I suppose it’s appropriate that on All Hallow’s Eve the news seems scarier than usual. I’m going to focus on the U.S. election this week because that’s what I’m focused on, other than wondering how to get my son down from his sugar high tonight.

Here are some selected articles about the anti-equality Props:

• The LA Times reports on what would happen to currently married same-sex couples if Prop 8 passes. Short answer: legal chaos. They remind us that California’s attorney general has opined, “Proposition 8 would not be retroactive and that existing marriages would stand. But his view is likely to be challenged.” Even if existing same-sex married couples are allowed to remain married, think about what this would mean to the LGBT community, split into two parts with different rights.

Read more »

Let’s have some fun here in the midst of political season: Robin Reagler of The Other Mother and I have teamed up to give away 20 complete boxed sets of the fifth season of The L Word. I’ll give away five here today; she’ll do five on Monday; I’ll do five on Tuesday, and she’ll wrap up with five on Wednesday. Lots of chances to win!

Here’s how today’s contest will work: Leave a comment on this post with your answer to the question: “Which L Word character (or actor) would make the best president, and why?”

Everyone who leaves a comment before 11:59 p.m. Eastern today will be entered into a drawing to win. I will pick five winners at random. Please note further rules and restrictions below.

THE L WORD returns to DVD with THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON on October 21ST in a collectible 4-disc set. DVD includes all 12 dramatic and deliciously provocative Fifth season episodes from Showtime’s successful long-running series featuring all the beauty, chaos and complexities of a group of women who inhabit Los Angeles’ lesbian community plus behind-the-scenes special features.

© 2008 Showtime Networks Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Rules and restrictions: U.S. and Canada residents only, please. One entry per person. Don’t worry if your comment is moderated; once I approve it, it will appear based on the time you submitted it. Previous winners of Mombian contests cannot play again. If you are or have been a paying advertiser on Mombian, you can’t play.

You must also leave a valid e-mail address with your comment. (Address will not be sold or shared. Don’t leave a postal address, though. If you win, I’ll contact you by e-mail about shipping.)

Helen and I declare ourselves Two Mamas for Obama and talk about our son’s reaction to election time.

We also review the film Breakfast with Scot, about two gay men who foster a flamboyant 11-year-old boy. The movie breaks new ground in its depiction of LGBT families, we say, if only because there are no pregnant lesbians involved. There is, however, a hockey dad, who throws a whole new light on our current impression of hockey parents. (See also Dana’s written interview with director Laurie Lynd.)

Watch Mombian: She Got Me Pregnant 10-30-2008 in Family Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

If the Veoh video above doesn’t work for you, try it at Dailymotion.

Brought to you in partnership with After Ellen.

Wow. Bloggers contributed over 400 posts for Write to Marry Day, sharing both personal and political reasons for standing against California’s Proposition 8. Participants included both LGBT bloggers and non-LGBT allies, parents, people of faith, national and state LGBT and civil rights organizations, and blogs both large and small.

Many thanks to all of you who posted and encouraged others to do so. I know many of you have been writing against Prop 8 for months now. I hope our united voices helped each of ours carry a little farther.

Mike Rogers, the co-organizer, and I have picked a winner of the $50 Amazon.com gift certificate out of participants who left a valid e-mail address. Fran, whose entry is here, won the contest. (We’ll continue to take late submissions of posts throughout today, but the contest is closed.)

Four hundred posts is a lot to read through, so I’ll ask all of you to comment here on ones that caught your eye. Which did you find the most touching, funny, or convincing? Which ones spoke to you, and which ones will you pass on to family and friends?

Despite the success of this event, things are looking grim for equality right now. No On 8 told people yesterday: “Unless we raise $3 million in the next three days we will likely lose.”

To move the message, the campaign must push hard in print, radio and television ads. Please go to the Equality for All ActBlue page to give your donations.

Also, breaking news this morning is that the No On Prop 8 page is being hit by a denial-of-service attack designed to block others from accessing the site. It’s up as of this writing, but has been iffy. The Equality for All ActBlue page is still working, however, so people can continue to give even in the face of this heinous act.

Money is the greatest need, but community leaders in California are also reminding people:

• For those who vote in California: Don’t Stop at the Top! - Propositions are at the bottom of the ballot. At Don’t Stop at the Top people can submit mobile numbers of friends in California so on election day they are reminded to vote down ballot.
• No On 8 is seeking volunteers to help with Get Out The Vote efforts throughout the state. To volunteer, visit the No On 8’s Netroots page.

Below (after the jump) is the master list of OVER 400 posts contributed for Write to Marry Day. Thanks to all are who participating.

I’m still taking posts, to account for differences in time zones and allow for some latecomers. Submit your link through the form at the end of this post, after the jump.

Special Update from No On 8: No On 8 is now telling people: “Unless we raise $3 million in the next three days we will likely lose.”

If you have not yet donated money to the No On 8 campaign, or wish to do so again, please do so here.

I will update this list as quickly as possible, but submitted posts may not appear immediately. Please be patient. [UPDATED AS OF November 1, 8:15 p.m. Eastern. New posts at bottom of list below.]

Contributed posts are after the jump. Read more »

(Originally published in Bay Windows, October 22, 2008, with slight variation.)

“Hollywood would never make this movie,” says director Laurie Lynd of his new feature film, Breakfast with Scot. On the surface, though, the plot sounds like something we’ve heard before: unsuspecting, child-free adults find their lives transformed when circumstances plop a kid on their doorstep. Think Three Men and a Baby or Big Daddy.

In this case, the major difference is that the unwitting parental protagonists are two gay men living in Toronto: Sam (Ben Shenkman), a lawyer, and his partner Eric (Tom Cavanaugh), a deeply closeted sportscaster and former NHL hockey player. The boy, Scot (Noah Bernett), is the son of Sam’s brother’s recently deceased girlfriend. The brother has jetted off to South America, leaving Scot in the care of Child Services, who decide he would be better off with Eric and Sam.

It is remarkable enough that placing the boy with two gay men is a non-issue. When Scot turns out to be a gender-bending 11-year-old who likes to wear makeup and sing show tunes, one realizes just how extraordinary a plot this is. “I figure if it had been a Hollywood film,” Lynd says, “it would have been, ’gay couple gets saddled with obnoxious straight boy kid, and worlds collide.’ I think it’s more interesting that it’s the gay men who are threatened by the gender bending.”

He elaborates, “It’s a Hollywood format. It’s very much meant to be a bright, entertaining film. But its attitude towards its politics and the things that the characters are actually struggling with, I don’t believe Hollywood would treat in this way.” Read more »

There’s more going on right now than just the presidential election and Halloween. Here are a few stories:

• First, score one for the penguins: Library trustees in Calvert County, Maryland, voted unanimously to keep And Tango Makes Three in the children’s section of county libraries, along with other picture books, despite an official complaint that the book be shelved in an area labeled “alternative or non-traditional family.”

  Library trustees asserted, “it is the job of a library to disseminate information, not to ‘take the role of a parent’ and determine who can access what information.” They asked “how would [books] about single, foster, mixed-race, young or old parents be tagged” and concluded, “Segregating books about such families would require ‘passing value judgments on such families’ and would censor what readers could easily find in the library.”

Read more »

Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the New England LGBT legal organization, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a series of podcasts on their landmark cases. The case for October tells the story of Don Babets and David Jean, a gay couple who began fostering two brothers in 1985 through the state’s foster care system.

After “community opposition” to their family that earned coverage in the Boston Globe, the Department of Social Services (DSS) removed the boys from the couple and soon announced a new policy that essentially banned gay men and lesbians from fostering children. Governor and Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and his administration supported the move.

The case took four years to litigate and resolve. The couple never regained the boys, but in 1990, as a result of the case, DSS returned to a “best interests of the child” standard for foster care, without regard to the sexual orientation of the parents.

The couple has now adopted four children.

Download the podcast to your device of choice. You can also get their featured case from May, about the first second-parent adoption in the state, if you missed it earlier, or subscribe to the whole podcast series.

Please join bloggers around the country and around the world on Wednesday, October 29 to blog in support of marriage equality for same-sex couples and against California’s Proposition 8.

The event will give bloggers a chance to voice their opposition to Prop 8 and highlight what they may have already done, online or off, to stop the measure. The campaign will also educate California voters of the need to “go all the way” down the ballot to vote on the proposition.

Mike Rogers of PageOneQ approached me last week to ask if I’d organize a blog carnival like Blogging for LGBT Families Day, but this time to help generate awareness and action against Prop 8. I readily agreed, and here it is.

To participate, post on your own blog against Prop 8 on or before October 29, 2008, then submit the link to your post by completing the form below. Links to your own videos on YouTube or other video sites are also accepted.

Many of you have already done much to try and stop Prop 8 in California, donating and raising money, blogging, and talking with friends and family. Please share your efforts and post about them for Write to Marry Day, or submit a link to a previous post. This will help us create a comprehensive view of bloggers’ efforts to stop Prop 8.

I urge you to spread the word about this event as widely as possible, on both LGBT and mainstream sites. All bloggers who are against Prop 8 are welcome to contribute posts, regardless of where they live or whether they are LGBT or not.

I will showcase the full list of participants here on October 29.

Not only that, but all participants who leave a valid e-mail address will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

You can track this event by joining the Write to Marry event on Facebook or MySpace, or by following Mombian on Twitter.

Thanks to corporate sponsors Witeck-Combs Communications and Renna Communications for their with the event. Thanks also to Mike Tidmus for the graphics.

Download an event banner here for use on your own blogs. Submit your posts below.

I have a new piece up at 365gay.com, “Teaching Children about Gays and Lesbians.” I talk about Prop 8 and how those who want to ban discussion of same-sex couples in school curricula are ignoring the fact that the only real way to eliminate this topic from the classroom is to expel the children who have them as parents—and that’s a step even the far-right won’t take.

I can’t crosspost it here yet, but you can go read it there.