New Results from Largest Study of Lesbian Families Show Children Happy and Healthy

A new report from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running and largest study of American lesbian families, has found that the 17-year-old children of lesbian mothers, all conceived through donor insemination, “were rated higher than their peers in social, academic, and overall competence, and lower in aggressive behavior, rule-breaking, and social problems, on standardized assessments of psychological adjustment.” The results were published today in the prestigious journal Pediatrics.

The long-term, “longitudinal” study of the same group over many years offers a picture of lesbian families few other studies can match. The NLLFS began interviewing the mothers in 1986, when they were inseminating or pregnant, then again when the children were a year and a half to two years old, five, and ten. They directly questioned the 10-year-olds and the 17-year-olds.

I had the pleasure in 2008 of interviewing principal investigator Dr. Nanette Gartrell, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and a 2010 Williams Distinguished Scholar at the UCLA School of Law. Here are a couple of key excerpts about some of the preliminary findings from this phase of the study: Read the rest of this post »

Songs About Special Places from Erin Lee and Marci

Children’s musicians Erin Lee and Marci bring us the next of their regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family.

Look for Erin Lee and Marci here on the first Monday of each month, or visit their homepage, www.gottaplay.org.

I’ve created links to Amazon for the full albums (click the album image or name), plus links to Amazon MP3 downloads, when available, for those who want only the singles. (Click the song name.) I also have a widget after the jump that will let you preview most of the songs without leaving Mombian.

Everyone needs his or her own special place – somewhere you can go to just spend time with yourself. You’re lucky if you’ve got your own special room to go to, or chair to sit in, or tree to hide in. Sometimes you have to be intrepid and make your own special place, like a fort. Here are some of our favorite songs, running the gamut from rambunctious to mellow, that explore special places. Read the rest of this post »

Weekly Political Roundup

• President Obama extended certain benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees that are available to the opposite-sex spouses of employees. They do not include health insurance or retirement benefits, however.
• You’ve probably heard by now that President Obama has issued a proclamation for Pride Month. Here’s my more in-depth piece looking at how his proclamations compare to those of President Clinton, and what that tells us about changes in LGBT rights in the last decade.
• The Department of Defense announced ten appointees to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), an independent advisory committee on matters related to the recruitment, retention, and well-being of women in the armed forces. They include Retired Army Reserve Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, the highest-ranking member of the armed services ever to be discharged because of her sexual orientation, and Retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia J. Kennedy, a vocal supporter of repealing DADT, who will chair the Committee. Read the rest of this post »

One More Winner – And Great Comments

Congratulations to Susan, winner of the third And Baby Makes More giveaway!

Once again, the comments left in response to the contest question—”What’s the one thing you wish someone had told you before you became a parent? OR What’s the one thing you’d like to know before becoming one?”—have been fascinating, funny, and informative. If you haven’t read through them, please do. (And feel free to add more comments—the contest is over, but we can keep the discussion going.)

I am a member of the Amazon Associates program, and get a small referral fee from all purchases made at Amazon.com via links on this site. You are under no obligation to purchase through them.

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Here’s what’s been happening while we’ve been celebrating Memorial Day and Blogging for LGBT Families Day:

Politics and Law

• “Ex-lesbian” mom Lisa Miller is rumored to have fled the country with the eight-year-old daughter she was supposed to turn over to the girl’s other mom, Janet Jenkins. Jenkins’ attorney Sarah Star said to the Associated Press that a Virginia police officer told her that Miller and the girl flew to San Salvador from Juarez, Mexico. Miller failed to show up in January to transfer custody of the girl to Jenkins, as ordered by a Vermont court, after Miller had refused multiple times to allow Jenkins court-ordered visitation.
• The Texas Supreme Court has refused to review an appeals court ruling that allowed a non-bio mom to seek visitation rights with her daughter, Nancy Polikoff reports. Another appeals court had ruled in a separate case that a non-bio mom had no standing to seek visitation.
• Nancy also pointed out that the U.S. State Department has posted information for GLBT people who want to do international adoptions.

Personal Stories

• If you haven’t seen the picture of Jane Lynch and Lara Embry with their daughter in the couple’s New York Times wedding announcement, you’re missing the adorablest thing you’ll probably see all week. The article’s worth a read, too.
• A mother wrote to the Washington Post’s advice columnist Carolyn Hax asking how to explain to her six-year-old why she didn’t want him going over to the house of a friend who has two moms. “I am not homophobic and have nothing against gay people,” the mother wrote. “I just don’t want my son exposed to this unfamiliar lifestyle at such a young age. I just think he’s too young to understand.” Hax astutely replied, “What is there for him to understand at this stage beyond, two people who love each other have created a home together? . . . I have a hard time believing your son, at 6, isn’t already fully aware that his friend has two mommies/daddies. . . . Kids are open to the world as it’s presented to them; it’s adults who teach them to start filtering it all in arbitrary ways.”

Thanks — and a Third Giveaway

Thanks to every one of you who contributed a post or comment to Blogging for LGBT Families Day. Once again, I am overwhelmed by their variety and thoughtfulness. I’ll be highlighting various posts and themes in the coming days, but I urge you to read through them for yourselves.

As a further way of saying thanks, here’s the last 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:

What’s the one thing you wish someone had told you before you became a parent? OR What’s the one thing you’d like to know before becoming one?

Comments must be left before 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time Thursday, June 3. (That’s 2:59 a.m. Eastern Time, June 4.)

Thanks to Insomniac Press for making this possible.

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

Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2010: Contributed Posts

Welcome to Blogging for LGBT Families Day! Below is the master list of contributed posts. Please enjoy!

To submit a post, complete the form at the end of this post. If you don’t have a blog of your own (but only then), please leave your contribution in a comment.

Yes, I am still taking posts; I know many of you are in different time zones, and I’m always a bit flexible about the deadline, in any case.

There are a few posts in the comments from people without blogs—be sure to check those out, too.

Posts after the jump, since the list is getting long. Read the rest of this post »