Archives › 2008 › August
Del Martin on Fresh Air
NPR’s Fresh Air today broadcast an excerpt from an interview Terry Gross conducted with Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon back in 1992. It’s worth 12 or so minutes of your time to take in a little history and remember a pioneer of the LGBT-rights movement. (Terry Gross is one of those people I’ll listen to [...]
In the Life Showcases Classroom Diversity Film
I wrote last fall of the DVD release of It’s Elementary, a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Debra Chasnoff that shows how various teachers have addressed LGBT awareness in the classroom. The DVD also includes a companion piece, It’s STILL Elementary, which looks at why the film was made, people’s response, and the situation today. [...]
Back-to-School Hacks
Even though my own son won’t need any of these tips for a while, I’ve been impressed by Lifehacker’s long list of back-to-school hacks. Whether it’s Top 10 Back to School Tools for the Organized Student, ways to Raise Your GPA, or Best Places to Find Deals on Textbooks, if you have a child in [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Week Off
We’re taking the week off from our “She Got Me Pregnant” vlog because of some family happenings. We hope to be back next Thursday with another episode.
In Memoriam: Del Martin
In June, I was happy to relate the news that two pioneers of the lesbian- and LGBT-rights movements, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, would be the first same-sex couple to marry legally in San Francisco. Today, I am saddened by the news of Martin’s death. She and Lyon had celebrated over 50 years together.
Conventionitis
It’s convention season here in the U.S. The Democrats are having a party this week, with the Republicans to follow. I haven’t been covering the blow-by-blow, since the LGBT bloggers at Bilerico and Pam’s House Blend have been doing so with gusto, and with people actually at the convention to report first hand. Bay Windows [...]
Back-to-School BuddyG Giveaway
To celebrate the beginning of the school year, I’m having another contest to win a copy of BuddyG: My Two Moms and Me, the first fully animated show featuring a child of LGBT parents! Margaux Towne-Colley and Donna Colley, the women behind BuddyG, have offered a free copy to a Mombian reader, and they’re throwing [...]
Documenting Kids of Queer Parents
(Originally published by After Ellen, July 16, 2008.) Filmmaker Meema Spadola made Our House: A Very Real Documentary About Kids of Lesbian and Gay Parents, because it was the type of movie that didn’t exist when she was a child. “If I had been able to turn on the television and see a documentary or [...]
Marriage and Parenthood: A Talk with Nancy Polikoff
(Originally published in Bay Windows (PDF link), July 24, 2008) For many same-sex couples, one of the primary motivations for getting married is to gain legal protections for our children. Nancy Polikoff, professor of law at American University Washington College of Law, cautions us, however, that we should not tie parenthood and marriage too tightly. [...]
I’m Speaking at BlogHer Boston
I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be speaking at BlogHer Boston, part of the BlogHer series of conferences for and about women bloggers, on October 11. Founder Elisa Camahort was kind enough to invite me to speak at the Closing Keynote, “Change Your Future; Change the World.” That sounds like the tagline for a Terminator [...]
Gay Pilgrims’ Progress
I don’t often post about purely local events, but since this one has ties to national history, here goes: Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, the site of the first Thanksgiving, will host “Out at Plimoth Plantation” on September 13. The event will “offer a glimpse into the lives of 17th century LGBT pilgrims and Native Americans,” [...]
Where Would You Put an LGBT Official?
“Where would an openly gay or lesbian, bisexual or transgender appointee or elected official make the most difference during the next administration?” That’s the question the folks at Logo’s 365gay News posed to me and a number of others, including GLSEN director Kevin Jennings, former GLAAD director Joan Garry, former and current HRC directors Elizabeth [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 40
Last week, Helen and I talked about Olympic athletes who are mothers. This week, we turn to the mothers of athletes, bringing you some of our favorite stories of supportive parents at the Beijing Games. We add an LGBT twist by revealing which character from an LGBT-themed show Michael Phelps’ mom reminded us of, and [...]
Take the LGBT Consumer Index Survey
The folks at Community Marketing have launched a survey for their second Gay and Lesbian Consumer Index. I’d like to encourage all of you to take it and contribute your perspectives as parents (or prospective parents) in our community. All information is confidential and will not be sold to third parties or used for marketing [...]
Coming Out as LGBT Grandparents
With increasing coverage of LGBT parents in the media today, it is surprising LGBT grandparents are still largely invisible. I suspect this has much to do with the frequent media focus on lesbian couples with cute little tots or funny stories about finding sperm, or, for occasional variety, gay men searching for surrogates. The idea [...]
Help Needed: LGBT Children’s Books in Spanish
A reader just wrote to ask me if I knew of any LGBT-inclusive children’s books in Spanish, especially for the very youngest tots. She knew of Antonio’s Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio, by Rigoberto Gonzalez and Cecilia Alvarez, but felt that was a little beyond the age of her own child. I’ll add the bilingual English/Spanish [...]
LGBT Parenting Roundup
Lest you think I’ve become entirely obsessed with the Olympics (almost, but not quite), here’s a roundup of what’s happening in LGBT parenting news: The California Supreme Court ruled today that a group of doctors cannot use their religion as a legal excuse for denying a lesbian patient infertility treatment. Lambda Legal reports, “In a [...]
Beijing Olympics in Legos
My love of both Legos and the Olympicsis well documented. My son is also obsessed with the former and learning to love the latter. I was thrilled, therefore, to see this astounding recreation of the Beijing Olympic facilities in Legos, including the Bird’s Nest, the Water Cube, the beach volleyball court, the equestrian arena, and [...]
Mom Wins Gymnastics Silver
Oksana Chusovitina, a 33-year-old German gymnast and mother, won silver last night in the Women’s Vault, proving her presence there wasn’t just a fluke. I wrote about Chusovitina in a previous post (and Helen and I discussed in our vlog)—she kept competing past the “normal” age in order to raise money for her son’s leukemia [...]
Sterling Performances by Dara Torres
Forty-one-year-old mother Dara Torres won two silver medals last night, bringing her count to three for the Beijing Games. Her first was in the Women’s 50m Freestyle, where she missed gold by one one-hundredth of a second. The second was in the 4×100 Medley Relay, where she anchored the team and closed, but did not [...]
Opponents of Gay Guinea Pig Book Start to Organize
A few weeks ago I reported on the first challenge to Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a children’s book featuring two gay guinea pigs who marry. Today, library director James LaRue, who wrote a sensitive, balanced response to the initial challenge, reports that a second patron has challenged the book and asked for its removal from the [...]
Because She’s a Mom
Helen and I have been watching the Olympics all night. Dara Torres just won her heat in the Women’s 50m freestyle. Before the race, she went over and spoke with one of the officials, an action that puzzled the announcers until they realized she was asking them to hold the race so Swedish competitor Therese [...]
Weekly Political Update
Many LGBT advocates are praising this year’s Democratic platform (not yet public) as “the most progressive major party platform with respect to LGBT issues in the nation’s history.” Some complaint that it never uses the terms “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual,” and “transgender,” but others argue that terms such as “same-sex couples” “sexual orientation,” and “gender identity” [...]
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