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Home Page Check out what is happening on beacon hill Read about the MGLPC in the press your place for mglpc activities The things we have done in the past

  your advocate on beacon hill since 1973  

   1973   

The Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus --- The Caucus --- was created.

Drafted and filed first Gay & Lesbian Civil Rights Bill in Massachusetts

   

1983

Lobbied Gay & Lesbian Civil Rights Bill to passage in House. Bill defeated in Senate by one vote.

1984

Began electoral mass mailings to inform gay community about legislators' votes on gay issues.

1985

Defeated numerous anti-gay foster care & adoption initiatives in legislature. (Effort to defeat these measures lasted until 1991)

   

1986

Lobbied into law the nation's toughest bill to protect HIV testing confidentiality and to prohibit mandatory testing.

   

1989

Won passage of MGLPC’s Gay & Lesbian Civil Rights law. Law prevented discrimination in housing, employment, insurance and public accommodations.

   

1990

Led successful fight to stop Citizens for Family First from repealing the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights law.

1991

Stopped Committee to Restore Traditional Morality from putting four anti-gay questions on the statewide ballot.

1992

Introduced Hate Crimes Bill to make gaybashing an explicit civil rights violation.

1993

Filed landmark Domestic Partnership legislation to grant health insurance benefits to partners of all gay and lesbian public employees in the Commonwealth.

1993

Launched the Caucus Fight the Right Project, a statewide campaign to counter anti-gay extremists in Massachusetts.

1994

Won favorable report by Public Service Committee for MGLPC's Domestic Partnership bill.

1994

Played key role in uncovering radical right activities throughout Massachusetts. Successfully organized opposition to nearly a dozen anti-gay extremists running for school committee.

1995

Legislation introduced to repeal the Archaic Sex laws. The Archaic Sex laws regulate sexual activity between consenting adults.

1998

Mayor Menino signs an executive order on Boston's Home Rule Petition on domestic partnership.

   

Introduced landmark Domestic Partnership law, won favorable Public Service Committee report, and won nearly unanimous passage in the Senate in September, 2001.

Led the organization and deployment of Truth Squads to monitor the paid petition-hustlers for the so-called “Protection of Marriage Act.” (According to a formal warning from the Attorney General’s office, voters were being bait-and-switched into signing the anti-gay measure.)

Led a first-in-the-nation internet project to make the public record of alleged anti-gay “petition signers” available, so Massachusetts voters could see if their signatures were stolen -- and report it.

Led the effort to expose the paid election fraud in nearly every major Massachusetts media outlet.

Won an unprecedented 15-0 vote to recommend the defeat of the anti-gay amendment in the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Service. (This kind of unanimity is very rare, even on the most non-controversial issues.)

Won a first-in-the-nation 137 - 53 bi-partisan vote to adjourn the Constitutional Convention on July 17, 2002, effectively killing the anti-gay amendment. .

Note: the chronology covering the years since 2002 is being revised and updated. Please return later.



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