When the Alabama Supreme Court announced its decision that embryos have the same legal rights as children placing IVF access in jeopardy nationwide the future of LGBTQ+ families instantly became uncertain. LGBTQ+ couples overwhelmingly rely on fertility treatments to build their families, and IVF is the most common method of assisted reproduction.LGBTQ+ people have long endured obstacles when it comes to family building from exorbitant costs to bureaucratic roadblocks to discrimination and bias but the GOPs outright hostility toward LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights has fostered increasingly nasty attitudes toward queer families.But queer people are resilient, and in the face of all this hate, out Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has a clear answer for how to maintain pride in our families and avoid letting extremists bring us down: Vote them out of office, and vote people who will stand with us and protect us into office. Share your opinion View the article on LGBTQ Nation to participate in our reader poll. Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024 Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today I meet so many people who are using surrogacy and IVF and assisted reproduction because of the rights and freedoms theyre afforded under Massachusetts law, Healey told LGBTQ Nation. Im proud of who I am and what I get to do every day and the freedoms that I get to stand up for and the policies we get to advance, and people should take pride in that and not let the bullies and the haters defeat our spirit.Healeys administration is the antithesis of hostility.In the year and a half since she shattered the lavender ceiling and was sworn in as one of the countrys first out lesbian governors, Healey has signed a landmark parentage act to protect LGBTQ+ families, introduced and signed legislation to guarantee IVF coverage for LGBTQ+ veterans, signed a critical maternal health bill, passed an executive order to protect access to emergency abortion care, and expanded state spending benchmarks to support LGBTQ+-owned businesses.The governor has also hit the campaign trail hard for Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking at the Democratic National Convention, participating in Zoom rallies, and campaigning with other governors. Shes ready to get stuff done for the American people and so are we. Weve got your back, @KamalaHarris. Lets go! pic.twitter.com/A5JcYyFy7S Gretchen Whitmer (@gretchenwhitmer) October 18, 2024People who believe in and want to protect civil rights and freedoms need to go vote, she said, and they need to go vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.Healey praised Harris and Gov. Tim Walz as champions of women and the freedom that women should have to make decisions for themselves. They are also champions for the LGBTQ community, she added, highlighting Harris longstanding commitment to LGBTQ+ rights.People who believe in and want to protect civil rights and freedoms need to go vote.Massachusetts Governor Maura HealeyHealey and Harris had overlapping terms as attorneys general for their respective states. While Healey was suing then-President Donald Trumps administration nearly 100 times, she said Harris was equally busy fighting for LGBTQ+ people.She praised Harris for establishing a hate crimes unit to investigate anti-LGBTQ+ violence, as well as for her advocacy in helping end the gay and trans panic defense in California.She famously refused to defend Prop 8 [which sought to outlaw same-sex marriage in the state], Healey added, and later, [became known for] her advocacy as senator, co-sponsoring the Equality Act, defending the ACA [the Affordable Care Act], and [then as vice president] helping Joe Biden with probably the most pro-equality administration in history. The governor didnt hesitate when asked what most worries her about a second term for Donald Trump when it comes to bodily autonomy and the rights of families: Everything.Its really, really scary I mean, [Trump] probably led the most anti-LGBTQ administration in American history, and taking away freedoms and protections, you know, banning transgender people from serving in the military, arguing in courts that businesses should be allowed to refuse to serve LGBTQ people, taking away medically necessary care for young people, and we know based on Project 2025 and his own statements, it will be so much worse They want to go after marriage equality. They want to implement a national abortion ban. They want to restrict contraception.She expressed deep concern about the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth as lawmakers across the nation propose hundreds of bills trying to roll back their rights, and in some cases, eliminate their right to exist at all. Related The election could push LGBTQ+ mental health to the edge. Queer activists are fighting for a lifeline. Pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, at its core, is mental health legislation. Voters are acutely aware of the potential fallout of a Trump reelection. According to the Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers, and in the organizations 2024 national mental health survey, 90% of LGBTQ+ young people said their well-being has been negatively impacted by recent politics.Rates of suicide are up, Healey said. Add to that, since Trump overturned Roe and I mean that, Trump did overturn Roe he made good on that now we have one in three women in America living in a state with an abortion ban. So, these are the things that are very real and under threat. The Trump campaign has continuously tried to distance itself from the dystopian vision painted by the Heritage Foundations Project 2025, which offers a chilling blueprint for what a second Trump term might look like. But Trump has many connections to the project, and as Healey has told the press, Dont believe anything that Donald Trump says because hell say anything and everything depending on where the wind is blowing.But there is one thing Healey absolutely trusts Trump to do, and thats carry out his partys threats to the American people. Just like he overturned Roe v. Wade, Healey warns he is more than capable of achieving the goals laid out in Project 2025, which essentially calls to completely eliminate LGBTQ+ rights and literally states, Only heterosexual, two-parent families are safe for children.These things hes going to make good on, warned Healey, who herself is the stepmother to two children. Its very dangerous right now. Trump and Project 2025 would undoubtedly upend the lives of LGBTQ+ families, but there are also economic reasons the policies would be catastrophic.Theres a reason that Massachusetts is ranked number one for our schools, for healthcare as the best place to have a baby, the best place to live if youre a woman, Healey said.Part of the reason is were a state that has long protected civil rights and freedoms I think its a critical piece of our economic competitiveness We want colleges and universities and our businesses to have the opportunity to attract the very best talent to Massachusetts. And we want people to come and succeed and thrive here and grow families here and grow businesses here, grow careers here. And one of the ways we do that successfully is being a state that not just through government policy, but also through the actions of our businesses and corporate stakeholders has been a state about respecting and supporting civil rights and freedoms.Healey recalled her time as the attorney generals offices civil rights chief when she successfully challenged the Defense of Marriage Act and helped lay the groundwork for nationwide marriage equality.One of the briefs that we put together for the first circuit and then later for the first court was an amicus brief signed by businesses in support of equality, she explained, and a reason they did that was because they understood the economic imperative. Companies do better when theres more representation on their boards and in their C suites. Thats been proven. Youre going to get better policies, better ideas, better results and outcomes when you promote an inclusive and open environment.Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey speaks on stage during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images. She touted her states diverse elected officials as a driving force behind the progress theyve made to protect the rights of marginalized communities. Healey is not only the nations first out lesbian governor, along with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D), but she and Kim Driscoll also make up the countrys first all-woman governor/lieutenant governor team.I know that well get better policies and outcomes, most importantly, for people when we have more representation, she said.But Healey is quick to share the credit, emphasizing that increased government representation is only part of the story.We owe so much to families and advocates whove come forward and told their stories over the years, she said, members of the community with lived experience whove told their stories, whove gone to the state legislature, whove testified in hearings, whove talked to the media. They deserve the real credit here. She added that LGBTQ+ families must continue to speak out and speak up against the lies and the vile misinformation thats out there, which is something both Trump and Vance spew regularly.I mean, if you look at the arc of history in this realm, look at the progress that has been made for our community. Lets build on that. Lets draw upon that in what is, Ill acknowledge, a really challenging time, but people need to hang together and vote for equality leaders like Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.