Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), located in Boston, Massachusetts, was founded in 1978 by attorney John Ward and a group of New England lawyers and activists. Ward founded GLAD in response to the Boston Police Department's entrapment of over 100 gay patrons in the Boston Public Library. The event would become the foundation of GLAD’s first case, Doe v. McNiff .

Best known for its litigation of the Massachusetts case Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health, which established for the first time the right of same-sex couples to marry, GLAD was one of the first legal organizations in the United States dedicated solely to defending the rights of gay men and lesbians. Originally established to fight attacks and discrimination against the gay, lesbian and bisexual community, GLAD has, over time, expanded its mission to include transgender people and people with HIV. In 1985, GLAD launched the AIDS Law Project with the purpose of fighting AIDS-related discrimination, and in the early 1990s, it established the Civil Rights Project to focus on civil rights issues in the gay and lesbian community. GLAD rewrote its mission statement in 2000 to include the eradication of discrimination based on “gender identity and expression,” in addition to “sexual orientation and HIV status,” which led to the formal creation of the Transgender Rights Project in 2008. GLAD has also been committed to educating the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, the legal community, and the general public about the legal and civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and of people with HIV.

Located in Boston since its inception, GLAD has primarily served the six New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. It divides its work into three major functions: Legal, Public Affairs & Education, and Development. The Legal department handles litigation and other legal matters and does most of GLAD’s legislative work. The Public Affairs & Education department fulfills GLAD’s mission to educate the public, while the Development department is responsible for generating funds to maintain and grow GLAD’s operations, which are primarily supported by donations.

Although GLAD is a thriving and influential organization, its establishment as a small organization run by volunteers has heavily influenced its administrative history. The organization is governed by a board of directors and run by an executive director, who is responsible for day-to-day operations. John Ward served as its first executive director until 1983. In that year, Kathy Travers became the second executive director of GLAD and its first full-time, paid employee. In 1984, attorney Kevin Cathcart took over the position, which he held for eight years. Throughout the 1980s, GLAD’s staff remained small, and the executive director was responsible for all of GLAD’s operations. GLAD relied on its relationships with outside attorneys to handle many of its cases. The office manager position became a full-time paid position in 1986, around the same time that GLAD hired its first staff attorney, Denise McWilliams, to direct the AIDS Law Project. The hiring of McWilliams increased the size of the full-time staff to three. By 1990, the full-time staff had grown to five with the addition of a development director in 1988 and another staff attorney, Mary Bonauto, in 1990. During the 1990s, GLAD continued to grow and had several executive directors: Josephine Ross (1992-1993), Jan Platner (1993-1995), Amelia Craig (1995-1997), and Gary Buseck (1997-2003). In times when the position was left vacant, GLAD staff attorneys Denise McWilliams (in 1992), Mary Bonauto (in 1995), and Bennett Klein (in 1997) stepped in as acting executive director. In 2005, Lee Swislow became the executive director. By 2010 GLAD had a staff of thirty, including eight attorneys, two distinct departments serving GLAD’s development and public affairs/education needs, and a budget of $3.1 million.

Some of GLAD’s notable cases include Doe v. McNiff (1978); Babets v. Johnston (1985), which addressed the right of same-sex couples to become foster parents; Bragdon v. Abbott (1995), which established that people living with HIV/AIDS are protected under the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act; Rosa v. Park West Bank (2000) and Doe v. Yunits (2000), both of which affirmed the right of transgender people to legal protection against discrimination; Baker v. Vermont (1999), which led to the creation of civil unions in Vermont; and Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (2003) and Kerrigan & Mock v. Dept. of Public Health (2008), which together established same-sex marriage in their respective states of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

From the guide to the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders records, 1973-2010, (Manuscripts and Archives)