Teen Sexuality: Hard Truths and Warm Love

I’m very pleased today to bring you a guest post by Lori Hahn, who has blogged at Hahn at Home for several years, and is now also a co-editor of the new GLBT blog Our Big Gayborhood.

Lori writes below of teen sexuality—an area in which I have no expertise as a parent. I’m grateful for hers.

I’ve marveled over the past few years as I grew my three beautiful, loving, delightful multi-racial adopted kids through their junior high years and then high school years, where one is gone and two are closing in on that mortarboard and tassel. Always knowing in my logical mind that sex and sexuality are part and parcel of parenting at this tumultuous age and there would be no denying it despite my desire at times curl into a fetal ball and wish it all away. Read the rest of this post »

In Memoriam: Brendan Burke

Last November, I posted about Brian Burke, the gruff president and general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who very publicly supported his gay son Brendan, a hockey player for Miami University. Today I just learned of the sad news that Brendan was killed in a weather-related two-car accident in Indiana Friday afternoon.

My deepest condolences to Brendan’s family, who loved him unconditionally.

Weekly Political Roundup

• Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told a Senate committee he is in favor of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said they have appointed a high-level working group to report, by the end of the year, on how the military can implement such a change if Congress repeals the law.
• President Barack Obama used his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, run by fundamentalist group The Fellowship, to denounce the proposed “Anti-Homosexuality Bill” being considered in Uganda.
• The U.S. Tax Court ruled in favor of GLAD client Rhiannon O’Donnabhain, stating for the first time that treatment for gender identity disorder qualifies as medical care under the Internal Revenue Code, and is therefore deductible. Read the rest of this post »

They Might Be Allies

I was thrilled to hear indie band They Might Be Giants performing the theme song for Rosie O’Donnell’s recent HBO special, A Family Is a Family Is a Family.

Unfortunately, the song, “And Mom and Kid,” isn’t yet available online. I give you instead “Roy G. Biv,” from their generally awesome album Here Comes Science. At least it has a rainbow theme. (It’s from their weekly podcast, so there’s a short spoken intro.)

This also serves in lieu of our vlog for the week, which won’t be happening because of unforeseen circumstances. Stay tuned for one next Thursday. (And please leave a comment if there’s a topic you’d like to hear us address!)

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LGBT Parenting Roundup

Schools and Youth

• The Tennessee General Assembly’s House Education subcommittee referred to another subcommittee two bills that would ban the teaching of any sexuality other than heterosexuality. That means the bills’ fate is uncertain, although the head of the Tennessee Equality Project said he would have preferred a vote to defeat them.
• Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is getting all the headlines, but the Department of Defense is also reviewing a decision to give DOD teachers in same-sex relationships the same status and consideration as heterosexual married teachers when they request a job transfer together. The decision would also apply to opposite-sex couples in domestic partnerships.
• The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center is collaborating with Opportunities for Learning, a charter school with 34 locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties, to open a school where LGBTQ youth can learn in a harassment-free environment.
• Twenty-six members of Congress sent a letter to the Boy Scouts of America urging them to stop their anti-gay discrimination.

Law and Politics

• Nancy Polikoff reports on a custody case involving a former opposite-sex couple. The father was given custody by a lower court because the mother was now a lesbian. An appeals court overturned the ruling, and in the process overturned a 25-year-old ruling that had said the burden of proof was on a gay or lesbian parent to prove that the child would not be harmed by being exposed to their parent’s same-sex relationship.

Personal Stories

• The Advocate interviews Thomas Moore, husband to fellow transgender man Scott, who is not really the “second pregnant man” despite media reports stating so. Thomas discusses the prejudices and hurdles they’ve faced in finding a doctor, plus some universal issues of pregnancy and preparing for parenthood.

ABC Set to Pilot New Show with Gay Dad

ABC is set to revive a pilot about two exes, one a gay dad, raising their teen son along with their new significant others, says the Hollywood Reporter. It’s unclear from the coverage, but it seems as if the exes were an opposite-sex couple.

Entertainment Weekly writer Jennifer Armstrong says, “I salute ABC for not ruling out gay parents now that it has one set on the schedule with Modern Family.”

Hear, hear. Kudos also to them for showing an older child, not the media-typical infant, and for acknowledging that not all lesbian and gay families start as lesbian and gay families. The interconnections of families are varied and complex.

Lots of promise in this one. Let’s hope they deliver.

Lesbian Albatrosses Welcome Chick

The two female albatrosses in New Zealand who have been incubating an egg together are now the proud parents of a little chick.

The Times Online reports:

For the next six months the new parents will take turns to alternately guard and feed the chick, with one protecting it from predators while the other goes out to sea to forage for food several hundred kilometres away. They swap the roles every two days.

I bet none of us can top that division of labor.

Anyone else feel like sending stuffed plush albatross dolls to those who say same-sex parenting is unnatural?

(Photo credit: Mila Zinkova. Distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2. Not the actual albatrosses described above.)

The ABC’s of IRA Inheritance for LGBT’s

Pointing out another fine post by my spouse at her blog. (Hey, Valentine’s Day is coming up. Gotta do what I can.)

Want to know how to keep your disapproving Aunt Sally from ending up with your money? Read what Helen wrote the other day about The ABC’s of IRA Inheritance for LGBT’s.

“Our Big Gayborhood” Opens Its Doors

Many of you know Lori Hahn from her blog Hahn at Home, where she writes about life as the single parent of teens. Because that clearly wasn’t enough to keep her busy, she has also joined with writer Margo Moon to launch Our Big Gayborhood, “an entertaining new site full of lively, powerful, snarky, reflective and just plain interesting articles spanning the entire spectrum of GLBT life.”

Lori also notes that the site is home to a brand new podcast of Margo’s The Starr Ann Chronicles, “a kinda’ modern day lesbian cowgirl thing” narrated by women’s music legend Tret Fure.

Yee-ha! Check it out.

Snow Songs from Erin Lee and Marci

Children’s musicians Erin Lee and Marci bring us the next of their regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family.

Look for Erin Lee and Marci here on the first Monday of each month, or visit their homepage, www.gottaplay.org.

I’ve created links to Amazon for the full albums (click the album image or name), plus links to Amazon MP3 downloads, when available, for those who want only the singles. (Click the song name.) I also have a widget after the jump that will let you preview most of the songs without leaving Mombian.

This blog is being written from two completely different locals: Marci is in her hometown in sunny Florida and Erin Lee is in her hometown in Canada. Erin Lee’s been there six days…and it’s snowed for six days! So, of course, snow is going to highly influence this month’s column. Read the rest of this post »