(MassLive- Dave Canton) Legislation providing in vitro fertilization therapy to LGBTQ+ Massachusetts veterans faces a January hearing. The federal Veterans Administration does not allow such therapy to veterans in same-sex marriages.
The Healey administration filed legislation called the Hero Act to provide a range of services to Massachusetts veterans, including thousands of LGBTQ+ citizens who served. Gov. Maura T. Healey is the first Massachusetts governor who openly identifies as gay.
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The Hero Act is slated for hearing before the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs in January. The chairperson of that committee, state Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, is also the author of legislation extending state veterans benefits to those who resigned or were forced out of the military due to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
Velis is a major in the Massachusetts Army National Guard and served two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
He said Healey’s bill picks up on work already underway.
“I am proud to say that what the governor has filed in the Hero Act is a continuation of what we started in the Senate, which is that the benefits you are entitled to if you serve your country, raise your hand and say, ‘I am willing to die in service to my country,’ there should be no impact based on who you are,” Velis said.
“I am 100 percent certain that if you are in a war zone, the enemy does not care one iota about your gender or sexual orientation or anything like that,” he said. “Who you love is absolutely irrelevant. Someone who is in a same-sex marriage can be blown up just like anyone else.”
Last year, Velis moved to include paying the so-called “Welcome Home Bonus” to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” victims. Veterans are paid $1,000 for their service upon discharge, with bonuses of $500 for each deployment to a combat zone.