Archives › 2007 › July
Family Voices VI
Back after a short summer break, this week’s Family Voices interview is with California dads David and Clay. Below, they talk about the importance of dinnertime, storytime, and time off, and share a bit of parenting haiku. As with the previous families highlighted in this feature, they are members of the Family Pride Coalition’s OUTSpoken [...]
Serious Spells for Sapphic Belles
The room was dark. “Lumos!” said the witch, and a glowing orb of light illuminated the bookshelves. The woman searched for a few minutes and then cried out in surprise. Behind a well-thumbed, leather-bound volume of Hogwarts: A History and a fraying copy of Parent Hex, was a tome covered in cruelty-free fabric (woven by [...]
J. K. Rowling and Lesbian Literature
I’ve spent much of the past few days reading the U.K. “adult” edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (“Adult” refers only to a difference in jacket cover, not content.) The photo of author J. K. Rowling on the back of the dust jacket, the same one that’s been used in the past, shows [...]
Military Can’t Escape Gay Brainpower
The U.S. military has discharged 60 Arabic language translators for being gay. It is no surprise, therefore, that they are now turning to technology to make up the deficit and evaluating “prototype, real-time, two-way translation systems.” That’s a computer to you and me. And the father of modern computer science is widely regarded to be [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
“Capitol Hill sources” say the Matthew Shepard Act, an LGBT-inclusive hate crimes bill, will remain stalled in the Senate until at least September. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated, however, that she expects the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to come to the House floor for a vote in September. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reminded [...]
The Sacrifices We Make: Utah Lesbian Mom Will Not Appeal Visitation Decision
Lesbian non-bio mom Keri Jones announced she will not appeal a February Utah Supreme Court ruling that said planning and raising a child with her (now ex) partner (and obtaining a court order designating both of them as co-guardians) was not enough to give her visitation rights. Jones says she fears a federal court would [...]
What Determines Your Vote?
Two articles caught my eye today, on two different issues. I was going to write about them separately, but then realized they in fact relate to the same matter—our identities as both LGBT individuals and parents. The first is an article in the Huffington Post by Evan Wolfson, head of Freedom to Marry. Wolfson says [...]
The iWomb
And I thought finding a sperm donor through a search engine was pretty high-tech: Scientists at the University of Tokyo are building a “womb-on-a-chip” to increase the success of in vitro fertilization (IVF). The two-by-one-half millimeter device is similar to a computer chip, but its microscopic channels conduct fluids, not electricity. The ultimate goal is [...]
Happiest Gay Couple, Episode III
(Warning: Spoilers below.) In the third episode of Rick and Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, lesbian couple Dana and Kirsten receive some surprising news: Despite all their efforts to impregnate Kirsten, it is Dana who, through a series of improbable events, is with child. To the best of my knowledge, this [...]
Fun in the Doctor’s Office, Minimalist Version
Having just undergone the thrill of bringing my son to his four-year-old physical (complete with three injections), I offer you my list of ways to pass the interminable time between when the nurse shows you in and the doctor shows up. My preference, because I’m one of those who doesn’t carry a handbag and my [...]
If This Keeps Up, Only Children of Same-Sex Parents Will Be Born in Married Households
More than half the babies in the U.S. born outside of marriage are born to women who nonetheless live with the child’s father, according to two new studies. This supports similar findings from the Pew Research Center, as I discussed a few weeks ago, that the number of those who do not marry, with or [...]
New Mexico Same-Sex Couples Can Marry in Massachusetts
Same-sex couples residing in New Mexico may now legally marry in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Registry of Vital Records and Statistics last Thursday issued “a corrective notice to all Massachusetts city and town clerks authorizing them to allow same-sex couples from New Mexico to apply for marriage licenses,” according to Gay [...]
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has just released its 2006-7 report, State of the Workplace for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Americans. The most striking news this year is the progress made towards transgender equality. Now, 25% percent of Fortune 500 companies ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity, versus 1 percent at the [...]
Family Week Blogging Seminar
If you’re heading to Provincetown this weekend for Family Week, I hope you’ll stop by my Blogging Workshop, Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the the Family Pride tent on MacMillan Pier. If you’re already blogging, please join us and share your experiences, pick up some new tips, or just say hi. If you’re not already [...]
Mom Denied Custody Because She Is a Lesbian
A judge in Madrid, Spain, denied custody of two girls to their mother based solely on the fact that she is a lesbian. He said her lesbianism would harm them and “raised the risk” the girls would also become lesbians. “It is understood that (a parent’s) drug addiction, child abuse, prostitution, belonging to a satanic [...]
The Costs of Infertility
Nina at Queercents wrote today about her and her partner’s struggle to get pregnant. She discusses the costs, both financial and emotional, and the interplay between the two. Worth a read if you’re dealing with infertility yourself or know others who are. On a related note, 365Gay.com reports on the overuse of intracytoplasmic sperm injection [...]
Parent Hex: Harry Potter Spells for Parents
I suspect traffic across the blogosphere will be low today as people lock themselves away to read through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I thought it would be appropriate, however, to publish a heretofore lost list of charms and spells that came to light only recently when a scholar journeying through King’s Cross Station, [...]
BlogHer Meme: An Introduction
The fine women at BlogHer have started a meme for members to introduce themselves in 10 seconds. It’s a way for us to meet each other, whether we’re going to the big BlogHer ’07 conference next week or not. Here’s me: I publish Mombian, a lifestyle site for lesbian moms and other LGBT parents, offering [...]
Weekly Political Update
A vote on the Matthew Shepard Act, which would extend current hate crimes laws to cover sexual orientation, gender identity, and physical disability, was delayed when the Senate suspended debate on the Defense Authorization bill to which it was attached. HRC reports that a vote on hate crimes may not occur before Congress adjourns for [...]
Parenthood Brings Jodie Foster Out
Jodie Foster has long been the celebrity most rumored to be a lesbian but least willing to say so, at least to the world at large. After Ellen reports today, though, that after Foster gave a large sum of money to the Saban Center for Health and Wellness, her sons got to have plaques on [...]
Happiest Gay Couple, Episode II: Attack of the Alpha Moms
Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, is shaping up to be the most parenting-centric LGBT show on television, documentaries aside. I had some qualms about the first episode, and its use of the tired “wacky lesbian antics in search of sperm” motif, but creator Q. Allan Brocka left a comment [...]
Last Sunday, the New York Times ran a piece titled “Your Gamete, Myself,” that explores issues surrounding conception via an egg donor. The author, Peggy Orenstein, has written with about infertility before, notably in her memoir Waiting for Daisy, but somehow overlooks a vast resource on this subject: LGBT families. Polly at LesbianDad calls her [...]
Cooks Connect Like Peanut Butter and Jelly
Looking for new recipes to perk up mealtimes? Love to cook and want to connect with others who do, too? Try either or both of these recipe sites/social networks, which promise not only good eating but cameraderie with fellow cooks: Open Source Food, launched this spring, features beautiful photographs and a plethora of recipes from [...]
Kids’ Toys from the Hardware Store: PVC Rainstick
A PVC rainstick is the next in my series of Kids’ Toys from the Hardware Store. It’s a nice complement to a set of PVC musical pipes, and simpler to build. Again, credit goes to my partner the engineer for creating this; I’m just the journalist here. Materials: About 2′ of 1 1/4″ PVC pipe [...]
Non-Bio Moms Gain Rights in the Beaver State
A Circuit Court judge in Multnomah County, Oregon ruled Friday that a non-biological mother should receive automatic legal parental status over her partner’s biological child—that is, without needing to go through adoption procedures. If this wasn’t good enough news, the judge also found that “two Oregon laws (ORS 109.070 and ORS 109.243) granting parental rights [...]
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