Hamm and Foudy Join Soccer Hall of Fame; New Women’s Pro League Forms

Soccer superstars Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy have been selected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame, and will be inducted this August. Hamm was selected on 137 of the 141 ballots cast, a new high in votes received.

What on earth were the other four thinking? Read the rest of this post »

Kids’ Toys from the Hardware Store: Toolbox

We always seem to have an excess of plastic kids’ tools around our house. Despite the fact that many children’s tool sets come with a toolbox, others come with only a workbench, some get handed down without the box, and some items make their way into the box on their own—flashlights, an old pair of safety goggles, blocks of wood. Somehow, we always had more tools than box space.

Luckily, small plastic toolboxes can be had for around $5 or $6 at the hardware store. No, they don’t come pre-decorated with a Bob the Builder motif, but that’s why God made stickers. Your young builder may also groove on having a “real” one rather than a kiddie version. (Kids can be spookily aware of such things. From about a year old, my son was able to tell the real remote from the defunct one we left for him to use.)

Buy a few and use one for tools, one for crayons, and one for lunch. Nothing says “I’m a lesbian mom” like opening up a toolbox to pull out your PB & J’s at the playground.

Keep the Ice-Cream Scoop Next to the Turkey Baster

“Tubs of ice cream help women make babies” proclaims an article about new fertility research. I can hear the cries of joy from those of you trying to conceive.

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health found that a low-fat dairy diet can cause infertility by preventing ovulation. Women trying to conceive should consider high-fat dairy foods instead of low-fat ones, suggests the lead researcher, Jorge Chavarro.

Alas, this doesn’t mean you should go overboard. Another doctor cautions that “One of the best self-help things women can do is maintaining an optimal body weight—neither too thin nor too large.” Chavarro advises “Once you are pregnant, you can always switch back.”

Whatever you do, don’t put “Ben and Jerry” on the “Father” line of the birth certificate. Government clerks don’t seem to have a sense of humor about these things.

SCHIP Shape

In early March, the House and Senate Budget Committees will decide on funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). SCHIP provides health insurance to more than six million people, mostly children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. Many analysts are saying that President Bush’s budget will not meet the needs of the program, and that 14 states will run out of money for it before the end of the fiscal year in October.

A bipartisan group of governors has appealed to the President and Congress to approve more money for SCHIP and ensure that no one currently covered loses their benefits. The Bush administration countered that states should better manage their use of SCHIP funds, and should rein in their coverage of families with incomes more than twice the poverty level. The states that cover adults (mostly parents) under SCHIP should also stop doing so. The governors argued that in areas with a high cost of living, going above twice the poverty limit is necessary, and that coverage of parents increases the chances that their children stay on the rolls.

Families USA, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization advocating high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans, has more information on the SCHIP debate. They urge people to call their Senators and Representatives next week and ask them to approve at least $60 billion in new money for the program over the next five years. (You can e-mail your members of Congress as well.)

This isn’t a substitute for overall healthcare reform, but it’s a way to make sure those who need it most—our country’s children—continue to receive the coverage and care they need.

Lesbian Mom Wins Oscar

Melissa Etheridge can now add an Academy Award to her two Grammys. She won the “Best Original Song” Oscar last night for “I Need to Wake Up,” the theme song to An Inconvenient Truth. (You can purchase and download the “I Need to Wake Up” song or video from iTunes here.) The television coverage showed her kissing wife Tammy Lynn Michaels as she got up to accept the award. She then thanked “my incredible wife Tammy and our four children.” Very sweet. I hope they gave the babysitter an extra tip when they got home.

Apparently, Melissa said to reporters backstage “This is the only naked man that will ever be in my bedroom.” Hee. You tell ‘em.

Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres isn’t a mom, but showed her clever use of a Baby Björn carrier to hold an Oscar trophy. (AfterEllen.com has a photo, plus additional coverage of lesbians at the Oscars.)

Lesbian Koalas

First lesbian swans, then gay penguins, now lesbian koalas. Researchers at the University of Queensland recently studied a group of 130 captive koalas and discovered the females attempting to mate with other females, sometimes with up to five others at a time. Good news in support of the view that same-sex attractions are as “natural” as opposite-sex ones, a phenomenon an earlier researcher has given the delightful name of “biological exuberance.”

This is not to say that same-sex attractions are there from birth for all of us, nor that it should matter when it comes to equal rights. The scientists found, furthermore, that among the koalas, “Heterosexual encounters were typically twice as long as homosexual encounters,” meaning we shouldn’t draw the parallels between human lesbians and koalas too far.

Still, if you’re looking for an exuberant gift for your partner or girlfriend, a stuffed koala might be just the answer.

(Thanks to PageOneQ for the sighting.)

PTAs Getting Corporate Makeover

Parent-teacher associations (PTAs), historically known for bake sales and other social events in support of local schools, are becoming a driving force in large-scale fundraising, school administration, and even state politics, reports the New York Times:

Parent groups across the country, especially in affluent suburbs, are undergoing a kind of corporate makeover, combining members’ business savvy, technological prowess and negotiating skills to professionalize operations.

With many members who stepped out of high-profile careers to become stay-at-home parents, traditional parent-teacher associations (and the similar parent-teacher organizations, or PTOs) have evolved into sophisticated multitiered organizations bearing little resemblance to the mom-and-pop groups that ran bake sales a generation ago. . . .

They have raised tens of thousands of dollars for extras like new playgrounds and writing workshops amid budget cutbacks, and have taken over administrative functions that principals no longer have the time or inclination to do, like screening acts for school assemblies or signing contracts with instructors for after-school programs.

For weekend discussion: Any of my readers involved in your local PTAs/PTOs? Are they high-intensity groups like the ones featured in the Times? Do you find it worth your while to participate?

Looking at the LGBT angle: Do you feel more obligated to participate because you are an LGBT parent (or other non-traditional parent) and want to make sure your voice is heard, or have you chosen to stay away because you feel too much like an outsider?

Parents’ Rights Not Violated When School Teaches about Same-Sex Families

A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit of two couples in Lexington, Massachusetts, who claimed the local public school district violated their constitutional rights by teaching their children about families headed by same-sex parents.

The judge said in his decision (PDF link):

Public schools are entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy. Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that diversity includes differences in sexual orientation.

He noted the couples could always homeschool or send their children to private school, or ask the school to excuse their children when same-sex families are discussed in the classroom. They have no right, however, to dictate what the school district teaches.

This is a sound ruling that focuses on our country’s historical values and current realities. I’ll just add, as I’ve said before, that while it’s their prerogative if parents want their children excused from planned discussions of diversity and same-sex families, they’re not going to be able to zoom in and yank their children away every time my son mentions that he went to the park with his moms or brings in photos of our wedding for show and tell. It’s going to be harder and harder to compartmentalize discussion of same-sex families into neat, optional units of the curriculum. We’re not an abstraction; we’re part of the larger community, and our children are learning next to everyone else’s.

Weekly Political Roundup

• A California state senator introduced a bill to bring property-tax relief to surviving domestic partners who inherited real estate from a partner who died before 2006.
• An openly gay Illinois state representative introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. The bill is titled the “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act” to address concerns that clergy would have to perform same-sex marriages.
• A high-school principal in Fort Wayne, Indiana, issued a written warning to a journalism teacher and is demanding that he approve all future issues of the school paper, after a student wrote an editorial in favor of tolerance towards those who “have a different sexuality than you.” (Thanks to Blogging Baby.)
• Beth Asaro and Joanne Schailey of Lambertville, New Jersey, became the state’s first couple to unite in a legal civil union. Their seven-year-old daughter was the flower girl. Read the rest of this post »

Wimbledon Equalizes Prize Money for Women

All women competitors will now receive the same prize money as their male peers in the Wimbledon Championships, the All England Club announced today. This leaves the French Open as the only tennis Grand Slam without prize equity throughout the tournament, although it offers the same money to the men’s and women’s champions.

This is a much needed step towards fairness in sports, as well as an excuse to read about Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, and Amèlie Mauresmo yet again.