“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 69

Helen and I share viewer feedback on how Icelandic same-sex couples name their kids, and how to survive a trip to Disney World (including where to find hard-to-get Kim Possible merchandise). We also bring you updates on several celebrity lesbian moms with new babies, new wives, and new high-profile careers.

(If the above video doesn’t work for you, try it at this link.)

Brought to you in partnership with After Ellen.

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Let’s start with a funny:

Wanda Sykes is experiencing the . . . plumbing issues . . . that many of us encounter with our male infants. (Via Queerty.)

School issues:

• School officials in Ramona, California, told sixth-grader Natalie Jones that she couldn’t share her independent study project in class like the other students. The reason? Jones had written about civil rights icon Harvey Milk, and the school claimed the presentation would violate policy on sex education. The ACLU LGBT Project and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties has sent a demand letter to the school, stating that the school’s actions constitute illegal censorship. (The ACLU is wrong, however, in saying Milk was the United States’ first openly gay elected official. He was the fifth.)
• A Vallejo, California school district agreed to pay a student $25,000 after she filed a complaint that teachers harassed her for being lesbian and forced her to attend a counseling session in which she and other students were discouraged from being gay. The district settled without admitting liability.
• The ACLU and ACLU of Tennessee filed a federal lawsuit against two Tennessee school districts, claiming the schools are unconstitutionally blocking students from accessing online information about LGBT issues. The ACLU says that non-sexual Web sites about LGBT equality are blocked, but those that advocate “reparative therapy” for being gay are accessible. Read the rest of this post »

Cynthia Nixon’s Partner Won’t Get Parental Rights with Marriage

I wish Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni all the best with their just-announced marriage. Nixon is a high-profile mom and a great spokesperson for our community.

She should talk with a lawyer, however.

In her speech last week during a New York marriage equality rally, she announced her engagement and also asserted that Christine, the stay-at-home mom, has no legal right to their children if Nixon dies. She said this back in November as well.

As I pointed out then, however, and will do again, the children are legally Nixon’s and her ex-husband’s. Even if Nixon was remarrying a man, her second husband would have no legal rights to the children unless her first husband waived his. Nixon’s ex, Danny Mozes, is still involved with the children and seems unlikely to do this.

LGBT family law expert Nancy Polikoff confirms my analysis at her blog, and adds some insight into New York custody law.

A cautionary tale for stepparents of all orientations. Marriage brings a lot of benefits, but it’s not a panacea.

Where Can You “Marry Gay”?

While you’re waiting to see if the California Supreme Court is going to announce their opinion filing on Prop 8 today, as rumored (with the actual announcement coming tomorrow), check out Can I Marry Gay?, a simple but brilliant little Web app that lets you see if the state you’re in will let you and your beloved get hitched. (Thanks, Queerty.) I love the smiling little stick figures!

It doesn’t go quite as far as my idea for a “Gay Positioning System (GPS),” but it’s a start (and a handy reference to state laws for those of us who write about these things).

Run for the Border

No, not that border.

The Connecticut border, where hordes of maritally minded same-sex couples from New York are pouring across into towns like Greenwich and Stamford to get hitched, according to several recent newspaper reports. “Connecticut Border Town Is Same-Sex Marriage Haven” declares Newsday, making it sound a little like a refugee camp.

The Connecticut Post adds, “Aside from New York, same-sex couples from as far away as Texas, Nevada, Colorado and California have married in Greenwich.”

Rumor has it the California Supreme Court will rule on Prop 8 later today. Will they expand the territory of equality, or continue to force their own citizens to travel in search of it?

(Greenwich Town Hall photo credit: Umuzungu. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License.)

TV Alert: Call In to Debate on LGBT Non-Discrimination Material in Schools

I wrote the other day about an escalating situation in Alameda, California, where some conservative parents are objecting to including materials about LGBT families in the elementary school diversity curriculum.

This morning, at 11:15 a.m. Eastern, 9:15 a.m. Central, 8:15 a.m. Pacific, Brad Dacus, founder and president of the conservative Pacific Justice Institute will be debating filmmaker Debra Chasnoff (whose That’s a Family is a key part of the curriculum) on conservative talk show The Laura Ingram Show.

Thanks to Polly at Lesbian Dad for keeping on top of this. She notes: “The show will be open to comments from callers around the country, and (particularly because of its conservative audience) it’s important to have some supportive voices call in. You can listen live at http://1260.am/programming/listen/ ; the number to call is 800-876-4123.”

From Penguins to Chicken Butts: Diversity and Subversion in Children’s Books

“Guess what?”

“Chicken Butt!”

The classic schoolyard gag has found new life in Chicken Butt!, a picture book by critically acclaimed children’s author Erica Perl. There is nothing LGBT-specific about the story, but Perl’s illustrator is Henry Cole, the prolific artist who also did the drawings for Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson’s And Tango Makes Three and Harvey Fierstein’s The Sissy Duckling, both beloved of LGBT parents and their children. Cole and Perl spoke with me recently about diversity and subversion in kids’ books, the general state of children’s literature, and of course, chickens. Read the rest of this post »

Lesbian Mom Nominated for U.S. Attorney

Jenny Durkan, a longtime counselor to Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, is one of President Obama’s first six picks for U.S. attorneys. She is also a lesbian mom, and lives in Seattle with her partner and two sons.

True, there are no out lesbians on Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court shortlist, and one might wonder if Durkan’s nomination was in part to ward off disappointment within an LGBT community already wary of Obama for not moving more quickly on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

I don’t think that was the case, however. As Chuck Wolff of the Victory Fund explains, it’s not as if there was a campaign for an openly LGBT member of the Supreme Court. Better to have someone qualified and fair, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Given how conservatives are planning to grill the Supreme nominees about marriage equality, furthermore, I think a straight person with a true sense of equality for all would be more likely to pass confirmation hearings than an LGBT person in any case. Much as I’d love to see a lesbian Supreme Court justice, I think this is one of those cases where a straight ally has a better chance of helping us move LGBT rights forward.

Regardless, Durkan deserves credit for her own achievements. Being U.S. Attorney is no small thing. We can all revel in the fact that there’s another lesbian mom out there being visible, having an impact on our country, and probably telling a good night story or two along the way.