Archives › 2008 › January
Share a Photo to Help Utah Families
Want to help same-sex and other unmarried families in Utah in their fight for adoption rights? Chicory over at An Accident of Hope is preparing a banner for a rally and wants to include photos representing the almost 1300 children affected by the lack of rights. She explains: If you’re willing to let a picture [...]
Single-Mom Blogging
If you’re a single mom or potential single mom of any orientation, or even a partnered lesbian looking for insight and advice on getting pregnant, you should put Louise Sloan’s Knock Yourself Up (reviewed here in December) on your reading list. If you’ve already read her stuff and liked it, or want to get a [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 13
This week in our video blog, Helen and I rant about “Evil Lesbian Moms,” bemoan the Cashmere Mafia’s tired storyline about sperm-seekin’ lesbians, and tell you why in fact a show about two straight, philandering, male plastic surgeons—Nip/Tuck—has some of the most intriguing portrayals of lesbian parents on television. On a brighter note, we recommend [...]
lnternational LGBT Parenting Roundup
A few parenting pieces from around the world: Teachers and school administrators in Britain now have new guidance on combating homophobia and reducing anti-gay bullying in schools. LGBT-rights group Stonewall produced the guidance for the government and released it last September, although the official launch was this week. It’s all sensible stuff, like explaining different [...]
Nation’s First Lesbian, African-American Mayor Also a Mother and Grandmother
E. Denise Simmons received a lot of press coverage last week when she took office in Cambridge, Massachusetts as the nation’s first openly lesbian, African-American mayor. What wasn’t revealed in the first round of press coverage was that she is also the mother of four and the grandmother of three. The Boston EDGE just published [...]
An End Run Around ENDA?
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. and the New York City Pension Funds today called on two dozen major corporations, including ExxonMobil, to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Comptroller’s office says this is nearly twice as many proposals as in the previous proxy season, and the second season [...]
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Up and Down the Family Tree
As a counterpoint to my piece on the children of LGBT servicemembers, have a read of Deb Price’s piece on the parents of LGBT servicemembers. She rightly says “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell doesn’t just hurt gay men and women in uniform. Congress needs to hear first-hand about the pain it causes their moms and dads.” [...]
Cat Cooks for Kids
Iron Chef Cat Cora appears in this month’s Parents magazine (and on their Web site), talking about cooking for her two young sons. Her youngest, at eight months, gets jarred organic food, and her four-year-old gets whatever everyone else is having. “I attribute his good eating habits, at least in part, to the fact that [...]
LGBT Parenting Roundup
A bevy of parenting-related articles, collected for your reading pleasure: Miss Washington, Elyse Umemoto, one of the contenders for the Miss America title, stated on a pre-pageant reality show that she supports same-sex marriage because “she has both a mother and a stepfather . . . and a father and a stepfather,” as After Elton [...]
Two Moms and Ten Thousand LEGOs
Fifty years ago today, Ole Kirk Christansen received approval for his patent of the original LEGO brick, as Boing Boing reminds us. We’re huge fans of the plastic pieces around our house. LEGOs were one of the formative toys of my childhood, especially after my brother brought home several paper grocery bags full of them [...]
Third Dottie DVD Giveaway
Studying Our Children, from Birth to Adulthood
Dr. Nanette Gartrell is the principal investigator of the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS). “Longitudinal lesbians?” you may ask. Parse it differently, however, and it’s a multi-year, repeated study of a group of lesbian moms and their children, the longest-running and largest investigation of its kind. Dr. Gartrell was kind enough to take time [...]
Explaining LGBT Families
Finally, a sensible answer to the question of explaining LGBT families to young children. A reader of the Seattle Times asks: How much information is appropriate to give young children (6-8 years) about gay families? Evidently, my daughter has a gay family in her classroom, and I want her to understand and be tolerant. She [...]
First Rainbow List of LGBT-Themed Children’s Books
The GLBT Round Table of the American Library Association has published its first “Rainbow List” of the year’s best LGBT-themed children’s and young adult books. (Since this is the list’s inaugural year, it in fact includes books of the past three years.) Thanks to K. T. Horning of Worth the Trip for making the list [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
I haven’t been covering the blow-by-blow of the presidential campaigns, but others have. Lisa Keen, in the Bay Area Reporter, has a good summary of the leading candidates’ positions on various LGBT issues and the endorsements they’ve gained. The AP looks at the frustration among many LGBT activists about the lukewarm support for LGBT rights [...]
Tell the NY Post “Evil Lesbian Mom” Is Insulting
Not that I expect fine journalism from the New York Post, but this goes beyond acceptability: “EVIL LESBIAN MOM LEFT TODDLER TO DIE SLOW DEATH: DA” blares the headline. The story is a tragic one, of child abuse and neglect. A New York mother is accused of abandoning her 23-month-old son to death after he [...]
Gay-Straight Alliances at Department of Defense Dependents Schools
Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper for the U.S. military community overseas, has a fascinating article on the establishment of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at Robert D. Edgren High School, situated at Misawa Air Base in Japan and part of the Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Pacific. Despite some controversy and an investigation of the Department [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 12
This week, Helen and I use Tasha’s storyline on The L Word as an excuse to share the story of an actual LGBT officer raising children with her partner, and to explore the impact of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on the children of LGBT servicemembers. (Read the full story in my original [...]
How Do Our Children Compare?
(Originally published in Bay Windows, January 22, 2008). Dr. Blase Masini wants to spend time with your family—or at least with data about you. The developmental psychologist and head of the research department at Howard Brown Health Center, a leading LGBT health care organization in Chicago, has launched a nationwide study of LGBT parenting, and [...]
Coming Soon: Al’s Guide to a Carbon-Free Wedding
Same-sex marriage is cool. Al Gore says so. Of course, this pretty conclusively proves he’s not running for president. More’s the pity.
Families Left Behind
Posh parenting magazine Cookie recently pointed out all the federal and state protections offered to new parents. (Article is not online; thanks to Elisa via MomsRising for the tip.) None of the federal protections, of course, apply to same-sex couples. The non-biological parent of the couple is not entitled to any parental leave under federal [...]
The Marriage Train
Same-sex couples are as happy, committed, and satisfied with their relationships as opposite-sex ones, according to two studies in the January issue of Developmental Psychology. If anything, concluded one study, “the lesbian couples were especially effective at resolving conflict.” The other found that “same-sex couples were more satisfied with their relationships, reported more positive feelings [...]
Another Dottie DVD Giveaway
Parenting Progress in Europe
Good news for LGBT parents in Europe: The European Court of Human Rights ruled last week that France acted illegally by preventing a single lesbian from adopting a child. Some say the ruling could stop countries throughout Europe from refusing approval to an unmarried person because of her or his sexual orientation. Britain’s House of [...]
The L Word Season Five, Episodes Two and Three: The Parenting Perspective
There’s not much parenting going on in The L Word this season, so I’m going to cover two episodes at once here. In Episode Two, Tina spends most of a blind date talking about little Angelica (and by association, Bette), bad moves both. Yes, if you’re a dating single mom, it’s important to let any [...]
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