Lesbian/gay community betrayed by State Rights Bill

The much ballyhooed gay and lesbian rights bill signed into law in Massachusetts on November 15 is no cause for celebration [...]. [...] That's because the new gay rights bill explicitly denies protection to anyone who has any attraction to persons under 18. That means no civil rights for two 15-year-old lesbian lovers, or a man in a perfectly legal gay relationship with a 17-year-old boy. [...] Instead of mobilizing the gay and lesbian community to fight the bigoted language in this bill, a small group of gay and lesbian "leaders" met secretly with state legislators last month and decided that the bill's flaws were tolerable. They betrayed some of the most vulnerable constituencies of our community for a hollow legalistic victory.

source: Article 'Lesbian/Gay Community Betrayed by State Rights Bill' by Bill Andriette; NAMBLA Bulletin, vol. 10, n. 10; December 1989