Weekly Political Roundup

I’m doing an abbreviated roundup this week because a) it’s a holiday weekend; and b) this week has been pretty much all DADT, all the time, and you’re probably up to your eyeballs with DADT coverage.

In brief, however, we need to remember:

DADT is still in effect. Even if the full Senate follows the House and passes a repeal, DADT will stay in effect until after the Department of Defense completes its study of the impact of repeal, comes up with an implementation plan, and gets sign-off from the President, Secretary of Defense, and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs. We haven’t taken this hill yet.

The other big news this week was the hearing in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Health and Human Services, the second of two Massachusetts lawsuits aimed at striking down a major part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

And President Obama has issued a Proclamation in honor of LGBT Pride Month. It says, in part: Read the rest of this post »

Almost Here: Blogging for LGBT Families Day

Only four days to go! On Tuesday, June 1, I will be hosting the 5th Annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day. I hope all of you will participate!

I’m going to leave this post at the top of the page from now until the big day. With the holiday weekend coming up, I figured some of you might want to submit posts early.

Here’s how it works:

• Post at your own blog on a topic related to LGBT families on or before June 1, 2010.
• Complete the form at the bottom of this post to submit your entry.
• If you don’t have a blog (and only then) you may leave your contribution as a comment. If you do have a blog, please submit the post link through the form below.
• I’ll compile the posts and highlight them here on June 1. Come back and read the stories and insights of our community and allies.

Any blogger who wants to support LGBT families is welcome, LGBT or not, parent or not. I encourage those who don’t usually post about LGBT families or LGBT issues, as well as those for whom every day is Blogging for LGBT Families Day. Give it a spin based on your usual blog topics. There’s no set formula or format. Photos and videos are also welcome.

Please also grab a banner after the jump and promote the event on your site, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The more people who participate, the more impact our voices will have.

Read the rest of this post »

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Personal Matters

• Sex and the City actor and lesbian mom Cynthia Nixon is the first “celebrity expert” at 365gay.com, where she tackles the question “I think my 7-year-old is gay and kids are starting to tease him. How do I help him or what should I do?”
• We Are Goodkin profiles Kimbo Prichard and Natasha Boissier, a couple who used a known donor to create their family.
• I mentioned CNN’s upcoming In America segment about two gay dads in my last roundup. Adam Amel Rogers has an interview with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien about the segment. It’s well worth a read. I commend O’Brien for stating that she is not trying to tell the story of all gay Americans here, or even all gay parents, just that of these two individuals (though she does say that she views the segment as the start of what she hopes will be a longer series of profiles of gay Americans).

Law

• Yet another custody battle between a non-biological mother and a biological mother, with (yet again) the biological mother hiring an anti-LGBT conservative lawyer. This time, it’s in Ohio, the second recent bio/non-bio case in the state. Read the rest of this post »

“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 107

I’m vlogging solo this week—Helen is away on business again, but I’ll carry on without her. Because the 5th Annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day is coming up on June 1, and I’m all about getting the word out, I invite viewers to participate. I also share brand new works by authors of some of the most famous LGBT children’s books.

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

Brought to you in partnership with After Ellen.

Another Book Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Amanda, winner of the second And Baby Makes More giveaway!

If you didn’t win, please stop by next Wednesday, as I will be giving away one more copy.  (Please stop by next Tuesday, too, as it is Blogging for LGBT Families Day. If you have a blog, post something about LGBT families, then submit the link here and be sure to read everyone else’s posts—I’ll be showcasing them in a master list.)

In the meantime, here are a few more quotes from And Baby Makes More: Read the rest of this post »

Second Giveaway: And Baby Makes More

Here’s the second of three giveaways of And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents, and Our Unexpected Families. (My full review, which I wrote before I was contacted about a giveaway, is here.)

For today’s drawing, I’ll pick the winner randomly from all of the people who leave a comment on this post with their answer to the following question:

How did you decide how to create your family (known/unknown donor insemination, adoption, surrogate, previous opposite-sex relationship, etc.)? If you don’t have children yet, which method(s) are you considering? (And if you’re one of my few readers who neither has nor wants kids, tell us about the formation of the family in which you were raised.)

Alternatively, since so many of you left comments on last week’s question even when the contest was over, you may submit an answer here to that question instead:

Many of the essays in the book focus on the language we use for our families. How do you and your children (if you have any) refer to the members of your family—yourself and/or your co-parent(s), donor, birth mother, grandparents, or anyone else you consider part of your close family circle? If you don’t have kids, tell us what you call your own parents or what you think you’d like your kids to call you.

Comments must be left before 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time today, May 26. (That’s 2:59 a.m. Eastern Time, May 27.)

Please come back next Wednesday for the final giveaway.

Thanks to Insomniac Press for making this possible.

Full rules and restrictions after the jump. Read the rest of this post »

This Is What a Lesbian Mom Looks Like

Well, some of us, anyway. Here’s actor Cynthia Nixon at the Sex and the City 2 premiere last night.

Compare, if you will, the short-haired, softball playing, sturdy black pumps-wearing Elena Kagan, who is neither a lesbian nor a mom.

And to stir the stereotypes even more, go have a read of the Advocate’s cover interview with Nixon, in which she waxed poetic about her partner Christine Marinoni’s butchness, but also revealed, “Christine is the clothes shopper. I hate it.”

After the jump, just to confuse matters further, are cast members Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis, who are not a couple (Parker is married to Matthew Broderick), but who look like they could play one on TV. Read the rest of this post »

“Why Do Bob and Harry Kiss Each Other?” Not So Confusing for Kids

Slate’s Emily Yoffe wins the “Quote of the Week” award with her answer to a gay man who asked whether he and his boyfriend should refrain from non-salacious, “welcome-home” kisses in front of the neighbor’s children, after the neighbor said it would “confuse” the kids.

Yoffe, in her “Dear Prudence” advice column, basically tells the neighbors to stuff it:

It’s part of their job as parents to help explain interesting or confusing things: How do airplanes stay up? Where does milk come from? Why do Bob and Harry kiss each other? In our old neighborhood were two same sex families. After about five minutes of explaining to our young daughter that not every family is composed of a mommy and daddy, she was placidly unconfused by this fact.

Worth reading in full.

See also Allyson Robinson of HRC and Amelie Gillette of The A.V. Club who have each pointedly addressed the “confusion” issue.

What is confusing for children? According to the final report of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission:

[Members of COLAGE, an organization for children of LGBT parents] report that hearing that their family can’t have the same rights as other families leads them to feeling scared or confused when they hear that folks are against their families being married. They say that they think somebody is going to come and break up their family.

Youth have also shared that they’re confused about the idea of civil unions and why there needs to be this separate category for their family.