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A Massachusetts bill, which seeks to update state law to redefine who legally qualifies as a parent, passed in the state senate on Thursday and now awaits signature from Democratic Governor Maura Healey to become law.
The Massachusetts Parentage Act aims to ensure “legal parentage equality” for children born to parents “without regard to the marital status, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation of their parents or the circumstances of their birth, including whether they were born as a result of assisted reproduction or surrogacy,” the bill text explains.
The bill requires gendered terms like “father” and “mother” to be stripped from state parentage law and replaced with more “inclusive” terms like “parent” or “the person who gave birth.” Advocates say the bill protects the legal parenting rights of diverse and LGBTQ families.
Democratic state senator Julian Cyr, a co-sponsor of the bill, celebrated its passage on X, writing, “LGBTQ+ families like mine face excessive and expensive hoops just to ensure our children have the security of legal parentage. The Senate’s passage of this bill is a critical step towards parentage equality in Massachusetts!”
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Boston-based LGBTQ advocacy group GLAD praised the passing of the “historic” Massachusetts Parentage Act. (Sophia Groves/Getty Images)
The bill drew attention on social media this week after the popular account Libs of TikTok noted the bill’s passage on X. The post attracted millions of views and thousands of negative comments from critics.
“And they say it’s conservatives who are ‘waging war’ against women: It would also replace the terms ‘man’ & ‘woman’ with ‘persons’ and replace ‘mother’ with ‘person who gave birth,’” author Nancy Pearcey reacted.
“It’s always been about corrupting our language, destroying the family, then taking away our rights & freedoms,” former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines wrote.
The Massachusetts bill would also expand legal parenthood through surrogacy. (iStock)
Fox News Digital reached out to co-sponsors of the bill to ask about specific criticisms of the bill, but did not receive a response.
Governor Healey has previously expressed support for the bill, which she said was long overdue.
“We’ve been proud to be a national leader and trailblazer when it comes to LGBTQ+ equality, but we’ve got some catching up to do,” Healey said in April, according to The Boston Globe. “Let’s pass the Massachusetts Parentage Act to make sure every family has the legal protections they need and deserve.”
If signed, Massachusetts would join Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, who’ve passed similar parentage legislation in recent years, according to Boston-based LGBTQ advocacy group GLAD.
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new video loaded: Hochul and Mamdani Announce Plan for Universal Child Care
transcript
transcript
“Today, we’re working together with the mayor at this incredible place to announce the first major steps to make child care universal — truly universal — here in New York City, transforming the lives of children and parents all across the state.” “We will build on the city’s existing three-K program, and say, no longer will a family in Flatbush be offered a seat, but have to find out that seat is in Astoria. We will add seats in the neighborhoods where demand has not been met. This will be felt by expanded subsidies for tens of thousands of additional families. It will be felt when parents look at their bank accounts at the end of the year, and see that they have saved more than $20,000 per child.” “And today, I’m proud to announce that New York State is paying the full cost to launch 2-care. For the first time — universal daycare for 2-year-olds, as proposed by Mayor Mamdani. We’re not just paying for one year of the program. We don’t usually go one year out in our budget, but just to let you know how serious we are, we’re taking the unprecedented step to not just commit for the 2027 budget, which I’m working on right now, but also the following year as well to show you we’re in this for the long haul.”
By Meg Felling
January 8, 2026
Local News
A Boston nightclub where a woman collapsed on the dance floor and died last month will have its entertainment license reinstated after the Boston Licensing Board found no violations Thursday.
Anastaiya Colon, 27, was at ICON, a nightclub in Boston’s Theater District, in the early hours of Dec. 21 when she suffered a fatal medical episode. Following the incident, her loved ones insisted that the club’s staff did not respond professionally and failed to control crowds.
City regulators suspended ICON’s entertainment license pending an assessment of any potential violations. During a hearing Tuesday, they heard from attorneys representing the club and people who were with Colon the night she died.
As EMTs attempted to respond, crowds inside the club failed to comply with demands to give them space, prompting police to shut down the club, according to a police report of the incident. However, the club and its representatives were adamant that staff handled their response and crowd control efforts properly.
Kevin Montgomery, the club’s head of security, testified that the crowd did not impede police or EMTs and that he waited to evacuate the club because doing so would have created a bottleneck at the entrance. Additionally, a bouncer and a bartender both testified that they interacted with Colon, who ordered one drink before collapsing, and did not see any signs of intoxication.
Angelica Morales, Colon’s sister, submitted a video taken on her phone to the board for them to review. Morales testified Tuesday that the video disproves some of the board’s claims and shows that ICON did not immediately respond to the emergency.
“I ran to the DJ booth, literally bombarded everybody that was in my way to get to the DJ booth, told them to cut the music off,” Morales said. “On my way back, the music was cut off for a minute or two, maybe less, and they cut the music back on.”
Shanice Monteiro, a friend who was with Colon and Morales, said she went outside to flag down police officers. She testified that their response, along with the crowd’s, was inadequate.
“I struggled to get outside,” Monteiro said. “Once I got outside, everybody was still partying, there was no type of urgency. Nobody stopped.”
These factors, along with video evidence provided by ICON, did not substantiate any violations on the club’s part, prompting the licensing board to reinstate their entertainment license at a subsequent hearing Thursday.
“Based on the evidence presented at the hearing from the licensed premise and the spoken testimony and video evidence shared with us from Ms. Colon’s family, I’m not able to find a violation in this case,” Kathleen Joyce, the board’s chairwoman, said at the hearing.
However, Joyce further stated that she “was not able to resolve certain questions” about exactly when or why the club turned off the music or turned on the lights. As a result, the board will require ICON to submit an emergency management plan to prevent future incidents and put organized safety measures in place.
“This plan should outline detailed operational procedures in the event of a medical or any other emergency, including protocols for police and ambulance notification, crowd control and dispersal, and procedures regarding lighting and music during an emergency response,” Joyce said.
Though the club will reopen without facing any violations, Joyce noted that there were “lessons left to be learned” from the incident.
“This tragedy has shaken the public confidence in nightlife in this area, and restoring that confidence is a shared obligation,” she said. “People should feel safe going out at night. They should feel safe going to a club in this area, and they should feel safe getting home.”
Keeana Saxon, one of three commissioners on the licensing board, further emphasized the distinction Joyce made between entertainment-related matters and those that pertained to licensing. Essentially, the deciding factor in the board’s decision was the separation of the club’s response from any accountability they may have had by serving Colon liquor.
“I hope that the family does understand that there are separate procedures for both the entertainment and the licensing, just to make sure that on the licensing side, that we understand that she was only served one drink and that it was absolutely unforeseeable for that one drink to then lead to some kind of emergency such as this one,” Saxon said.
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Jack McGregor, a former state senator and the original founder of the Pittsburgh Penguins, died at the age of 91 on Tuesday. The organization announced the news in a post on social media on Thursday.
“The team extends our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and teammates during this difficult time,” a post on X said.
No other information was provided in the post, which was shared before the team’s game at PPG Paints Arena against the New Jersey Devils.
According to his biography on the United States Senate Library, McGregor served in the state Senate from 1963-1970. He represented District 44 in Allegheny County and was a Republican.
He was born in Kittanning, Armstrong County, and attended the University of Pittsburgh and Quinnipiac University before getting into politics, according to his biography. He also served in the United States Marine Corps.
In 1966, the NHL granted a franchise to Pittsburgh after McGregor formed a group of investors that included H. J. Heinz II and Art Rooney. McGregor was named president and chief executive officer by the investors and represented Pittsburgh on the NHL’s Board of Governors, according to his biography.
The team played its first game in 1967 at the Civic Arena. McGregor owned the team for four years before selling it.
There is also a scholarship in his name at Pitt. It aims to provide “financial assistance to a law student who excels academically and has committed to working in the public sector,” the university says.
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