Seeking Binational Same-Sex Couples Raising Children

Passing along this message from Immigration Equality, a national organization fighting for equality under U.S. immigration law for LGBT and HIV-positive individuals. They are seeking binational same-sex couples with children for an awareness campaign. Please respond to them at the link below if you are interested.

Immigration Equality is hoping to find binational couples, who are raising children, for a campaign highlighting the unique obstacles binational parents face while raising children and trying to remain together here in the United States.  We know, from recent research by the Williams Institute, that many binational couples are, indeed, raising children.  But the obstacles presented by current immigration laws are considerable for those same families. Mombian readers who are interested in sharing their stories about raising children while navigating discriminatory immigration laws can share their information here, and our legal and communications team will be in touch with them.

Family Equality Council Launches New Web Site for LGBT Parents

The Family Equality Council, which “connects, supports, and represents the one million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents in this country and the two million children they are raising,” has launched a new Web site. The redesigned site has all kinds of resources for LGBT parents, including one of my favorites, an interactive map of LGBT parenting groups around the country.

Check it out—and marvel that they’re celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. LGBT families, as I’ve said before, are not a new phenomenon.

Happy Gay-Straight Alliance Day!

Today marks the first-ever National Gay-Straight Alliance Day, a project of the Iowa Pride Network in partnership with the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). In honor of the occasion, I’ll point out my coverage a few years ago of the 20th anniversary celebration of the GSA at Phillips Academy, which has the second-oldest GSA in the country. (The oldest was at nearby Concord Academy, which beat it by just a little bit.)

Makes me feel old to realize that although GSAs didn’t exist when I was in school, they’ve still been around for over twenty years.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has long supported GSAs. (Here’s my coverage of his letter to educators reminding them that schools receiving federal funds must provide equal access to school resources for all student groups, including GSAs.) Now, he has issued a special message on the White House blog for GSA Day, which you can see here on video after the jump.

Read the rest of this post »

This Week Only: Free Streaming of Anti-Bullying Film

In honor of No Name-Calling Week, educational film company Groundspark is offering free streaming of its anti-bullying and anti-name-calling film Let’s Get Real. Aimed at students in grades five through nine, it is notable for not preaching at kids, but rather letting them speak in their own voices about  race, sexual orientation  (real and perceived), learning disabilities, religious differences, sexual harassment, and more. They talk about how they have stood up to bullies—and in some cases, what has caused them to bully themselves. There’s also a curriculum guide to assist teachers and others in discussions of the film.

I have interviewed Groundspark’s founder, Academy Award-winner (and lesbian mom) Debra Chasnoff, about several of her other films, Straightlaced (on gender stereotypes), It’s STILL Elementary (on teaching elementary students about gay people), and Choosing Children (on the first wave of lesbians choosing to be parents after coming out.) Good films all, and highly recommended.

To obtain your free digital stream of Let’s Get Real, send an email to streamfree@groundspark.org saying “Let’s Get Real” NNCW 2012 in the subject line.

(Thanks, GLSEN!)

I’ll Say It Again: Lesbian and Gay Parents Are Not Better, Just Different

Here we go again. More than two years ago, I wrote about a flurry of media coverage in the wake of the publication of Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle, by Dr. Abbie Goldberg of Clark University. In the book, Goldberg discusses a number of strengths that lesbian and gay parents tend to exhibit, as shown in her work and that of other researchers. But both mainstream and LGBT media covered it with headlines like “Are Gay Parents Better Than Straight?”

Now, an article from LiveScience (also published at HuffPo) asks again, “Gay Parents Better Than Straight Parents? What Research Says,” also citing Goldberg, among others. But as Goldberg clarified for me in an e-mail back in 2009:  Read the rest of this post »

Video: Elementary School Kids Discuss What “Gay” and “Lesbian” Mean

“What Do You Know” is a new short film from the Welcoming Schools initiative that shows children ages six to twelve (including some kids with lesbian and gay parents) discussing their experiences with the words “gay” and “lesbian.” The full 13-minute film, used in Welcoming Schools diversity trainings and playing in film festivals across the country, will be available “in early 2012″ through Welcoming Schools. There will also be an associated four-minute video, “Teachers Respond,” and a study guide.

Here’s a short preview. As one of the interviewees said, “Yes, elementary school kids know the word ‘gay.’” And as this GLSEN study from last week showed, elementary school children often use it in negative and harmful ways—and teachers don’t always feel prepared to  address such remarks. Welcoming Schools is only one of several resources designed to help them (and parents) do so. For several others, see my post on the GLSEN study.

Weekly Political Roundup

A weekly summary of LGBT political news highlights for busy parents.

• Freedom to Marry has launched Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, a bipartisan coalition of over 80 mayors who have pledged to support marriage for same-sex couples.
• Indiana has begun to issue a license plate designed to raise awareness about LGBT youth issues—the first state to do so. Funds will go to the Indiana Youth Group. South Carolina also began to offer an LGBT-related plate, with funds going to the South Carolina Equality Foundation. (And just to make sure you click through to some of the sites I list here, you can check out the above links to find out the first state ever to issue an LGBT-related plate.)
• Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) signed the Transgender Rights Bill.
• Omaha, Nebraska City Councilman Ben Gray (D) wants the Council to consider a measure to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. But State Senator Beau McCoy (R) has introduced a bill that would ban cities and local governments from creating such protections, saying such power should be reserved to the state. Zack Ford at Think Progress points out that if McCoy was really interested in consistent policies, he’d also propose a statewide anti-discrimination bill covering sexual orientation or gender identity. But he hasn’t.
• The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing and a vote Tuesday, January 24 at 11:00 a.m. ET, on a bill to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
• Microsoft has said it will join Nike and other companies in supporting a bill to legalize marriage for same-sex couples in Washington State. (Insert obligatory joke about hoping the bill doesn’t crash like Windows.)

Around the world:

• The Canadian Department of Justice caused a scare when it said a lesbian couple who married in Canada should not be granted a divorce because they were not residents of Canada at the time of their marriage, and therefore it was not legal. Several LGBT legal groups in the U.S. issued a statement saying they do not believe the ruling will invalidate other marriages.
• The Swedish government has said it will not change a 1970s law that requires transgender people to undergo sterilization before the state will recognise their gender identity.

Celebrating Five Years of the Mombian Newspaper Column

What a week. I was surprised this morning to see Mombian’s nomination for the GLAAD Awards—but I was already in a celebratory mood because today marks five years of my Mombian newspaper column. (The blog is going on seven.) The column has been a chance for me to delve more deeply and reflectively into some of the topics I cover in the blog. I will be forever grateful to Susan Ryan-Vollmar, the then-editor-in-chief of Bay Windows, for first giving me the opportunity to do so.

Thanks, too, to the other editors at Bay Windows, Between the Lines, Philadelphia Gay News, South Florida Gay News, and Windy City Times who have believed in my work over the years. (Interested editors in different regions, feel free to drop me a note.) And once again, thanks to all of you who read my writing. I couldn’t do it without you.

I’ve written a special anniversary column, but I’m going to refrain from posting it here until a few more of my clients have run it. Instead, I’m going to rerun my very first column. I think it holds up pretty well—although it’s hard to believe that when I wrote it, marriage equality  in Massachusetts still faced a very real threat in the legislature and that my son, who now wears the same shoe size I do, was only three.

What Being a Parent Has Taught Me About LGBT Politics

(Originally published January 18, 2007)

Welcome to the first Mombian column in Bay Windows. I’ll be offering a blend of parenting, politics, and diversions for LGBT families and those hoping to start one. You’ll find advice, book reviews, suggested family activities, and political commentary, all viewed through the lens of an LGBT parent.

As on my blog, Mombian, I am especially interested in exploring the places where parenting and politics intersect. How are our parenting choices—from buying diapers to choosing a preschool—driven by our politics? How are our political concerns and actions changed by becoming parents?

I thought I’d kick off the column, therefore, with a look at what being a parent has taught me about LGBT politics:  Read the rest of this post »