Massachusetts

The Westboro Baptist Church, home of the anti-gay extremists behind the “Gods Hate Fags” and "God hates the World" fundamentalist movement, took to Twitter on Monday evening to blame a bombing attack at the Boston Marathon on the effects of same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

BOSTON — Massachusetts Democrats are faulting Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Michael Sullivan on the issue of same-sex marriage even as Sullivan scrambled to say he opposes a federal law that bars benefits for same-sex couples. [ Read more → ]

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. — The head of a western Massachusetts charter school says a student production of a play that retells the biblical story of Genesis with gay characters will go on as planned despite objections from some who say it's offensive to Christians. [ Read more → ]

BOSTON — A federal appeals court will hear arguments in April in an appeal of a judge's ruling granting a taxpayer-funded sex change for a Massachusetts transgender inmate. [ Read more → ]

Fox’s Bill O’Reilly condemned a new Massachusetts school policy protecting transgender students, suggesting that teachers should be allowed to out their transgender students to their families and fear mongering that “wise guys” might use the policy to infiltrate girls’ restrooms. [ Read more → ]

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Education on Friday issued directives for handling transgender students, including allowing them to use the bathrooms or play on the sports teams that correspond to the gender with which they identify. [ Read more → ]

MEDFORD, Mass. -- An openly gay Massachusetts state lawmaker has announced plans to seek a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives should U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D) be successful in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Kerry. [ Read more → ]

The governor of Massachusetts on Wednesday announced his choice for the interim replacement for outgoing Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) — and it’s not the gay former U.S. House member who was publicly lobbying for the position. [ Read more → ]

Rather than honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s commitment to civil rights, or the President’s call for LGBT equality during his inaugural address, vandals at Boston College Law School used the three-day weekend to deface the office of an LGBT student group, reports Above The Law. [ Read more → ]

A Massachusetts-based biotechnology company announced it will join just a few dozen companies in the United States to supplement gay employees for taxes incurred when covering their spouse or partner in the company's health plan -- taxes that are not paid by their straight counterparts. [ Read more → ]

BOSTON -- A federal judge, who earlier this year ordered that convicted murderer Michelle Kosilek be allowed taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery, ruled Tuesday that he would suspend his order until an appeal of his ruling by the administration of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. [ Read more → ]

SALEM, Mass. -- The contest for the 6th Congressional District race ended with veteran Democratic U.S. Congressman John Tierney defeating openly gay Republican challenger Richard Tisei. [ Read more → ]

BOSTON -- The American first family of Democratic politics is back in national prominence as the 32-year-old grandson of the slain New York Senator Robert Kennedy has been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District. [ Read more → ]

BOSTON -- Elizabeth Warren has been declared the winner in the U.S. Senate race from Massachusetts, unseating GOP incumbent Scott Brown, and will become the state's first woman elected to the U.S. Senate [ Read more → ]

BOSTON -- In 2003, while Governor of Massachusetts, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who publicly said he opposed child-rearing by gay and lesbian couples, insisted that his top legal staff individually review the circumstances of every birth to same-sex parents. [ Read more → ]

NORFOLK, Mass. -- Convicted murderer Michelle Kosilek — who was granted taxpayer-funded gender-reassignment surgery ordered by a federal judge — is demanding $698 in reimbursement for legal expenses for arguing her case from behind bars, and her attorneys are seeking legal fees of in excess of $800,000, according to documents filed this week in U. S. District Court. [ Read more → ]

BOSTON -- A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Massachusetts Department of Corrections to provide taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery to an inmate serving life in prison for murder, "because it is the only way to treat her serious medical need." [ Read more → ]

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday credited gay rights advocates for advancing the “civil rights of every straight American." [ Read more → ]

Richard Tisei, an openly gay Republican candidate for Congress in Massachusetts, now has an even shot at beating his opponent, incumbent Democratic Rep. John Tierney, according to a new rating of the race by the paper Roll Call. [ Read more → ]

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said he won’t back down from his stance against Chick-fil-A and its anti-marriage equality stance, but acknowledged Thursday he cannot prevent the fast-food chain from opening a new franchise across the street from City Hall. [ Read more → ]