Gail Horowitz, the Massachusetts attorney and pioneering LGBTQ legal advocate instrumental in ensuring equal protections for same-sex couples under MassHealth after the state legalized same-sex marriage, died on May 1. The Boston Globe remembered her this week in a featured obituary.
Reports the Globe:
A self-taught expert in elder law for LGBTQ couples, Ms. Horowitz began researching efforts across the country to ensure that same-sex couples could receive the same MassHealth benefits as heterosexual couples, even though the federal government — which funded a portion of the program — would not recognize LGBTQ marriages.
“We were pioneers. We didn’t really know how to navigate this,” said Lisa Krinsky, the director of the LGBT Aging Project, a Boston nonprofit. “Gail had just an amazing legal mind and was also able to network through other people . . . to talk with them about where there might be precedent and how we might be able to move this forward so that the most vulnerable among us are still going to get access.”
Ms. Horowitz, an attorney and political activist who specialized in LGBTQ estate planning and helped craft a law to protect same-sex couples in Massachusetts from being denied MassHealth benefits, died May 1 in Brigham and Women’s Hospital from ovarian cancer. She was 67 and had lived in Cambridge and Provincetown.
Working with community leaders and local activists, Ms. Horowitz played a significant role in the research, coordination, and writing of the MassHealth Equality law, as it is colloquially known among advocates. The Legislature approved the bill in 2008 — four years after a state Supreme Judicial Court ruling made Massachusetts the first state to allow same-sex couples to marry.
But long before the bill became law, long before the bill was even written, Ms. Horowitz was busy researching the financial implications of what advocates would be asking the state to take on. She conducted research about other states and lobbied state legislators, all in an effort to answer questions that had never been asked in Massachusetts before.
“Half the people we would talk to at the State House would say, ‘Well, didn’t this get taken care of when you got marriage equality?’ And we’d say, ‘No!’ But you know, a lot of people thought, ‘We passed marriage. We’re all good,’ ” Krinsky said. “At the time, we were really fighting this fight for people who were caught in limbo.” …
As a lawyer, she was known by clients and colleagues alike for her brilliant mind, spirited creativity, and unique form of patience. She took the time to understand where a person came from before offering legal advice, Wade said.
“She was always interested in challenging the status quo and thinking about whether there wasn’t a better thing to be doing, or something that was more interesting,” Wade said. “I think she just was willing to embrace change and see where it took her.”
While in law school, Ms. Horowitz met Susan Brand through a mutual friend, and after several years of friendship, the two began dating in 1991. They married in 2006.
Together, they split their time between Cambridge and Provincetown, where they enjoyed trying new restaurants, attending theatrical events, and taking part in outdoor activities such as running and hiking. They ran the 100th Boston Marathon together in 1996, and Ms. Horowitz was an avid bicyclist for many years, despite a few accidents along the way.
They also enjoyed traveling together, including a recent trip to the Grand Canyon shortly before Ms. Horowitz died.
Ms. Horowitz was extremely active in politics, locally and nationally, including a trip to Ohio with Brand during the 2016 presidential election to help with voter protection. Their work involved recruiting attorneys to assist on Election Day and ensure that those who could vote made it to the polls.
“She just really wanted to help people,” Brand said.
Ms. Horowitz was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late 2014. She handled her treatment as positively as she could, Brand said, and she jumped at the opportunity to take part in clinical trials, not just for herself, but to help others with the same diagnosis.
“She felt it was important to be helping develop new treatments for everybody,” Brand said.
Read the full Boston Globe obituary.
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up!
