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Massachusetts AG Maura Healey on championing for LGBTQ rights

Maura Healey, Massachusetts Attorney General, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss Healy’s experience as the first openly gay attorney general, the fight for equality, and closing the racial wealth gap.

Video transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: Welcome back. A pivotal Supreme Court ruling last week put a damper on Pride Month as the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights continues. The justices agreed the city of Philadelphia went too far when it imposed its anti-discrimination law on a Catholic charity for refusing to consider same-sex parents eligible to adopt foster children.

Joining us now to talk about that and much more is Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is also the first openly gay US Attorney. Great to have you here, Madam Attorney General. Thanks for your time today.

I want to bounce off that Supreme Court ruling last week and juxtapose that with the historic LGBTQ+ representation we're seeing in the Joe Biden administration. Where do you think we sit right now when it comes to progress in that community?

MAURA HEALEY: Well, first of all, it's great to be with you. And it's Pride Month. And Pride Month really is a time to celebrate all the gains that have been made in the movement for LGBTQ+ equality. And there are many gains to celebrate this month. There are also remaining challenges.

But I'll say a couple of things. First, with respect to the decision out of the Supreme Court, the Fulton case, it's a disappointing decision, but it's a narrow decision. And I can assure you that here in Massachusetts and in many states around this country, LGBTQ+ couples will continue to be foster parents, will continue to be eligible to be foster parents. So a disappointing decision, but narrow, focused on specific provisions within a Philadelphia contract.

The Biden administration has just done a tremendous job making sure that government really reflects the people that we serve. And certainly, it's been wonderful to see the number of people from our community who've been appointed to significant positions. Seeing is believing. And I think that gives hope and inspiration to members of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly to our young people.

KRISTIN MYERS: And I want to ask you just about your experience as attorney general. I noted I had seen a tweet that you tweeted out recently about the importance of having Democratic attorneys general in the United States. But I actually want to broaden that out. Just from your experience as the first openly gay attorney general that we've had in this country, how important is it as well to just have a breadth of folks coming from all different walks of life serving in a role such as yours, taking up a variety of cases, folks, that are Black and Brown, gay, lesbian, trans, just members of the LGBTQ+ community, neurodivergent folks? How important is it, now that you've been in this role for the last couple of years, to have more folks just like you?

MAURA HEALEY: I think it's really important. I think that the only way you're actually going to get the laws made or policies developed that help everyone and that don't work to exclude or marginalize certain groups is by having a representative government, those working in government, those elected to positions like mine.

I can tell you as an attorney general, our job is to be the people's lawyer, to enforce rights that are on the books, to protect civil rights, to protect workers, to protect consumers, to protect the environment and in many other realms. And to do this job well, it is necessary that you have people with lived experience who can see the world and the experience of others through a lens that doesn't leave others out.

And so I think it's been incredibly important. I'm really proud of the team of Democratic AGs that we have in office, a real diversity of race, religion, ethnicity, yes, sexual orientation. I mean, that is good for democracy. It is good for representation. And I think it makes a difference.

You look at the fights that we've had to take on, particularly over the last four years with the Trump administration doing particular harm to communities of color as well as the LGBTQ+ community. And I was very relieved and glad to be an attorney general, to work with colleagues to fight back against illegal and unconstitutional and really hurtful actions.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: One of those fights you've taken on is to talk about voter rights, which is up for grabs right now in a number of states in this country. And you are looking for-- or you're encouraging company to, I guess, create consequences, in your words, for state and federal legislators who are trying to make it harder to vote in certain states with their proposed legislation. What exactly are you asking of these business leaders?

MAURA HEALEY: Well, I think what this past election has made clear and what we continue to see play out in state legislatures around the country is that there are two forces in this country, those who are fighting to protect our democracy and those trying to undermine it. And democracy is a team sport. It's stronger when everyone participates. It's a good thing that more people voted in the last election than ever before in history, both Democrats and Republicans.

So it seems to me we need to really drive home this understanding that voting is essential to our democracy. It's essential to a stable society and also to a robust economy. And that's why I've called on business leaders to continue to speak up and speak out against efforts to suppress the vote, to take away the freedom to vote.

That is just something sacred in this country. And we're at a point though where we need to see more voices. And that's why I've encouraged the business community, that has a powerful voice, to speak up, to get Congress to act. We need the For the People Act. We need legislation that will protect the freedom to vote. And we've encouraged businesses to get involved. And many have already. We hope to see more of that.

KRISTIN MYERS: I want to talk about something else that you have been targeting the business community on, which is pay gaps, pay gaps across gender, pay gaps across race. You encouraging companies to really open their books and actually backing a bill in Massachusetts that would actually force companies to open their books and be honest and open with how much they're paying their employees.

Curious to know if you think that that kind of level of transparency will either force or, in some way, shame some of these organizations, shame some of these companies into being forced to pay folks equally based on the role that that employee has.

MAURA HEALEY: Well, we already have an equal pay law here in Massachusetts, which requires equal pay for the same job. But here's what this does and why it's important. First of all, this isn't creating liability for employers. This isn't something that's meant to shame employers, not at all.

I think that, generally speaking, there's a recognition, those of us in office, those of us in the business community, that we've got a real issue with racial disparities in our country. And one way to fix that is to identify where those gaps are. So that starts with the reporting. It starts with transparency. You can't fix what you can't see.

And so this legislation would simply require employers, big employers-- we're not talking about small businesses but employers with more than 100 people-- to keep track of their wages and salaries. And that will help inform and drive solutions to addressing those wage gaps that are out there.

And this is important. It comes at a critical time, particularly because we see the economic impact of this pandemic and how devastating it has been for women of color, for women as well in general, but certainly for women of color and people of color. And closing this wage gap is an important first step to addressing these disparities and allowing our Black and Brown residents and fellow citizens to achieve the economic security and have an opportunity to build and maintain wealth.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOUROS: We look forward to continuing this important conversation with you on another show, a future show. Maura Healey, Massachusetts Attorney General, we appreciate your time today.