The Lesbian-Mom Vote

A public-service announcement for my U. S. readers: Primary elections are upon us. If you’re not registered to vote, do so online now.

Mid-term elections never seem as exciting as presidential-year ones, but with the congressional majority hanging in the balance, these are as crucial as any. (In the Senate, Democrats need six seats for control; in the House, they need 15.) Many state and local elections will be just as contentious. Although the Christian Science Monitor reports that “During the past 20 years, the percentage of eligible voters who have cast ballots in midterm elections has never risen above 40 percent,” you can bet that the ultra-right will be mobilizing their forces.

Once you’ve registered, you can use the following resources to become a more informed voter:

• To find a list of candidates by state (with links to their Web sites and e-mail addresses), try the handy map/search feature at Congress.org (an independent site not associated with the actual Congress).
• To evaluate candidates by their records on LGBT issues, you can browse the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund’s list of endorsed candidates, or HRC’s slightly outdated but still useful 2004 Congressional Scorecard.
• For candidates’ records on reproductive rights, try NARAL’s election page. (I don’t want to presume all my readers are pro-choice, but even if you’re not, you can use this site to decide who not to vote for.)
• On child-related issues such as education, healthcare funding, and gun control, see the Children’s Defense Fund Action Council’s 2005 Congressional scorecard.

Finally, read your local papers and watch your local news (online or off) over the next few weeks for information on candidates close to home. Local school board elections can have as much of an impact on our families as bigger-budget Congressional races.

Back to School, Part II

Yesterday I highlighted some LGBT-specific resources on school-related topics. As a complement to that, here’s a more general resource for any parent with school-age children. The American Academy of Pediatrics offers a list of Back to School Tips about Making the First Day Easier, Backpack Safety, Traveling to and from School, Eating During the School Day, Bullying, Before and After School Child Care, and Developing Good Homework and Study Habits.

Most of their ideas are common sense, but I always say that if there are even one or two useful items in a list like this, it’s worth the read. For example, I know children’s backpacks shouldn’t be too heavy, but how much is that? Ten to 20 percent of the student’s body weight.

Elmo Tells All

Well, not exactly. But the man behind Elmo, Kevin Clash, has an upcoming book, My Life as a Furry Red Monster, in which he describes his life as the animating spirit behind one of Sesame Street’s most beloved characters. Clash, who is six feet tall and African American, is physically a far cry from his short, red alter ego, but the subtitle of his book, What Being Elmo Has Taught Me About Life, Love and Laughing Out Loud indicates there may be more similarities between the two than first meets the eye. The New York Times has an interview with Clash that reveals more of his background and outlook.

I have to admit, I was an Elmo skeptic. I was one of the first generation to grow up with Sesame Street, so Elmo appeared long after my time. He was new-fangled, mass marketed, and, well, slightly too high pitched for my tastes. Elmo immediately mesmerized my now-three-year-old son, however. Who was I to argue?

Clash’s book is aimed at adults, not children, and looks to add further dimension to our understanding of Clash, Elmo, and the power of imagination to entertain, educate, and comfort. It will be released on September 5, and Amazon is taking pre-orders already. I’m looking forward to it.

Back-to-School Special: School Resources for LGBT Parents

Many of us are busy this week buying new lunchboxes, pencils, sneakers, and knapsacks for our school-bound broods. Equally helpful may be some of these school-related resources for LGBT parents. (You can also find most of these links, along with other good stuff, in my resource directory):

Building inclusion and understanding:

• Opening Doors: Lesbian and Gay Parents and Schools (PDF) A lengthy (31-page) booklet for parents and educators. From the Family Pride Coalition.
• Back to School: Building Family Equality in Every Classroom (PDF) A short brochure for parents. From the Family Pride Coalition
• Evaluating Schools How to determine if a school is LGBT friendly. From the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
• Advice on school-related topics at Answers from Abigail, by Abigail Garner.
• Be and Ally & Friend guide, including information on Teen & Student Allies and the concise 10 Ways to Be an Ally and a Friend. From the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

School safety:

• All Families Welcome: Making Your School Safe for Students with LGBT Parents (PDF) A short brochure from NCLR and the California Safe Schools Coalition.
• Tips for Making Classrooms Safer for Students with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents Includes a glossary of terms to share with educators and other allies. From Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE).
• Safe Schools Resources From Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
• School Safety Resources What to do if your child has been the victim of harassment or discrimination, or has in any other way had his or her education interfered with because of your sexual orientation. From HRC.

Also useful are the general resources of:

• Gay Lesbian Straight Alliance Network Ensuring safe schools for all LGBT students.
• Gay-Straight Alliance Network A California-focused, youth-led organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to each other and community resources.

Finally, for anyone homeschooling or considering it:

• GayHomeschoolers An online discussion list.

May this school year be full of learning, friendships, and joy for all our children.

Book Recommendation: All Aboard! Celebrates Trains and Relationships

All Aboard!, by Mary Lyn Ray, is a nice book discovery for the pre- and elementary-school set. You probably won’t find it on the promotional displays at your local bookstore, though, since it was published back in 2002. Not just another train story, it will appeal also to any child who has a favorite stuffed animal. The book follows the journey of a little girl and her stuffed rabbit, Mr. Barnes, as they journey to visit her grandparents. Most of the story is told from the perspective of the rabbit, who transforms to human size via the girl’s imagination. He is as real to her as any of her fellow passengers. Ray then further blurs the line between imagination and reality, and the rest of the passengers become pigs, moles, hippos, and other animals, all enjoying their travels along with Mr. Barnes.

Ray’s prose echoes the rhythm of the train without falling into singsong monotony. Her observations are poetic and apt: “A city slides by, strung with lights in the night.” Amiko Hirao’s illustrations also sway and swerve, and the cramped perspective parallels the confined interior of the train.

The little girl in the story is black, which makes the book doubly unusual. Maybe I’ve just been watching too much Thomas, with its mostly male, all-white (human) cast, but a train story featuring a black girl seems rare. While the grandmother and grandfather she visits are obviously a straight couple, the mother she leaves is alone. She might have a husband, a partner, or be a single mom. The ambiguity (perhaps unintended by the author) makes this book an easy choice for many types of families.

LGBT Diversity on Television

According to a new study by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), LGBT characters will form only 1.3% of all series regular characters on the six major broadcast networks’ 2006-07 schedules.

Out of an announced total of 679 series regular lead or supporting characters, GLAAD found only nine scripted (i.e., not “reality” TV) gay men or lesbians, appearing on eight different programs. There are an additional five semi-regular recurring gay or lesbian characters, and no bisexual or transgender ones.

The mainstream cable networks do a little better. GLAAD found 25 scripted LGBT characters for the new season (out of an unspecified total)—12 lesbians, 8 gay men, three bisexual women, one bisexual man, and one bisexual female-to-male transgender character, Max on The L Word. (Among other things, this answers the question of whether Max will return next year.)

GLAAD also looked at other facets of diversity, finding that among all network characters, men outnumber women 57% to 43%, and whites outnumber other races 75% to 25%. Among primary LGBT characters, seven out of the nine are gay white men, with one white lesbian and one Latino gay man. On cable, seven of the 25 LGBT characters are non-white.

Clearly, the networks need to do more to represent the true diversity of our country. The cable networks, while somewhat better, also have room to improve (but should be wary of shoving all “diversity” programming into niche-specific networks like Logo). I may have half in jest pondered whether a certain bathroom sign should be changed to be more inclusive of LGBT families—but the fact is, representations matter. They help us feel like an accepted part of the broader culture. They help expose the broader culture to us. Granted, there are vast differences between TV and reality. My life is nothing like that of Bette on The L Word. But someone who’s seen positive LGBT (or black, or Hispanic, or . . .) characters on TV at least has a starting place from which to build further awareness.

Now if only some network, perhaps one of the LGBT ones like Logo or Here!, would come up with a pre-school series that includes LGBT families. There are only so many times one can show the Postcards from Buster – Sugarland episode. (Though I’ve also always suspected Wendy from Bob the Builder has a few secrets under her toolbelt. . . .) My son has an infinite capacity for watching the same video over and over, but I don’t.

On a final note, I’m glad to see lesbian mom Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes) remaining on ER, and hope NBC will further develop her story.

For a fuller analysis, including diversity rankings by network and a look at reality programming, visit the GLAAD site.

(Photo credit: James Sorensen / NBC)

Online Fitness Aids

If you’ve been watching Workout, the WNBA playoffs, or, heaven help us, pre-season football, and are inspired to get in better shape yourself, you may like some of these online resources: Read the rest of this post »

Homemade Cat Trees and Dog Treats

I’ll take a weekend break from writing about our real children to pay homage to our furry companions.

For all you dykes with cats and toolboxes, here’s how to build your own cat tree. (From PandE Cats via Lifehacker.) The instructions are a little sketchy, and some additional pictures would help, but if you have a knack with a hammer and a glue gun, you can probably figure it out or customize it to your own specifications.

If you’re a dog owner looking for a way to pamper your favorite furry friend, try one of these dog treat recipes from Two Dog Press. They include such delights as Peanut Butter Bones, Chicken and Honey Biscuits, Apple Cinnamon Drops, and Harry’s Party Pupcakes. Your pooch will likely love them, and if your toddler has one by mistake, no harm done. (In fact, the Big Boy Beef Biscuits even contain a jar of beef baby food.) For older kids, these could be fun cooking projects.

Weekly Political Roundup

• In federal news, the Pension Protection Act signed into law by President Bush includes two provisions extending important financial protections to same-sex couples as well as other Americans.
• Across the U. S., LGBT activists have begun a “Right to Serve” campaign, trying to enlist at military recruiting offices and staging sit-ins if they are rejected.
• Patricia Todd, the white lesbian who narrowly won the Democratic runoff for a seat on the Alabama legislature, says the state party vice-chair paid for a challenge to her win filed by the mother-in-law of her black opponent. If true, this would be against party rules that say a challenge must be paid by the challenger. A hearing on the challenge was delayed this week because of a mixup over membership on the hearing panel.
• A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled that a woman could not seek wrongful-death damages after her partner of 18 years was killed in a car accident. The judge said existing law required him to deny the surviving partner spousal status. He did add, however, that because she was named as the beneficiary and executor of her partner’s will, she could continue pursuing damages related to the pain and suffering of her partner in the accident. A tragic reminder of why these sorts of documents are so critical for LGBT couples. (Thanks to the Victory Fund SmartBrief for the link.)
• Finally, two victories: An anti-LGBT group in Cincinnati gave up their efforts to put a referendum question on November’s ballot asking to remove anti-discrimination protections for gay citizens. It had become clear that many of the signatures on their petitions were forgeries. This follows last week’s decision by the Illinois Board of Elections to reject an proposed anti-gay- marriage referendum question because of a lack of valid signatures. Opponents have, however, filed in federal court to declare the Illinois referendum requirements unconsitutional.

Same-Sex Marriage and Heavenly Bodies

I was going to write a short post about the definition of “planet” recently proposed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). I thought some moms would find it useful when helping their children with science homework.

Geoffrey Pullam’s post at Language Log on “Gay Marriage and Counting the Planets” made me realize I was thinking in limited terms. It’s also not often I find another blog post that that draws together so many of my disparate interests: astronomy, LGBT rights, and a certain humanities geekiness. Pullam, a renowned linguist, argues that gay marriage is not, in fact, a linguistic issue, and to reduce it to a fight against the “definition” of marriage is to miss the point. It’s about who gets what rights. He compares this to the IAU’s challenge of finding a definition of “planet” that maintains current planets’ status, includes some newly discovered Solar System objects, yet is not so broad as to be meaningless. This, he says, is a true matter of terminology, and while it may cause bitter quarrels amongst astronomers, has no real consequences for people’s lives.

Worth a read if only for the unique juxtaposition of topics and Pullam’s excellent writing (though there’s a typo in the first line). I recommend Language Log overall, too, if you’re a humanities nerd like me. (If you liked the bestselling Eats, Shoots & Leaves, you’ll like Language Log.)

Finally, since we’re mixing it up here with astronomy and LGBT references, I’ll note that if astronomers do approve the IAU’s definition next week, object 2003 UB313, nicknamed “Xena,” will become a planet, encircled by moon “Gabrielle.” Unfortunately, this means they’ll then be given real names from Greek mythology. As I commented last February, if we can’t have Xena, my vote is for “Athena,” the goddess of wisdom, crafts, strategy, and war. That’s at least close. For the moon, the obvious choice is then “Nike,” goddess of victory and Athena’s constant companion. She was often depicted carrying a staff, like Gabrielle.