Weekly Political Roundup

Lots of stories this week. In U. S. federal news:

• Colorado Republicans Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who sponsored the failed Federal Marriage Amendment twice before, say they will not try a third time.
• Vice President Dick Cheney called CNN newscaster Wolf Blitzer “out of line” for asking him to comment on a statement from Focus on the Family’s James Dobson regarding Mary Cheney’s pregnancy. Dobson said the pregnancy raised the question of whether conceiving a child outside of opposite-sex marriage was best for the child.
• The National Stonewall Democrats called on the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a non-profit coalition of centrist Democrats, to affirm its past opposition to anti-LGBT ballot measures. They also called on Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., the DLC’s new Chair, to affirm those positions. Ford was one of few Democrats who voted in favor of a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
• Witeck-Combs Communications, a leader in LGBT consumer marketing research, estimates that by 2011, the buying power of gay men and lesbians in the U. S. will exceed $835 billion (PDF link), up from $660 billion in 2006. That’s not exactly political news—except that it could add up to a lot of campaign contributions (not to mention home furnishings, double lattes, IVF treatments, and subscriptions to Showtime).

Read the rest of this post »

Kids’ Toys from the Hardware Store: Duct Tape

The third installment in this series brings us to duct tape. This isn’t a good toy to give young children directly—it’s hard to handle and can hurt when pulled off skin—but it can be used by you to make all kinds of other toys. I’ve covered an empty two-liter soda bottle with it to create a “fire extinguisher” for a Halloween costume, and similarly the next year to create air tanks for an astronaut outfit.

Older kids may want to attempt craft projects themselves with the sticky stuff. The Duck Tape Club offers a variety of ideas, including a duct tape book cover, lunch bag, wallet, picture frame, bookmark, bracelet, purse, glasses case, and even flip flops. (They also sponsor a scholarship contest for the couple (genders happily unspecified) that creates and wears the best prom wear out of duct tape.) Instructables shows you how to make a multipurpose duct tape checkers/chess/backgammon board. (Thanks to MAKE for the link.) For those of you who really want to go all out, you’ll be pleased to discover that Duck brand duct tape now comes in 20 different shades.

Helpful hints: Use the sharpest scissors you own. If you’re doing the project yourself, an X-Acto knife or box cutter may be easier. (Kids should stick with scissors for safety.) Hold the tape taut when you cut it—an extra pair of hands can be useful here.

If the L Word Characters Ran the Government

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched the L Word replay the other night after listening to the State of the Union. It got me thinking: what if the characters on the show were members of the U. S. government? What roles would they play? Here are my suggestions; comments and additional ideas welcome. (Warning: Spoilers below.) Read the rest of this post »

Parentography Launches Social Site for “Families on the Go”

Yet another social networking site for parents, Parentography, launched today. Like babysitting/nanny network CareSquare, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, Parentography aims at a practical niche of the parenting spectrum—this time, family travel. Users can submit two types of content: “Reviews” of specific destinations and “Excursions,” which can be less specific ideas about ways to spend time with kids or itineraries of several related destinations.

Although the site does not have a lot of content yet, I encourage you to visit. Social networks are only as useful as their contributors, and I’d love to see lots of LGBT parents contributing. First, we can share our general knowledge of family-friendly destinations just like any other parents. In addition, we can also submit sites of particular interest to same-sex families—while hoping that open-minded families of all types will also visit. Where are there memorials to, or sites connected with, LGBT leaders? Where are there kid-friendly restaurants in Provincetown or the Castro? On the flip side, we can also note if a site contains any potential pitfalls for LGBT families. Does the “Families of the World” exhibit at the children’s museum only show opposite-sex couples, for example?

Right now, Parentography members can only post reviews and excursions about locations in the U. S. As far as destinations in other countries, they say “It is definitely something we are interested in pursuing and hope to begin as soon as possible.” In the meantime, non-U. S. members can always submit reviews of places they enjoyed while visiting the States.

Happy travels, virtual and real!

A Positive Spin on the State of the Union

I can say three good things about President Bush’s State of the Union speech last night:

• He didn’t say anything about the need to “defend marriage and the family.”
• He only said “NU-kee-ler” (as in power and weapons) three times.
• Coverage was followed by a repeat of this week’s L Word.

Family Concert by Boston’s Gay and Lesbian Freedom Trail Band

Passing along an announcement for a family concert by Boston’s Gay and Lesbian Freedom Trail Band:

When: Saturday, February 10, 2007, at 3:30pm

What: Family Concert

Where: The First Parish of Watertown, 25 Church Street, Watertown, in Watertown Square.

Description: Boston’s Gay and Lesbian Freedom Trail Band is presenting a Family Concert at the First Parish in Watertown. This concert of classical and popular music has been planned primarily with young people in mind, from small children to teenagers, but the program will contain something for everyone. The musical selections will have appealing themes and subjects, such as nature, trains, and wild animals; and many will contain interesting rhythms and unusual sound effects. Fun and educational activities relating to the music and the performance are planned for the younger audience members. Come join us for an hour of fun and music!

Cost: Free.
Questions? Contact freedomtrailband@yahoo.com.

New Jersey School District Under Fire for Video Showing Same-Sex Parents

Some parents in the Evesham School District of Marlton, New Jersey are up in arms about part of the diversity curriculum that includes a film showing same-sex parents, reports WCAU-TV/NBC 10 Philadelphia News. Garden State Equality has posted a clip of the coverage to YouTube. The film shows children and their parents, with the children talking about why they love their families.

What bothers me most are the people in the school district who say that elementary-school children are “too young” to be learning about this. “He should find that out later on in life, during high school or something like that,” one man says. So I should wait until my son’s in high school before telling him that he has same-sex parents? The newscasters play along. One wonders if the film simply shows same-sex parents, or if “In the video, do they explain why some kids have two daddies or two mommies, how that got to be?” Another asks “What did they do to help the children understand what was shown in the video? . . . So apparently we assume the kids came home with even more questions?”

People fall in love. Sometimes they have children together. How complicated is that, really? If children already know the basics of human reproduction, then yes, maybe they will have questions, but is it really that hard to say that people adopt, or find a man willing to donate sperm or a woman to act as a surrogate? Apparently, it is, and that’s the root cause of the problem. The parents don’t have the information or language to talk about this with their children, and their fear of appearing ignorant makes them want to avoid the matter altogether. And just to be perfectly clear: teaching about same-sex families is not “sex education.” It’s diversity education. (We’re parents; we don’t have time for sex.) Incidents like the one in Evesham are why resources like Making Schools Inclusive from the Family Pride Coalition are so important for us to read and share.

Garden State Equality has called for action in support of the school district, saying “We must come to the school district’s defense and do all we can to encourage the district to stick to its courageous, inclusive curriculum.” They ask that people send Evesham School District officials the e-mail they’ve prepared. If you live near Evesham, they invite you to join them at the next school board meeting of the Evesham School District on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 8:00 pm, 25 South Maple Avenue, Marlton.

Evaluating Schools

As those of you know who have been reading this blog for a while, my family and I are in the process of moving from New York to Massachusetts. One of our prime considerations in choosing a new town is the quality of the schools. Luckily, there are a number of online resources for comparing school quality. Here are a few that may be useful for those of you also considering a move:

• Great Schools is the most polished of the sites, with information on choosing schools and preparing for college as well as standardized-test scores, student-teacher ratios, ethnic diversity, parent reviews, and more. It also identifies which schools are not making Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program. (I’ve posted before on what I think of NCLB.)
• Yahoo! Real Estate has just added a Research Schools feature that integrates Great Schools information with Yahoo! Maps.
• School Matters from Standard & Poor’s also has testing, NCLB, and school demographic information, as well as community demographics.
• Realty mega-site Realtor.com has very limited school-quality information, with no details on test scores. Competitor Zip Realty has some basic test-score and school-budget information linked to its listings, but requires registration. Still, if you’re using either of these sites to search for homes, their school-mapping features are convenient jumping-off points to Great Schools or School Matters.
• Individual states may also have school information available through their official state Web sites.
• Two other school-data services either require a paid registration for full details (PSK12.com) or are undergoing major site renovations (School Wise Press). Not recommended at the moment, but things change.

I always urge caution in using statistics like these, especially standardized-test scores, which I believe only give the roughest estimation of a school’s quality and suitability for a particular child. If at all possible, visit the schools themselves and speak with teachers, administrators, and other parents.

For LGBT families, another major consideration is a school’s LGBT friendliness. Without a safe, supportive environment in which our children can learn, the best academics and extracurricular programs may go to waste. HRC has a number of resources for Evaluating Schools. Once you choose a school, check out the publications on Making Schools Inclusive from the Family Pride Coalition for ways to be proactive and begin a dialogue with a new teacher.

(Thanks to My Tech Opinion via Dumb Little Man for the Great Schools, School Matters, and School Wise links.)

The L Word Season Four, Episode Three: The Parenting Perspective

(Warning: Some spoilers below.)

Shane took the parenting lead this week as she attempted to enroll her nine-year-old half brother Shay in elementary school. She’s still awkward about her new-found parenting role, but is making a genuine attempt to try, motivated by her own dismal childhood sexperience in foster care. We’re still waiting for her supposed PTA liason.

Tina and Bette’s daughter is only seen through a picture, but there’s a lovely “let’s teach the straight people about our families” moment at Tina and Henry’s lesbian-straight mixer party. One of the straight women asks Bette what she’d do if Angelica one day decides she wants to live with her father. Tina responds “We don’t call him the father. We call him the donor.” It’s unclear, though, if that’s because of her lingering lesbian sensibilities or because she’s hoping her new beau, Henry, will step into the father’s role. It could be a little of both, of course.

Helena’s children (remember them?) seem to have been dropped from the storyline. That’s too bad. Given that previous scenes of Helena and her children have focused on her spoiling them with gifts, I think it would be interesting to see her grapple with how to be a frugal parent. As her own mother said when she cut her off from the family fortune, “You need to know that people love you even if you are penniless.”

AfterEllen has Scribe Grrl’s full recap.

No Name-Calling Week

Today marks the start of No Name-Calling Week, “an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.” The event was created three years ago by GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network) and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. It targets grades five through eight, “years when the problem of name-calling is particularly acute but the concept can be easily adapted by students and educators at other grade levels.”

GLSEN has a number of lesson plans, activities, and other resources available for download. If you’re a teacher or want to become involved in creating a more tolerant, accepting, and safer environment in your children’s schools, take a look.