Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation Friday that redefines how families are spelled out in state law, a move supporters say will make it easier for the LGBTQ+ community become parents.

The bill was one of the few proposals to make it to Healey’s desk after a chaotic end to the Legislature’s formal session last week and advocates lauded Beacon Hill for creating a moment that had been “years in the making.”

“Our laws need to reflect the realities of modern families and the loving environments where children grow and flourish,” Healey said in a statement. “This moment is a victory for all families in Massachusetts who deserve to be treated with dignity and to have their rights recognized and protected under the law.”

Lawmakers behind the bill said it removes “archaic” legal barriers to basic parenting responsibilities for LGBTQ+ parents, including the ability to make decisions during medical appointments, manage a child’s finances, participate in educational decisions, and authorize a child’s travel.

The legislation reworks language in statutes governing parentage by swapping out different words or phrases like “paternity” for “parentage,” “man and woman” for “persons,” and “child born out of wedlock” for “nonmarital child,” according to the bill text.

The measure also outlines paths to parentage for individuals or couples who use assisted reproduction like surrogacy or in-vitro fertilization.

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Supporters of the proposal have said LGBTQ+ residents have continued to face “significant barriers” to obtaining full legal recognition as a parent even after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage two decades ago.

Rep. Sarah Peake, a Provincetown Democrat and one of the bill’s chief sponsors, said the legislation “modernizes our antiquated laws to more fully address the way families become families today.”

“As we celebrate twenty years of marriage equality in Massachusetts, it’s important to note that we have continued through those years to act to ensure that all LGBTQ people in Massachusetts can live full lives, free from discrimination,” Peake said in a statement. “Passage of this bill is the icing on the cake of my 18 year legislative career.”

Peake announced plans earlier this year to retire, a decision that has since sparked a race to fill her outer Cape Cod House seat.

Sen. Julian Cyr, a Truro Democrat and another author of the bill, said Massachusetts’ “outdated and heterocentric parentage laws put LGBTQ+ families at risk every day.”

“The Massachusetts Parentage Act is personal — LGBTQ+ families like mine face excessive and expensive hoops just to ensure our children have the security of legal parentage,” he said in a statement.