Archives › 2007 › December
Win a Free L Word DVD Set
Yes, Season Five of The L Word is upon us, premiering on Showtime January 6 at 9 p.m. EST, but available in advance at Our Chart today, beginning at noon EST. (The online version will, however, be “blurred, bleeped or otherwise abridged” according to creator Ilene Chaiken, who adds “this is not by our choice [...]
What Are Your Wishes for 2008?
What are some of your wishes for the coming year: personal, familial, professional, or political? For me: I wish for family stability. An interstate move last year (and six months of living apart from Helen during the week while we tried to sell our old house) was enough upheaval for a while. I wish to [...]
Parenting and Politics in 2007
Originally published in Bay Windows, December 20, 2007 (online); December 27, 2007 (print). Was 2007 a good year for LGBT parents and our children? Politically, it was a mixed bag. Here are some highlights. In Massachusetts, we stopped marriage equality from going to the ballot. New Hampshire and Oregon approved relationship-recognition measures to give same-sex [...]
Don We Now Our . . . Oh, You Know
A very merry Christmas to those of you celebrating it this week. Posting will be light for a few days, as we’ll be doing some celebrating of our own here at Mombian HQ. I also suspect many of you will be busy assembling train sets and dollhouses and searching for extra D-cell batteries and dealing [...]
Last-Minute Gift Ideas
Yes, we’re parents, and we’re busy. That’s reason enough to be stuck with last-minute shopping. Here are a few ideas to get you through. I’ve stuck with gifts for grown-ups (though some may work for kids, too), since children have usually told us way in advance what they want, and any parent celebrating Christmas who [...]
Parents.com Drops Lesbian Mom Blogger
Harlyn Aizley, author of Buying Dad and editor of Confessions of the Other Mother, both books that deserve a place on any lesbian mom’s bookshelf, will no longer be writing her Are You My Mothers? blog for Parents.com. She was fired by Parents.com’s parent company, Meredith Corporation, ostensibly because her blog did not generate enough [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
Senators Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) introduced legislation in the Senate to provide federal health benefits, including the Family and Medical Leave program, long term care, insurance, and retirement benefits, to the domestic partners of federal employees. The workers and their partners would then be subject to the same obligations as married employees [...]
In Memoriam
Last week, Jennifer Davis and her partner Andrea Pisanello were shot and killed in Largo, Florida, and Davis’ four-year-old daughter and two-year-old son were shot and killed in nearby Clearwater by Davis’ former husband, Oliver Bernsdorff, whom she had divorced in August. He is the children’s father, and had retained custody of them. Bernsdorff shot [...]
Ship Them Out Like Oranges
Florida is gearing up for a fight over a “Marriage Protection Amendment” that looks likely to be on the November 2008 ballot. Supporters of the amendment say it is needed to “prevent children from being raised in homosexual families.” They might want to note some new statistics: 17% of same-sex couples in Florida are raising [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode Eight
In this edition of our weekly video blog, brought to you in partnership with After Ellen, Helen and I step into an alternate universe and imagine what the upcoming season of The L Word might be like if parenting (but not pregnant lesbians or sperm) played a larger role. Bette with mashed peas on her [...]
Happy Birthday, Jennifer Beals!
It’s Jennifer Beals’ birthday, and even though she isn’t a lesbian mom, she plays one on TV. That’s enough for me to wish her a very happy day and tell her how much I’m looking forward to Season Five of The L Word, premiering January 6. Stay tuned for more thoughts on The L Word [...]
That’s Not a Grinch, It’s a Stressed-Out Lesbian
If you’re feeling a bit Grinch-like this holiday season, you’re not alone. More lesbian adults (80%) than straight women (64%) say they feel stressed around the holidays, according to a new survey (PDF link) by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs. Half (51%) of the lesbians surveyed said they tend to feel depressed around the holidays, versus [...]
Good Will Towards Men
In the seasonal spirit of “good will towards men,” here are two recent articles about gay dads: When a single mother of four young teens died, leaving her children with no other relatives and no family friends who could take them in, the two brothers and two sisters were at risk of being split into [...]
Easy “Gingerbread” Houses for Kids
If you’re looking for an easy kids’ project for a snow day or just for the holidays, try a “gingerbread” house make of graham crackers. It’s become one of my favorite seasonal activities, either for my son and I or for a playdate (where I put together the base houses in advance). Make up a [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
Jamison Green and Donna Rose, former members of HRC’s business advisory council who resigned over the organization’s handling of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), launched the Transgender Employment Partnership “to continue the work they began at HRC.” The Arizona Department of Administration filed a proposal last month, without announcement, to offer health and other benefits [...]
Conception Misconceptions
I really don’t want to be writing about sperm again. Some won’t stop, however, and so I find myself once again turning to matters seminal. Elizabeth Marquardt, of the Institute for American Values, has her say in The Times about children conceived by anonymous donors. She claims “children today are being raised in an era [...]
So You Want to Get Pregnant . . .
(Originally published in Bay Windows, December 13, 2007.) Louise Sloan’s new book, Knock Yourself Up: No Man? No Problem: A Tell-All Guide to Becoming a Single Mom (Avery: 2007), is something of a novelty. It is perhaps the only parenting book by an out lesbian mom that is directed at a mixed audience, lesbian and [...]
Welcome, Advocate Readers!
A big welcome to those of you visiting after reading the profile of Mombian in The Advocate! Please have a look around. My goal here is to offer a blend of parenting, politics, and lesbian culture, including: New LGBT-inclusive children’s shows and books; LGBT visibility in mainstream children’s media; Commentary about family creation and family [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode Seven
In this edition of our weekly video blog, brought to you in partnership with After Ellen, Helen and I use Jodie Foster’s increasing openness about her personal life as an excuse to talk about why it’s important for parents to be honest about their families. How does being out (or not) impact children’s sense of [...]
Butch-Femme Holiday Gift Question
OK, my ever-insightful readers: Which of the following items best represents an amalgam of butch-femme, a perfect gift for the keep-’em-guessing lesbian: The Swiss Army Knife in a pink floral pattern or the KitchenAid Mixer with the flame detailing? Other suggestions welcome.
Take the Family Equality Council Survey
The Family Equality Council (formerly the Family Pride Coalition) is in the midst of their strategic planning process and is looking for feedback from individuals about how they can best support LGBT families and promote family equality. They want your thoughts, regardless of whether you are already familiar with their work. If you have a [...]
Lesbian Moms Aplenty on Between the Lions
As reported here last July, Melissa Etheridge has appeared as a guest (several times now) on PBS Kids’ Between the Lions. Now, it’s come to my attention that fellow lesbian mom and Iron Chef Cat Cora has done a spot for the show as well—a short bit in which she enunciates and demonstrates the word [...]
Does Marriage Lead to IVF?
“Mass. Gay Marriages Lead To Increase In IVF” proclaims the headline at 365gay.com. Since marriage equality became law in Massachusetts, more same-sex couples are using in vitro fertilization (IVF) to create their families, they report. Samuel Pang, Medical Director of the Reproductive Science Center of New England, one of the largest such firms in the [...]
HRC Launches Initiative for Foster Children
Today marks the launch of HRC’s All Children – All Families, initiative, “aimed at finding permanent families for foster children by promoting fairness for GLBT families.” They hope to do this by educating adoption and foster care agencies (public and private) about LGBT families, and conversely, by educating the LGBT community about foster and adoptive [...]
New England Hanukkah
I’m technically Jewish, since my parents are, but we were never a very observant family and my own beliefs today tend toward the agnostic. I am, however, what I’ve heard called a “culinary Jew,” which means I have a fondness (and occasional mad cravings) for certain foods of my heritage. I whipped up a bunch [...]
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