Roundup is early this week to leave tomorrow clear for Blogging for LGBT Families Day.

• Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey found public tolerance for gay rights is at the highest point in three decades. 59 percent of Americans believe “homosexual relations between consenting adults” should be legal, 57 percent that it should be considered an acceptable alternative lifestyle, and 89 percent that “gays should have equal rights in terms of job opportunities.” Only 46 percent felt same-sex marriage should be legal, versus 53 percent against, but this reflects a long-term trend of increasing support.
• Following his approval two weeks ago of second-parent adoptions for same-sex couples, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed a bill banning employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (Gender identity was, however, not included.)
• Susan Stanton, formerly Steve Stanton, came in third among candidates for the job of chief executive of Sarasota, Florida, in what seems to have been a fair evaluation. Stanton had been fired as city manager of Largo, Florida after she came out as transgender. She now says she may run as a Republican for Congress against Vern Buchanan, the far-right incumbent.

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A reminder to all that Blogging for LGBT Families Day is tomorrow, June 1. People are already sending me links to their posts, though others are waiting until the actual day.

With Mary Cheney bringing LGBT families into the media over the past week, we have a great opportunity here to be part of the conversation, and to show the diversity of LGBT families and our supporters.

If you usually blog about LGBT families, you can write something special or simply send me a link to whatever you would normally post—a “slice of life” about your family is just as good as a political excursus.

If you often write about LGBT issues, but not necessarily families, please consider focusing on a family angle tomorrow.

If you don’t often write about LGBT issues of any sort, I hope you will make an exception and share why you think it is important to support LGBT families.

Past posts on relevant topics are fine, too. (You might then want to put up a new post on your own blog mentioning your participation and linking back to your original post.)

Videos and photos are also great. (There’s one video entry already.)

Once again, here’s how it works:

• Blog on a topic related to LGBT families on or before June 1, 2007.
• Leave a comment on this post, or send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com with the permalink to your post. (If you know how, you may also add the tag “blogging for lgbt families day” to your entry.)
• I’ll compile the posts and highlight them here on June 1. Come back and read the stories and insights of our community and allies.

Download a banner if you like.

Many thanks to those of you who have promoted the event, and to Family Pride for their sponsorship. I’m looking forward to a great day.

Are opponents of same-sex marriage forcing same-sex families to pursue legal strategies that could be more damaging to the traditional conception of family than same-sex marriage itself? That’s the provocative thesis of Dale Carpenter at Independent Gay Forum. It’s worth a read, especially in light of my post Tuesday about families with more than two parents. He concludes:

Think of it this way: Gay families are a rising river stretching across the country. Conservative opposition to gay marriage is a dam blocking the way. Impeded in its natural course, the river does not dry up; its flow is simply deflected into a hundred rivulets and low pastures.

Many conservatives may conclude in the end that the collateral damage being done to stability and tradition is worth it to keep gay couples from marrying. But before family policy is further inundated, they should at least weigh the unconservative consequences.

Whether such consequences are good or bad is a matter of opinion. Dale sits farther to the right than I do on this one, but gives us all much to ponder.

A spokesperson for Ewa Sowinska, Poland’s ombudsman for children’s rights, has said Sowinska won’t pursue a proposed investigation into whether the Teletubbie Tinky Winky “promotes homosexuality” because he carries a purse.

I’m rather disappointed. While I don’t really believe same-sex attraction can be “promoted” (despite the free toasters), I do think it is good for our families and our children to see ourselves represented in media and merchandise. In addition to buying your child a Tinky Winky doll for Pride Month, therefore, I offer you the following suggestions:

• A set of Bristle Blocks that includes one rather androgynous parental figure in the pair. Could easily pass for Mommy and Mama.
• Fisher-Price Rescue Heroes. They just remind me of the Village People. Besides, with names like Billy Blazes, Jack Hammer, Rocky Canyon, and Seymour Wild, they sound like a gay burlesque troupe.

Is “the next frontier of family law” the legal recognition of families with more than two parents? From Hayley Mick at Toronto’s Globe and Mail comes an article that explores various new family arrangements, often involving a same-sex couple and either another couple or individual of the opposite gender. Many such families are drawing up contracts to protect themselves in case of internal dissent or external need (e.g., medical decision making), but they are sailing into uncharted territory.

At the beginning of the year, a Toronto court named three people—a lesbian couple and the biological father—parents of the same child, at their request. Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania court required a known donor to pay child support to the bio mom after she and her partner separated. He had been active in the child’s life, but had no formal arrangements with the mothers. Two different cases and sets of intentions, but both highlighting the need for legal clarification. At the very least, we need a way to separate those who want to parent with more than two from those who do not want their donors or surrogates to have rights over the child.

When same-sex couples finally win our rights, will multiple-parent arrangements soon follow suit, or will the idea of a parenting dyad prove even stronger than that of opposite-gender parents?

This Friday at 10:00 p.m., WGBH Boston (Channel 2) will re-air Daddy and Papa, an award-winning documentary about gay fathers by filmmaker Johnny Symons. The film premiered on PBS in 2003, but remains an insightful look at four gay families. I couldn’t find any airings other than WGBH, but if you’re not in the Boston area, you might check your local PBS schedule just to be sure. (You can also buy the film through its own Web site.)

Know of any other upcoming shows in your area about LGBT families? Please share in the comments.

Lesbian mom Melissa Etheridge turns 46 today, making this a dyke national holiday of sorts. The Grammy- and Academy Award-winning musician has inspired many of us with her songs and her fight against breast cancer. She’s one of the most visible (and powerful) lesbian moms in the country, and an activist for the environment and other causes. Her music formed the soundtrack for my coming out years, and still gets me through many a road trip and housecleaning project.

Here’s to many more years of rockin’ in all you do, Melissa! (Just one question: When are you going to release a children’s album like other cool rockers are doing?)

On this day when we honor those who have fallen fighting for our nation, may we also remember to honor those who work for peace, at home and around the world.

Many of us bloggers are also avid readers. As parents, however, we are often short of either time or money to maintain our habits. I was thrilled, therefore, to see Sassymonkey at BlogHer point out Best Places to Get Free Books: The Ultimate Guide (a link she in turn got from fellow BlogHer contributing editor and lesbian mom Denise).

An extensive guide it is, too, including audiobooks and podcasts, e-books, and Web sites that facilitate sharing of physical tomes. Handiest for the busy parent might be the audiobook and podcast sites, such as LibriVox (mostly classics) and Podiobooks (newer works, some still in progress), good for commuting or stroller time, or DailyLit, which sends you pieces of a book each day by e-mail or RSS (again, mostly classics). There are a few children’s books there, too, though I think the real value for kids might be in getting teens ones to read grown-up classics via the cool new tool of an RSS reader.

• Inmates in California prisons will have equal access to conjugal visits from same-sex registered domestic partners, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. The American Civil Liberties Union had contacted the agency about changing the previous regulations.
• A gay couple from San Jose, California have settled their lawsuit against ParentProfiles.com, an Internet adoption service based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company was found guilty of violating California discrimination laws by refusing to post the men’s profiles, and is now barred from posting profiles of any California residents unless it offers the service equally to all qualified Californians.
• The California Senate passed a bill protecting all students in California public schools from harassment and bias based on gender identity or sexual orientation. They also passed a resolution calling on the federal government to rescind the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.
• Supervisors in Marin County, California voted 5-0 to endorse San Francisco’s case against a state same-sex marriage ban and submit an amicus filing.

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