Archives › 2007 › February
New News on Breasts
A couple of breast-related news items caught my eye this week: A study led by a Harvard Medical School researcher found that women who had spent at least two years breastfeeding were 19 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who hadn’t breastfed at all. Results were independent of any of the [...]
Freedom to Marry Week: Day Five
The third of my three key arguments for marriage equality is that it is better for our children. An estimated 4-14 million children are being raised in LGBT-headed households in the U. S. If there are two adults who wish to give a child a home, certainly it is better for both of the adults [...]
Mombian Resource Directory Has 400th Link
I’ve just added the 400th link to the Mombian Resource Directory for LGBT Parents, and thought that was worth a minor celebration. Topics in the Directory include starting a family, raising children (both LGBT-specific sites and general, but LGBT-friendly, sites), LGBT politics and law, online and offline groups and forums for LGBT parents, and much [...]
The L Word Season Four, Episode Six: The Parenting Perspective
Parenting as excuse, aggravation, interference, curse, and finally blessing. This episode has it all. In the opening scene, Shane tries to get out of the launch of her Hugo Boss underwear campaign by saying “Well, I don’t know if I can get a babysitter in time.” She ends up going, however, and leaving kid-brother Shay [...]
Freedom to Marry Week Blog Carnival
It’s Carnival time! Here is a festive collection of posts on marriage equality to read while you nibble your Valentine’s Day chocolates. Personal, political, economic . . . we’ve got them all. Thanks to all of you who contributed, and to those whose posts I included just because I liked them. I’ve noted straight allies [...]
Hood Hack
It seems like I’m perpetually running late for my son’s playgroups, music classes, and doctor’s appointments. Winter is the worst time for this. I always find myself torn between not being late and taking the time to let him learn to put on his own shoes, jacket, and mittens. He can sometimes get his jacket [...]
Freedom to Marry Week: Day Three
The second of my three key arguments for marriage equality is that it is a simple matter of equal rights. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness are fundamental cornerstones of our democracy. All Americans should have the liberty to enter into a mutually agreed-upon marriage with whomever they choose, and to pursue marital happiness regardless [...]
A Rose by Any Other Name Might Still Contain Toxic Chemicals
Sobering news for an otherwise festive holiday: The majority of cut roses sold in the U. S. were grown in Columbia, using harsh pesticides, according to the Associated Press. Industry workers, many of whom are single mothers, labor under often unsafe levels of chemicals, and many have become sick as a result. The AP also [...]
Adoptive Parenting Study Supports All Same-Sex Parents
A new national study in this month’s American Sociological Review claims that “Adoptive parents invest more time and financial resources in their children than biological parents.” Indiana University sociologist Brian Powell, one of the study’s three co-authors, explains: One of the reasons adoptive parents invest more is that they really want children, and they go [...]
Naps May Help Your Heart
I’m the parent of a young child, which means naps have been a stress-producing topic for me. Will my son nap? Won’t he? When will he? Has he given them up entirely? Now, a new study shows there’s a stress-reducing side to them as well. Adults who take at least three daytime naps a week [...]
Freedom to Marry Week: Day Two
There are many reasons for supporting same-sex marriage, but to my mind, they all boil down to three basic arguments. I’ll be highlighting one each day this week (with a break on Wednesday for my Freedom to Marry Blog Carnival. Saturday, I’ll tackle why civil unions and domestic partnerships are not enough, though they may [...]
E-mail New Jersey School District About Removal of Diversity Film
I wrote Friday about the Evesham School District of Marlton, New Jersey, which has bowed to pressure and decided to eliminate from its curriculum a diversity film that includes same-sex families. If you’re in another state (or even in NJ) and can’t make the Evesham School Board meeting tomorrow (see Friday’s post for details), you [...]
Index-Card Necklace
All parents and caregivers should have a few quick and easy gimmicks up their sleeves to entertain children at a moment’s notice. Here’s a silly paper trick to balance out all the political posts I’ve been doing lately: 1. Fold an index card or similar piece of paper in half lengthwise. 2. Cut through both [...]
Freedom to Marry Week: Day One
It’s the first day of Freedom to Marry Week, and I’m taking the suggestion of Kelly at O for Obsessive and posting something each day about marriage equality. (I’ll also have non-marriage related posts all week so things don’t get too monotonous.) I’ll start with a couple of posts about the Week itself: The folks [...]
New Hampshire Lawmakers Seek to Clarify Adoption Law
Several New Hampshire lawmakers are sponsoring a bill to clarify the state’s policies on adoption by same-sex couples, and explicitly permit it in all 10 counties. Currently, adoption law allows a married couple or an unmarried adult to adopt. It does not specifically permit or deny it to two committed unmarried adults. This means that [...]
Marrying with Kids
The legal recognition of same-sex relationships is only a few years old. Many same-sex couples who wed or have civil unions have been together far longer, married in spirit if not in law. This makes it more likely they already have children when they marry, and their ceremonies become celebrations of the entire family. For [...]
NJ School District Bows to Prejudice Over Diversity Film
The Evesham School District of Marlton, New Jersey, under fire over a diversity-education film depicting same-sex families, has bowed to pressure and decided to eliminate the film from its curriculum. (See my original post on the matter.) Garden State Equality is asking everyone who can to join them and many other allies at the Evesham [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
A busy week, both in the U. S. and abroad: House Republicans in Alaska are backing an April advisory vote to ask voters if they would support a constitutional amendment to ban court-ordered benefits for the same-sex partners of public employees. The election would cost $1.2 million, nearly four times the annual cost of benefits [...]
The Cat in the Hat Turns 50
Fifty years ago this March, Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, published The Cat in the Hat. The little volume revolutionized children’s book publishing with its inventive silliness yet kid-appropriate vocabulary. In honor of the event, the National Education Association is sponsoring a nationwide Read-Aloud of The Cat in the Hat on March 2 as [...]
Same-Sex Families in the Classroom
I was going to put this in my Weekly Political Update, but decided it deserved a post of its own: Officials from the Lexington, Massachusetts school district asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit of two couples who claim their parental rights were violated when books depicting same-sex families were discussed in their children’s [...]
A Platoon of Lesbians
Quote of the day, from New York Representative Gary Ackerman: For some reason, the military seems more afraid of gay people than they are against terrorists. They’re very brave with the terrorists, and if the terrorists ever got ahold of this information, they’d get a platoon of lesbians to chase us out of Baghdad. Ackerman [...]
Same-Sex Couples Aren’t Destroying Marriage; Now We Can Blame the Feminists
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The L Word Season Four, Episode Five: The Parenting Perspective
(Warning: spoilers below.) This week gives us a contrast in parenting styles. Bette’s “manny” Angus drops little Angelica off with Tina’s nanny Hazel, and finds that Tina and boyfriend Henry have decided at the last minute to go out that evening. Hazel points Angelica in the direction of another room and asks if she wants [...]
Sesame Street Under Fire
There must be some cosmic transposition going on in the lesbian blog world today. I’m writing about entertainment news, and AfterEllen is writing about Elmo. AfterEllen’s ScribeGrrrl reports on a serious matter, though. The Bush Administration wants to slash the budget of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. She relates that according to TV Squad, “A [...]
Ellen and Portia Planning a Family?
While I’m on a roll with the entertainment news, I’ll pass on the tidbit that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are discussing having a baby, according to an interview in W magazine: “The two are considering having children, and go back and forth on the matter. ‘Ellen would carry,’ de Rossi offers. Counters DeGeneres: [...]
