If you’re looking for information about the 2007 Blogging for LGBT Families Day, please click here.

UPDATE, June 1, 2006: The list of participating blogs is here.

I’m declaring June 1, 2006 Blogging for LGBT Families Day, a day to raise awareness about LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) families. I want to invite you all to participate. Please also pass the invitation along to anyone, LGBT or straight, whom you think may be interested.

Why June 1st? This date falls exactly between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. As such, it honors mothers and fathers equally, but also conveys that not all families fit into the traditional structure of one mother and one father. June 1st is also the start of Gay Pride Month.

Here’s how it works, in a nutshell: You blog about a relevant topic on or before June 1, and do one of several easy things (see below) to let me know you’ve done so. I will compile a list of all the posts, showcasing the voices of our community and allies. I will also market the event within and beyond the world of LGBT-family blogs.

Thank you in advance for participating. Together we will do great things.

Here are the details:

What is Blogging for LGBT Families Day? Blogging for LGBT Families Day is a time for bloggers to write about LGBT family issues and collectively raise awareness of LGBT families, our diverse nature, and how current prejudices and laws negatively impact our lives and children. I aim to make people more comfortable interacting with LGBT families and discussing LGBT families with their own. I also hope the event will make people more informed voters, showing them how their decisions at the polls directly affect the families in their communities.

When is it? June 1, 2006. This date falls exactly between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. As such, it honors mothers and fathers equally, but also conveys that not all families fit into the traditional structure of one mother and one father. June 1 is also the start of LGBT Pride Month.

Who can participate? Any blogger, LGBT or straight, who wishes to support the goal above. I expect participants to include LGBT parents and parents-to-be, children of LGBT parents, parents of LGBT children, straight parents, other LGBT individuals, and other straight allies.

Why should I participate? By participating, you help show the strength of those who support LGBT families and their rights. Your blog may also receive exposure to an audience it wouldn’t otherwise reach, since I hope to get coverage for this event in both LGBT and non-LGBT blogs and other media.

How can I participate? Simply write a post on a relevant topic on or before June 1. Let me know you’ve done so by doing one or more of the following (depending upon your blogging software and personal preference):

• Include a link to http://www.mombian.com/2006/05/03/lgbtfamilies/
  in your post. (One easy way to do this is to start your post: “This post is in honor of Blogging for LGBT Families Day,” and link the name of the event.)
• Send a trackback to http://www.mombian.com/2006/05/03/lgbtfamilies/trackback/
• Leave a comment on the current post. (Comments are moderated to prevent spam, so it may be a little while before your comment appears.)
• Use the Technorati tag “Blogging for LGBT Families”.
• Send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com with the name of your blog and the URL of your post. (All e-mail addresses will be kept strictly confidential.)

I’ll compile a master list of all participants, which I’ll either append to the current post or link to from here. You can also view the Comments section of this post (at the bottom) for a rough list of preliminary participants.

What should I write about? The choice of topic is up to you. If you are part of an LGBT family, and normally blog about your family’s activities, you may simply do so again. You may also choose to write on broader issues of LGBT family rights, acceptance, your personal path to parenthood, being the child of an LGBT family, what you’ve learned from the LGBT family down the street, or anything else that supports the goal above. Regardless, please let me know you’re participating.

How can I promote Blogging for LGBT Families Day? Please help to spread the word! I encourage you to mention the event to your readers as soon as possible (even if you submit your contributed post later), with a link back to http://www.mombian.com/2006/05/03/lgbtfamilies/, which contains all the details. You may also download buttons and banners for use on your site. (Please download them and then upload them to your blog, rather than linking to them on mombian.com.) I hope you will e-mail family and friends about the event as well, but request that you do not send unsolicited e-mail (spam) to people you don’t know.

Is there an organization sponsoring “Blogging for LGBT Families Day”? No. The event is a grassroots effort, and benefits no particular organization. It was developed by Dana Rudolph, publisher of Mombian, a blog for lesbian moms.

Information About Same-Sex Parents

The Human Rights Campaign estimates that same-sex couples are raising children in at least 96% of all counties in the U. S. At least one out of three lesbian couples and one out of five gay male couples are raising children nationwide. There are also an additional number of LGBT parents whom we cannot accurately count. (See COLAGE for a discussion.) Many leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have said parents’ sexual orientation is irrelevant to their ability to raise children.

At the same time, in many states, same-sex couples cannot legally establish a joint relationship to children they are raising together. Furthermore, all same-sex parents and their children are denied the 1,138 federal protections of marriage. In most states (with the exception of those in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont) they are also denied hundreds of state marital benefits. This can impact children’s quality of life in many ways, including:

• A reduced chance of having family health insurance through an employer, or, at best, higher insurance costs than for the families of married heterosexual workers.
• Loss of Social Security benefits when one parent dies.
• Additional federal income tax for a same-sex family where one parent stays at home with the children.

(Information from the Human Rights Campaign: The Cost of Marriage Inequality to Children and their Same-Sex Parents, April, 2004 and Professional Opinion.)

Acknowledgement to Blogging for Disaster Relief, Blog Against Racism Day, Blog Against Sexism Day, Blogging Against Heteronormativity Day, and Blog Against Disablism Day for their similar initiatives.

Thanks to Abigail and Steve for assuring me this was a good idea and for reading an initial draft of this post. (All errors and omissions are my own.)

Questions or comments? E-mail Dana Rudolph at drudolph@mombian.com.