Take the COLAGE Donor Insemination Survey

Passing this along on behalf of my friends at COLAGE. Please contact them if you have questions.

Take the COLAGE Donor Insemination Survey

COLAGE, a youth-driven national network of people with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer parents, is thrilled to announce the debut of the ART Project, a program to highlight the experiences of COLAGErs born through assisted reproductive technologies. Over the past 30 years the number of people born through these technologies to LGBTQ parents has steadily grown, yet let little, if any, work has been done to bring this community together or address the experiences of these youth and adults. Read the rest of this post »

“From Queer to Paternity”

Here is the fifth in my series of quotes from Who’s Your Daddy? And Other Writings on Queer Parenting. I’ll be running them for a couple of weeks courtesy of the book’s editor, Rachel Epstein. I’m choosing the quotes I feel are most intriguing and thought provoking; I don’t always agree with the sentiments, but I hope they will spur some discussion in the comments and encourage you to seek out the book for yourselves.

For more on how to get this Canadian-published volume (and you should!), see my original post about it.

Today’s quote is from Derek P. Scott, whose essay “From Queer to Paternity” (love that title!) discusses co-parenting with a bisexual woman and how fatherhood has changed his perceptions of community. Read the rest of this post »

Weekly Political Roundup

U.S. National News

• Democratic leaders said they plan to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) in next year’s defense authorization bill.
• The American Medical Association (AMA) passed a resolution calling for full repeal of DADT, saying that it “clearly has a negative impact on military healthcare, military medical providers, and our troops.”
• A new study by researchers from the RAND Corporation and the University of Florida, published in the journal Armed Forces and Society, surveyed military personnel who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan “and found that having a gay or lesbian colleague in their unit had no significant impact on their unit’s cohesion or readiness.” Read the rest of this post »

Why We Need to Discuss LGBTQ Families in Elementary Schools

Here is the fourth in my series of quotes from Who’s Your Daddy? And Other Writings on Queer Parenting. I’ll be running them for a couple of weeks courtesy of the book’s editor, Rachel Epstein. I’m choosing the quotes I feel are most intriguing and thought provoking; I don’t always agree with the sentiments, but I hope they will spur some discussion in the comments and encourage you to seek out the book for yourselves.

For more on how to get this Canadian-published volume (and you should!), see my original post about it.

Today’s selection is from “Reading, Writing, and Resilience: Queer Spawn Speak Out about School,” by Rachel Epstein, Becky Idems, and Adinne Schwartz, based on a 2004 research project in which they interviewed over 30 young people with LGBTQ parents. Read the rest of this post »

“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 90

This week, Helen and I discuss two new must-read books about LGBTQ families. We also share a classic children’s drawing book we’ve been enjoying with our son, and the joys of used office supplies.

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

Brought to you in partnership with After Ellen.

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Schools and Youth

• Yes, Iowa has marriage equality. They even have a safe schools law that requires inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s Civil Rights Act and anti-bullying policies. Still, the Iowa Pride Network, in its 2009 School Climate Survey, found that more than half of the students surveyed (LGBT and not) did not know what the Safe Schools law is, and 72 percent did not feel their school had adopted it. I got this news from the Iowa Independent, but their coverage is misleading. They say survey respondents in 2009 were less likely than those in 2007 to have heard a homophobic remark in school or to have been verbally or physically harassed because of their sexual orientation—but the percentage change is very small, and may not be statistically significant. The numbers are still far too high, in any case. From the actual report (2007 numbers in parentheses):
  • 87.5% (91%) of LGBT students in Iowa reported hearing homophobic remarks frequently in their schools.
  • 78.4% (80%) of LGBT students report being verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation.
  • 37.5% (36%) of Iowa LGBT students reported some incident of physical harassment (being pushed or shoved) because of their sexual orientation
  • 20.5% (16%) of students reported some incident of physical assault (being punched, kicked or injured with a weapon) because of their sexual orientation or gender expression.

  Read the rest of this post »

Queer Couples and Transracial Adoptions

Here is the third in my series of quotes from Who’s Your Daddy? And Other Writings on Queer Parenting. I’ll be running them for a couple of weeks courtesy of the book’s editor, Rachel Epstein. I’m choosing the quotes I feel are most intriguing and thought provoking; I don’t always agree with the sentiments, but I hope they will spur some discussion in the comments and encourage you to seek out the book for yourselves.

For more on how to get this Canadian-published volume (and you should!), see my original post about it.

Today’s quote is from Tobi Hill-Meyer, a genderqueer, trans dyke, colonized meztiza, transracially inseminated queerspawn, who serves as a board member of COLAGE and blogs at Bilerico. Read the rest of this post »

Repealing DADT Is Only the First Step

(I wrote this last February for 365gay.com, and have posted it here before, but I wanted to repost it in honor of Veteran’s day. Regardless of when DADT is repealed, it will raise a host of additional questions regarding the recognition of same-sex couples, as I explain below.

For more on LGBT families in the military, see my 2008 interview with an active-duty military officer and her spouse who are raising two children while needing to remain closeted.)

The LGBT community is abuzz with the possibility that President Obama will repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy. This is a necessary and important step towards equality for LGBT Americans and enabling our military to recruit and retain qualified personnel.

Repealing DADT, however, is only the first step—albeit the most important one—towards equality for LGBT servicemembers. Unless the federal government not only permits openly lesbian and gay servicemembers, but also recognizes their families, we are asking those servicemembers to defend our country with a fraction of the support given to non-LGBT personnel. Read the rest of this post »