that will mitigate the profiling of transgender and low-income women, as well as decriminalizing consensual sex work.

GLAD supports An Act to Stop Profiling Transgender People and Low-Income Women (S.992/H.1800), which would partially decriminalize sex work by removing “common night walkers” and “common streetwalkers” from Massachusetts general laws, and create limited amnesty for sex workers reporting a crime. This would be a critical step toward protecting vulnerable populations who are already subjected to profound stigma, discrimination, and marginalization in our society.

As GLAD’s AIDS Law Project Director and Senior Staff Attorney Bennett Klein explained in testimony delivered on June 15, 2021:

The “common night walkers” and “common streetwalkers” statute has been used disproportionately to profile and arrest low-income women and transgender women of color, including some who are engaged in consensual sex work as well as individuals who are stopped, searched, and arrested while simply walking the street and doing nothing illegal. The repeal of Chapter 272, § 53(a) is a vital first step to ending the harms that result from the criminalization of the consensual exchange of sex for money, including violence, increased HIV transmission and other health risks, and barriers to housing and employment. These bills will also enhance safety by creating the conditions for people who engage in sex work to report crimes, against them or others, without fear of prosecution… Laws criminalizing the consensual exchange of sex inflict profound harm on sex workers and our society. The repeal of these laws is long overdue.

Read the full testimony here.

An Act Relative to Accountability for Vulnerable Children and Families

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Senate Bill 32/House Bill 239 and House Bill 88 refresh Department of Children and Families reports to include data related to demographics including age, race, ethnicity, primary language, gender identity, and sexual orientation; as well as rates of disproportionality including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

These bills were not passed in the 2021-2022 legislature.

GLAD to Court: Keep Anti-Bullying Protections Strong in MA Schools

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GLAD authored an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Doe v. Hopkinton Public Schools, a case which challenges the inclusion of “emotional harm” in the definition of bullying in Massachusetts’ anti-bullying statute as overly broad and vague.

GLAD’s brief demonstrates that the definition of emotional harm is well-established and recognized in both law and medicine and presents established medical and social science findings on the severe negative consequences of emotional harm from bullying. The brief also highlights the disproportionate impact emotional harm from bullying has on stigmatized groups including LGBTQ+ youth.

The brief asserts that the inclusion of emotional harm in Massachusetts’ anti-bullying law provides clarity for students, school staff and parents about one of the principal consequences of bullying, and that it is vitally important to the law’s objectives – to protect youth from the impacts of bullying and establish schools’ responsibility for prevention, identification, and remediation.

GLAD’s brief was joined by the Anti-Defamation League.

Doe v. Hopkinton Public Schools

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VICTORY: On November 30th, 2021, the Court’s decision upheld the constitutionality of the Massachusetts anti-bullying statute. Read our statement.

All students have the right to attend school safely. To learn more about protections for LGBTQ+ students at school, visit SafeSchoolsForAll.org.

GLAD authored an amicus (friend of the court) brief submitted to the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Doe v. Hopkinton Public Schools. This case challenges the inclusion of “emotional harm” in the definition of bullying in Massachusetts’ anti-bullying statute as overly broad and vague.

The brief asserts that the inclusion of emotional harm in Massachusetts’ anti-bullying law provides clarity for students, school staff, and parents about one of the principal consequences of bullying and that it is vitally important to the law’s objectives – to protect youth from the impacts of bullying and establish schools’ responsibility for prevention, identification, and remediation.

GLAD’s brief was joined by the Anti-Defamation League.

GLAD Supports Calls for Transformation at Boston Pride

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GLAD Supports Trans Resistance MA and Pride 4 the People in Calls for Transformation at Boston Pride

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) joins in solidarity with Black trans leaders and former Boston Pride volunteers in calling for transformation at the Boston Pride organization. Pride is about protest, celebration, and community and should be a welcoming, safe space for all. Boston deserves a Pride in which Black and POC LGBTQ+ community members have a strong voice in leadership and which works to address the issues causing harm to our community, including systemic racism and police violence.

Guided by our organizational values of justice and lived equality; inclusion, equity, and mutual respect; anti-racism; and collaboration GLAD will not be participating in official Boston Pride events in 2021. In solidarity with Trans Resistance MA and Pride 4 the People GLAD supports the Trans Resistance March and Vigil for Black Trans Lives taking place on June 12.

GLAD Joins Call for Independent, Transparent Investigation into Mikayla Miller’s Death

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GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders Senior Staff Attorney Polly Crozier issued the following statement amid ongoing concerns about the handling of the investigation into the assault and death of Mikayla Miller, a Black, LGBTQ Hopkinton teenager who was found dead near her home last month. Miller’s family has raised questions about the actions of the Hopkinton police, State Police, and the Middlesex district attorney’s office, expressing concerns that Mikayla being Black and LGBTQ may have played a role in the handling of the investigation.

My heart breaks for Mikayla’s mother, Calvina Strothers, for her family and friends, and for the tragic loss of a young, Black, LGBTQ girl who should have had so many more years ahead of her to thrive in the love of her family and friends, get her driver’s license, go to college, play basketball, and live out all of her many her dreams. GLAD joins with Ms. Strothers, Violence in Boston, and others in the community in raising concerns about the handling of the investigation into what happened to Mikayla, and supports the family’s calls for a full, independent, and transparent examination of what transpired.

Miller’s mother has stated that police told her not to go to the media because doing so would out her daughter as LGBTQ. Such an allegation is appalling. As Ms. Strothers said at the vigil and rally yesterday, Mikayla’s LGBTQ status was known. She was a much-loved and cherished child in all of her many dimensions. Anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ violence and discrimination destroys lives and devastates communities. We must address it swiftly, seek accountability, and work relentlessly for change.

We stand in support of Ms. Strothers, and we lift up her call for DA Ryan to recuse herself from the investigation in favor of an independent investigation. #JusticeforMikaylaMiller