Archives › 2007 › September
Eight Family-Friendly Haulers, Part I
Thanks to Gaywheels.com, “the Gay-Friendly Automotive Resource,” for today’s special guest post, first of a two-part series. Gaywheels’ Joe Tralongo has put together for Mombian a list of family-friendly—and gay-friendly—vehicles worth checking out if you’re in the market for a new ride for yourself and your clan. If, however, you’re having a midlife crisis and [...]
Solidarity in Pink
Events like this restore my faith in humanity. When a ninth-grade student at Central Kings Rural High School in Nova Scotia, Canada wore a pink shirt on his first day of school, he was called a homosexual, harassed, and threatened. Twelfth-graders David Shepherd and Travis Price decided to take action. They used the Internet to [...]
Family Pride Poetry Contest
The fine folks at Family Pride have reminded me there are only two days left in their Back-to-School Family Poetry Contest. The theme for the contest is “love is . . . .” Finalists will be selected by Family Pride’s panel of judges, and then winners will be selected by public vote on their site. [...]
Book Review: The No-Cry Discipline Solution
I admit it. I’m a skeptic when it comes to parenting books. I think I was put off after reading the touted What to Expect When You’re Expecting and finding it saccharine and patronizing. Or maybe it is just the sheer volume of parenting tomes on display at any given bookstore, each touting its own [...]
Families and Schools Roundup
A few items on LGBT families that didn’t make my Political Roundup yesterday: Australia’s The Age has a lengthy article on gay and lesbian parents and our families. Mostly familiar territory for those of us in the LGBT community, but interesting for those of us not in Australia. In that vein, I will repeat one [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
A new poll shows that nearly two-thirds of American adults believe it is unfair that federal law allows an employer to fire someone because they are gay or lesbian. Sixty percent of non-LGBT adults were not aware that federal law allows this. Nearly 80 percent of non-LGBT people also feel an employee should be judged [...]
New York Times Misses the Point on Same-Sex Families
The New York Times reported today on the Evesham, New Jersey School District’s decision to uphold a ban on the film That’s a Family, because of its inclusion of children with same-sex parents. (See my post on the matter.) The Times tries to remain a neutral reporter, offering opinions both for and against showing such [...]
Logging Off: Guest Post by Mary W. Foulk
I’m pleased to publish a guest post by Mary W. Foulk, a writer, new mom, and lesbian film critic. whose work has appeared at Lesbian Life, among other places. Today, she reminds all of us techno-geeks and bloggers that it’s important to unplug once in a while. I recently attended InVerge 2007: an interactive convergence [...]
Lesbian Mom Story Roundup
A few articles about lesbian moms came to my attention this week: Michael Gartner writes in USA Today: “My cute grandson is one of more than 1,400 children living in Iowa households headed by same-sex couples.” It’s a great piece by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, blending both personal anecdote and hard data to show that [...]
Married with Children in Canada
The Vancouver Sun gets the Headline Faux Pas Award of the week for stating “Same-sex marriages popular among couples with kids.” Despite the misplaced modifier, they in fact provide some very interesting data from the just-released 2006 Canadian census, the first to count same-sex married couples. Same-sex couples with children are far more likely to [...]
Amazon.com Clarifies Contest Rules to Include Same-Sex Partners
Sometimes it pays to ask. Amazon.com is having a Tuition and Textbooks Sweepstakes, in which you can enter to win a grand prize of one year of free tuition (up to $25,000). The contest page says “If you’re not a student—but you have a family member who is—you may enter on his/her behalf.” After reading [...]
Considering Parenthood Group in San Francisco
Passing this announcement along by request—I have no affiliation or experience with the below group. (If you have similar announcements, please e-mail me directly as Cheryl did, rather than leave a comment on an unrelated post. If I get a lot of such requests, I may set up an online calendar.) Considering Parenthood? This may [...]
We’re Here, We’re Queer, and We’re Prepared
September is National Preparedness Month. Didn’t know that? It’s an observance first created in 2004 by presidential proclamation and given a certain ironic twist in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina swept through at the end of August, making September an object lesson. The month is supposed to be “an opportunity to raise awareness about the importance [...]
In Memoriam
In honor of all the victims of the tragedy of 9/11 and its aftermath, their families, and friends. May we all work in whatever way we can for a safer, more peaceful world for our children.
Suze Orman Offers Advice on Children and Money
Financial guru and out lesbian Suze Orman offers her advice on financial lessons for children. She claims many parents inadvertently send negative messages to their children, including the following: Be happy to go to work. . . . You tell your kids: “Oh honey, I hate that I need to leave you, but I have [...]
Book Recommendation: Families
I popped into the library of my son’s school the other day as part of my “get to know the school” plan and because as a (perhaps not successfully) recovering academic, I am constitutionally unable to stay out of any library within a 100-yard radius. I started chatting with the libarian, and in the course [...]
Political Orientation: Choice or Biology?
Political diversity could be the result of neurological differences, imply new findings by scientists at New York University. In a simple button-pushing test, those self-identified as liberal were more able to respond to new stimuli than those self-identified as conservative. The scientists think this has a neurological basis: Brain recordings taken using electroencephalogram (EEG) technology [...]
Happy Grandparents Day!
Today is Grandparents Day, a lesser-known holiday than the two days for parents earlier in the year, but one I would be remiss to overlook. My grandmother is turning 95 soon, but has accepted my partner and our son without question as part of her family and lineage. Here’s to her. My own parents have [...]
Lesbian Mom Fights Known Donor for Custody
A lesbian mom in Texas is in a custody battle with her ex-partner’s uncle, the former couple’s known sperm donor. Tamila Payne says she tried to accommodate the donor’s wishes and let her son spend every other week with him, but the boy’s growing reluctance made her stop. Now the donor is suing for custody [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
The second round of hearings on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) got underway in the House. Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, calls it “a watershed moment.” It’s bad enough when no Republican candidates support marriage equality or gays and lesbians in the military. It’s worse when one doesn’t [...]
Of Ducks and Penguins
(Originally published in Bay Windows, September 6, 2007. Also check out “Back to School,” an interview of Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Pride Coalition, by Bay Window’s Laura Kiritsy, and “Recipe for a successful school year? Listen to your kids,” an interview of Beth Teper, executive director of Children of Lesbians and Gays [...]
Craig vs. ENDA: Time to Focus
At the Montessori school my son started Tuesday, they emphasize helping children to focus on the task at hand. It’s a lesson we could all benefit from revisiting. The media has been awash in tales of Senator Larry Craig this week. As Yasmin Nair says at The Bilerico Project, however, “what we have here is [...]
A Night for Women’s Sports
I’m sitting here watching Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic battle it out for a U.S. Open semifinal spot at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and flipping over to ESPN2 to watch the Phoenix Mercury and Detroit Shock in the first game of the WNBA finals. Life is good for us sporty gals. [...]
Yet More Toy Recalls
This is getting ridiculous: More toy recalls from Mattel, including various Barbie accessories (though not the dolls themselves), Fisher Price Geo Trax Locomotive Toys, and Fisher Price Bongo Band Toys. Moms Rising has a petition you can sign urging Congress and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to institute measures for better testing of children’s [...]
Open Thread on the First Day of School
For those with kids (or selves) heading back to school this week: How was the first day? My son’s first day of preschool was uneventful, although it was a special day of only an hour and I was able to stay with him. He was also somewhat used to it because he did two weeks [...]
