Archives › 2008 › December
Last LGBT Parenting Roundup of the Year
I’m still in “light posting over the holidays” mode here, but for those of you still out there and reading, here’s a quick roundup of LGBT parenting news to hold you for a few days: President Bush—yes, that’s right—signed the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 (WRERA), making it mandatory for businesses to [...]
What Were Your Favorite Moments of 2008?
Every TV news show and newspaper is publishing retrospective best-of lists for 2008. I gave in to the trend myself. Your turn, now. What were your favorite moments or events—personal, political, or otherwise—from the past year? (Leave a link if you’ve already posted on your own blog.)
Lesbian Moms, Mmm, Mmm Good
Campbell Soup is the latest company to realize the value of marketing to the $650 billion LGBT market—and specifically, to lesbian moms. They have run a two-page spread for Swanson’s broth in the Advocate, featuring two lesbian moms and their young son. The women, Lea Forant and Carolyn Montgomory, are owners of Café Forant in [...]
LGBT Parent Newsmakers of the Year
Who were the LGBT parents who made headlines this year in mainstream or LGBT news? Here are my top individuals or couples, in alphabetic (not rank) order. (This started as a top-ten list, but outgrew that appellation by a bit. Consider it a holiday bonus.)
Happy Kwanzaa!
A very happy Kwanzaa to those of you celebrating it today. I am not one of them, but I love how Kwanzaa shows that we can honor our heritage in new ways, with traditions rooted in the past but developed in the present. (Kwanzaa was founded in 1966, which to me counts as present in [...]
And Mamma In Her Kerchief, and Mommy in Her Cap
. . . had just settled down for a long winter’s nap. Merry Christmas to those of you observing the holiday. The joys of the season to you and your families.
Major Win for Same-Sex Adoptive Parents
So hot off the presses, it’s still smoking . . . . This just in via Lambda Legal. A federal court judge has ordered the Louisiana State Registrar to recognize an out-of-state adoption by two gay dads, and issue a birth certificate recognizing both as parents. “This sends a strong message to state officials across [...]
Rick Warren and LGBT Families: Opposing Views
Rick Warren, Rick Warren. President-elect Obama’s selection of the evangelical preacher to give the invocation at Inauguration continues to stir up debate, as a quick glance at any LGBT news site will tell you. My own feeling at the moment is that Warren is a bigot and should not have been chosen, but at this [...]
If You’ve Left It Till the Last Minute
At this point, it’s pretty much all about the gift certificates (though if you’re celebrating Hanukkah, you might just squeak in with a mailed gift and expedited shipping before the eighth day). Amazon has gift certificates that you can e-mail or print yourself, loaded with as little as $5. (Full disclosure: I do make a [...]
Winter Wonderland
Sometimes I blog, sometimes I just play in the snow. (Actual picture of my backyard.) Posting will be light this week. I’ll probably put a few things up, though, so stop by between slices of fruitcake or latkes. I suspect I’ll be spending Thursday helping a very excited five-year-old assemble various Lego projects. (In a [...]
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 light up the first of the red noses on eight reindeer statues, have some latkes with eggnog, or do whatever you do to honor and celebrate [...]
Obvious but Needed Research: Children of Lesbian Families Happy and Healthy
The National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running and largest investigation of its kind, has published two new reports, in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry and Journal of Lesbian Studies. I gave Mombian readers a sneak peek at the results in my interview with Dr. Nanette Gartrell, the lead investigator, in August. Bottom line? [...]
Loving Families: An Idea for Change
I recently received an invitation to submit an “Idea for Change in America” at Change.org, a social network for social change. The concept behind this campaign is to collect “Top 10 Ideas for America” that Change.org will present to the Obama Administration on Inauguration Day. They then plan to build a national campaign with their [...]
New Bush Regs Could Limit Health and Reproductive Services for Lesbians and Other LGBT People
The Bush administration today issued a new rule that allows federal health officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctors’ office or other entity if they do not allow employees to exercise their “right of conscience.” This means employees can refuse to help provide services that [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 53
Over a glass of holiday “vlog nog,” Helen and I take a detour from parenting talk to examine an article in the latest issue of Cosmo titled, “Angelina Did it. So Did Lindsay. What It’s Like to Love a Girl.” We also note the strange convergence of Cosmo fashion trends and lesbian style. Moving back [...]
Gifts for LGBT Parents and Our Kids
(Originally published in Bay Windows, December 11, 2008.) LGBT parents or our kids on your holiday list? For the most part, mainstream gift guides will work just fine. Not everything we own has to be rainbow colored, and our kids already have three “I love my mommies” t-shirts each. If you do want something with [...]
A Season of Thanks
(Originally published in Bay Windows, November 26, 2008) It is supposed to be a time to give thanks, but the news is getting grim. Papers are carrying stories about children of same-sex parents worried that their families will fall apart in the wake of California’s Prop 8, and children who fear the Arkansas ban on [...]
March of the Penguins Becoming a Pride Parade
Two weeks ago, I posted about the pair of male penguins in China who were trying to steal other penguins’ eggs in an attempt to become parents. Now, at the urging of zoo visitors, zookeepers have given them a hand: “We decided to give them two eggs from another couple whose hatching ability had been [...]
New York Recognizes Non-Bio Parents
Nothing like a woman about to have a baby to spur people into action. New York State officials have been pondering the many ways they need to carry out Gov. David Paterson’s directive that state agencies respect out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples. New York residents Carolyn Trzeciak and Nina Sheldon Trzeciak, who married in Canada [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
Gen. Colin Powell told CNN “We definitely should reevaluate [Don't Ask, Don't Tell],” in his strongest statement yet against the policy. In related news, a federal appeals court refused to reconsider a ruling that raised doubts about the constitutionality of DADT. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the Air Force’s [...]
My New Project
I had the pleasure last weekend to meet Bil Browning, founder of The Bilerico Project, the largest LGBT group blog. He’s posted a couple of guest posts from me in the past, and has just invited me to be an official member of the gang at Bilerico. Never fear, Mombian is not going anywhere. I [...]
Lesbian Moms, Stat!
Sometimes, a lesbian mom is just a mom. Most of us here know that, but it is rare that a media depiction portrays us that way. ER, however, last night featured a lesbian mom and her spouse who could have been any other patient and significant other. There was no “lesbian” storyline per se, no [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 52
This week, Helen and I revisit what it means to be compared with Kate Clinton. I discuss my experience at a national LGBT bloggers’ conference and share a family heirloom. We also show you a tasty treat to prove that we really do follow our own suggestions from the vlog, and we discuss the virtues [...]
New Safe Schools Program from PFLAG
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) has just launched Cultivating Respect, a program to address anti-LGBT sentiment in the nation’s schools. The program includes “training seminars for local parents and allies, empowering PFLAG supporters at the local level to work directly with their community leaders and school administrators to protect LGBT students.” [...]
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