Archives › 2007 › December
Billie Jean and Martina: Aging Well
Tennis legend Billie Jean King is the subject of a long interview in today’s Sunday Times (London), after having received the Lifetime Achievement award at the newspaper’s Sports Women of the Year banquet. She talks in depth about her career, her fight to establish a women’s tour, the much-hyped match with Bobby Riggs, being outed, [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA.) dropped a gay- and transgender-inclusive hate crimes bill, aka the Matthew Shepard Act, from the National Defense Authorization Act, bowing to pressure from House Democratic leaders. House democrats are now asking the Senate to pass a standalone hate-crimes bill. The Scottsdale, Arizona City Council [...]
Hate Crimes, Violence, and Jodie Foster
The LGBT-inclusive Hate Crimes Bill, aka the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, is dead. House Democrats removed it from the Defense Reauthorization bill to which it was attached. According to the Washington Blade, “gay-supportive Democrats who oppose the war would join more than 150 Republicans who oppose the hate crimes bill to defeat the [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 6
In this edition of our weekly video blog, brought to you in partnership with After Ellen, my partner Helen and I offer a few specific ideas and some general advice for parents and others buying gifts for children over the holidays. Plus: tattoos of your children’s names, regendered dolls, and sparkly boas! Online Videos by [...]
LGBT-Inclusive Children’s Gifts
(Originally published in Bay Windows, November 29, 2007.) Looking to find children’s gifts inclusive of LGBT families? Try some of these books and videos from 2007: For Young Children We Belong Together: A Book About Adoption and Families, by Todd Parr (Little, Brown Young Readers: 2007), showcases families of many configurations. Paired phrases like “We [...]
Watch Previews of DVDs for LGBT Families
Here’s a clip of the song “Doing the Flower,” from Dottie’s Magic Pockets, the new live-action show for children of LGBT families (and their friends). (Warning: High risk of this song sticking in your head the entire evening.) For more Dottie, here’s a link to Dottie’s opening sequence, which sets the scene for the show, [...]
Mombian Shop Updated for the Holidays
I’ve updated the Mombian Shop with more recommendations for LGBT-friendly children’s books, books about LGBT parenting, and some general children’s books and music I like. There are also links to automatically generated lists of baby products, household goods, tools, toys, and more—making it easy to do all your holiday shopping. I do get a fee [...]
The Sperm Wail
Sperm, as Helen and I have noted in several of our video blogs, is only the start of the lesbian-parenting journey (and isn’t part of the journey at all for adoptive parents). Choosing sperm is important while you’re doing it, and children may develop a natural curiosity about their donors, but most of us are [...]
Happy Hanukkah!
A very happy first night of Hanukkah to those of you observing it. If your family comes from multiple traditions, like mine, then I wish you joy as you make latkes in the shape of Christmas trees, or do whatever you do to honor and celebrate your interwoven diversity in this season of miracles and [...]
Kids’ Toys from the Hardware Store: PVC Hubble
As many of you know, my partner Helen and I have a fondness for making toys from PVC pipes. We’ve done a PVC pipe construction set, a rain stick and even a wild musical pipe set that at least one reader has copied to great success. Today, I wanted to assure you that we’re not [...]
Songs for Peace and Tolerance from Erin Lee and Marci
Children’s musicians Erin Lee and Marci bring us the next of their regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family. This month’s highlights include one song that “celebrates the friendship and tenacity of two birds that are told their relationship is ‘obscene’ [...]
World AIDS Day
It’s World AIDS Day. AVERT, an international HIV and AIDS charity based in the UK, gives us the following statistics: According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.2 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children [and 15.4 million women]. During 2007 some 2.5 million people became newly infected with the virus. Around half [...]
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