Weekly Political Roundup

• Lawmakers in both houses of Congress reintroduced legislation to allow a foreign national’s domestic partner in the United States to sponsor their immigration to the country. The bill is now known as the Uniting American Families Act.
• In celebration of Freedom to Marry Week, same-sex couples applied for marriage licenses around the country, including Dallas, Las Vegas, and New York, only to be turned away—although one resourceful lesbian couple managed to get one in Tucson, Arizona.
• Former President Clinton is scheduled to give a paid speech at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego to a major political action committee, but to do so, he will have to violate a union boycott and offend many LGBT Americans. The owner of the hotel, Doug Manchester, contributed $125,000 in early seed money to support Prop 8.
• Phoenix’s domestic-partner registry opens on Monday “for couples wishing to make their relationships at least somewhat official.” Registration grants the right to visitation of a domestic partner at any healthcare facility in Phoenix, and could be used to demonstrate a domestic partnership to employers or others that offer benefits to partners of employees. Read the rest of this post »

Mombian YouTube Channel Update

I’ve added a few more videos to the Mombian YouTube channel this week, including a promo video for Camp Ten Trees, a summer camp near Seattle for LGBT children and children from LGBT families.

There’s also a long trailer for Fatherhood Dreams, a Canadian documentary about two gay couples who are prospective dads. One of the couples ends up co-parenting with a lesbian couple. The film was just nominated for Best Documentary in the Canadian Film and Television Production Association Indie Awards. (I’ve also added a few other clips from the film into the channel.)

Repealing DADT Is Only the First Step

Yes, rumors are flying that President Obama will repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. What happens when lesbian and gay personnel may serve openly, though, but will still not receive the support for their spouses and children to which other servicemembers are entitled?

I explore that question in my column this week for 365gay.com. I can’t crosspost yet, but you can go have a read.

In related news, Paulie Milagros Shreck wrote a piece for COLAGE about being the daughter of a lesbian servicemember. The Topeka Capital-Journal also carried a story last week about a mother and lesbian who was recently dismissed under DADT. NPR carried the story of a straight mother who re-enlisted in the Army in order to get medical treatment for her disabled son. It says a lot about the healthcare system in our country that she was forced to do this—but I also have to note that if she was a non-biological lesbian mom, her son would not have had military medical coverage in the first place.

(Since all of the armed services have dress blue uniforms, and thinking about the inequities faced by LGBT servicemembers makes me feel blue, this post will be my entry for the “Something Blue” day in the Freedom to Marry blog carnival hosted by The Other Mother.)

Borrowing Privileges

Here’s to librarians. I’ve been thinking about them this week because of the piece I just did on the American Library Association’s Rainbow List, but librarians and borrowing also fit nicely with the theme for the third day of the Some/Thing blog carnival at The Other Mother: “Something Borrowed.”

I’ve spent more hours than I can count holed up in libraries. Graduate study in the humanities will do that to you, although I think my habit started far earlier. I am now enjoying the very different experience of going to the library with my son. If you are like me, too, you are curbing your book spending in this down economy, and libraries are the natural substitute (although there’s still something about owning a good book that I know I can pick up at will). It also looks like libraries may get some funds through the new economic stimulus package.

Whether it is compiling lists of recommended books, tracking books that others want to ban, or simply helping me find a book that explains to a five-year-old how crystals form, librarians have my frequent admiration and thanks.

Remembering Larry (Letitia) King

Today marks the first anniversary of the murder of openly gay teen Larry King (who identified as Letitia King in the weeks before the murder).

I feel like a broken record, once again trotting out my list of safe schools resources, plus a few additional ones from GLSEN and PFLAG, as well as an update from HRC on their Welcoming Schools Project.

As Ellen Kahn, director of the HRC Foundation Family Project, says, however: “As educational systems adopt programs like Welcoming Schools, it will impact a generation of kids who’ll know it’s okay that a 10-year-old boy wants to wear pink, or a classmate has two dads, or a kid is in foster care.”

Safe schools programs are vital. In addition, we must encourage the use of LGBT-inclusive books and media in classrooms, even outside of formal programs, and we must encourage libraries to carry them. That is why resources like the American Library Association’s Rainbow List of LGBT-inclusive children’s and young adult literature are so important.

My heart goes out to King’s family and friends. While we can never replace your loss, we can work to create a world where such tragedies never happen again.

“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 58

Helen and I express shock that The L Word’s Helena actually remembered her children. We discuss that and other parenting storylines of this week’s episode, including the perils of enormous teddy bears. We also announce a new, selective list of LGBT-inclusive books for children and young adults (read more here), and tackle a viewer’s question about what to do when you’re about to have a baby with your partner but might risk your job if you come out at work. (And what is that funny orange thing around Helen’s neck?)

Brought to you in partnership with After Ellen.

Will Lesbian Batwoman Steal Sperm to Impregnate Partner?

At first, I was excited. A lesbian Batwoman, and a redhead, no less. Being a fellow member of that esteemed league, I felt a certain bond.

Then I read the rest of the article, in which Gotham’s female guardian is described by writer Greg Rucka as “the kind of sexy that makes you think of a succubus with a very bad attitude.”

From Wikipedia:

A Succubus (plural succubi) is a demon who takes the form of a beautiful woman to seduce men in dreams to have sexual intercourse, according to the medieval European legend. Their male counterpart is the incubus. They draw energy from the men to sustain themselves, often until the point of exhaustion or death of the victim. . . .

According to the Malleus Maleficarum, or “Witches’ Hammer”, written by Heinrich Kramer (Insitoris) in 1486, a succubus would collect semen from the men she slept with, which incubi would then use to impregnate women, thus explaining how demons could apparently sire children in spite of the traditional belief that demons were incapable of reproduction through generative or gestative means.

Oh, great. All we need is another killer lesbian with bisexual tendencies. The only twist this time is that she’s part of the lesbian baby boom. (One would imagine she’d do the inseminations herself, without the help of a male incubus.) Wonder if she carries a cryo tank on her utility belt?

I’ll give Rucka the benefit of the doubt and be willing to think he didn’t make the lesbian-mom connection. But still. After the flap a decade ago against shoemaker Reebok for naming one of its shoes the Incubus, after a demon who had sex with women while they slept, you’d think people would be more careful.

Given that the whole Batman aesthetic is dark and brooding and even the male caped crusader has his share of hangups, I’m not expecting Batwoman to be a perfect human being. Tragic flaws can make a character more interesting. For the love of Gotham, though, just don’t make them stereotypical flaws.

What do you think? Will a lesbian Batwoman be good for the LGBT community?

(Thanks to PageOneQ for the pointer to the article.)

LGBT Parenting Roundup

News from here and there about parents, kids, and schools:

• Attorneys representing Brandon McInerney, the 15-year old accused of killing openly gay teen Larry King (who identified as Letitia King in the weeks before the murder) are asking an appeals court to order prosecutors to show how they determined McInerney should be tried as an adult.
• A new ad campaign, cosponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, the California Department of Social Services, and Los Angeles County Adoption Services, is encouraging gay couples in Los Angeles County to adopt. The campaign launched with a billboard ad in West Hollywood. (I guess Bette and Tina’s adoption issues on The L Word may not be the best publicity.)
• The Delaware Supreme Court ruled against a lesbian mom fighting for custody rights to the child she and her partner were raising together. Lacey Smith and Charlene Gordon (pseudonyms) adopted the child from Kazakhstan, but only one could legally adopt. Smith did so. Even though Gordon took adoption leave and covered the child under her employee benefits, the court reversed a lower court ruling and said she could not have joint custody. Delaware here follows Maryland in rejecting a de facto parent doctrine. The District of Columbia, however, recognizes de facto parents by statute. As Nancy Polikoff points out, had the couple lived in DC, Gordon would have had an equal right to custody and an equal obligation to pay child support. What was that about best interests of the children? Nancy has more on the case. Worth a read. Read the rest of this post »