Weekly Political Roundup

• Pentagon officials told a House subcommittee that it may certify to Congress by mid-summer that it is ready  to implement repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
• A new study (PDF) from the Williams Institute of UCLA has found that roughly 9 million adults in the U.S. identify as LGBT, with an estimated 19 million reporting they have “engaged in same-sex sexual behavior” and nearly 25.6 million acknowledging “at least some same-sex sexual attraction.”
• Vaughn Walker, the now-retired federal district court judge who ruled in California’s Proposition 8 case, has come out as gay, but says he never thought it was a reason to recuse himself from the case.
• The Delaware Senate approved a civil union bill. It now goes to the state House, where a vote is expected next week.
• A Maryland bill to ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity was put on hold in committee, but is scheduled for a vote Saturday, April 9.

Around the world:

• The European Parliament voted to adopt measures to better protect LGBT asylum seekers.
• Same-sex couples can now have civil partnerships on the Isle of Man, bringing it into line with the rest of the U.K. (Methinks they’ll attract more gay male couples than lesbians, though.)

Last Chance to Win a Copy of Adoption Nation

Congratulations to Kate, who won a copy of Adam Pertman’s book Adoption Nation (Second Edition) in the giveaway yesterday! For more about the book, or to read everyone’s comments about adoption, see my previous post.

Here’s today’s giveaway post, the last of three. First, some adoption-related news:

Yesterday, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that said the state’s ban on adoption by unmarried, cohabiting couples—a ban enacted by voter referendum in 2008—was unconstitutional. I have more on this in my piece over at Keen News Service.

On to the contest:

We’ll make this an easy one. Leave a comment on this post with your favorite springtime activity, and I’ll enter you in a drawing to receive a free copy of Adoption Nation, courtesy of the publisher. Comments must be left before 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time Friday, April 8, 2011. (That’s 2:59 a.m. Eastern Time, April 9.)

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

Adoption Nation Book Giveaway

Congratulations to Carrie, who won a copy of Adam Pertman’s book Adoption Nation (Second Edition) in the giveaway yesterday! For more about the book, or to read everyone’s comments about adoption, see my previous post.

Here’s today’s giveaway post, the second of three. First, some adoption-related news:

The state of Virginia is considering whether to follow up on a proposal from former Gov. Tim Kaine (D) and allow unmarried (and by definition, same-sex) couples to adopt in the state. Conservatives are lobbying new Gov. Robert McDonnell not to do so. Below is a video of Ellen Kahn, director of HRC’s Family Project, debating Virginia Republican Delegate Bob Marshall on DC’s FOX 5 News about the issue.

Should Gay Couples Have The Right To Adopt Children in Virginia?: MyFoxDC.com

On to the contest: Read the rest of this post »

A Passport to Adoption Nation (and a Giveaway)

(I told you it was going to be bookish around here for a while. But there’s a giveaway at the end of the post, so read on.)

We live in a time when the definition of “family” is not changing, but broadening. It is and always has been about love and commitment—and for those of us who have children, about helping them to learn and grow on the way to adulthood. The structure of families, however, and the way we create them, has been in flux over the last few decades—and not just because of LGBT families. There has been an overlapping revolution to the one created by LGBT parents—that of adoptive parents and their children, who have also been fighting for greater acceptance, openness, and a wider definition of what it means to be a family.

Ten years ago, Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and an adoptive father himself, chronicled this revolution in his book Adoption Nation—and in doing so, helped create its manifesto. Now, he has just released a revised edition, updated to reflect recent events and legal changes. It is a must-read book for adoptive parents or potential parents, adults who were adopted as children, policymakers, and anyone interested in the changing shape of families today.

Adoption used to be veiled in secrecy, Pertman relates. Children were swept away from women who had been hidden in homes for unwed mothers until they gave birth. The children were placed with new families, who often did not reveal that they had been adopted. But attitudes and laws have been changing to allow each part of the adoption triad—adopted children, adoptive parents, and birth parents—to become more honest and open about their relationships to each other. People are now realizing that adoption is not a single event that happens early in a person’s life and is best forgotten in the interest of having a “normal” family. Contact among triad members can help strengthen identities and relationships, not harm them.

Pertman dispels many of the myths surrounding adoption: that birth mothers who want contact with their children always want to take them back, that children looking for their birth parents want them to replace their adoptive parents, and that birth fathers always either abandon their children and the mother or want to interfere with an adoption. He offers both anecdotes and data, and discusses the legal challenges and changes that have facilitated greater openness among all parties. Read the rest of this post »

A Bevy of LGBTQ-Inclusive Young Adult Books

There is a veritable slew of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books, young adult books, and books about parenting coming out right now (a “slew” being more than a “bevy” but less than a “flood”). I will be covering some of them in more depth for my newspaper column, but I wanted to mention a few new young adult books here. They’re a little outside my usual parenting focus, but I liked them enough to give them a mention.

Notably, today is the official launch date for Malinda Lo’s Huntress, the prequel to her 2009 debut novel Ash, a retelling of the Cinderella story with a lesbian twist. (See my review and author interview here.) Huntress, while set in the same world as Ash, is a standalone tale of adventure and romance, with less of a fairy tale feel and more that of classic fantasy, set in a realm with echoes of ancient China. It tells the tale of the first Huntress, an office held by a character in Ash, but never fully explained. In Huntress, we see the human world out of balance, threatened by strange creatures. Two 17-year-old girls are sent on a dangerous mission to seek help from the fairy queen—in a realm full of the unpredictable and fickle fairies of folklore, not the sparkly Disney types. The two girls, Kaede and Taisin, must combine their skills—Taisin as a sage, and Kaede as a warrior—if they are going to survive. And then they fall in love. . . . Read the rest of this post »

Lesbian Motherhood: Now with Soundtracks

Two books about lesbian moms in the past month, and both have soundtracks?

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult’s new novel Sing You Home comes bundled with a “companion soundtrack” CD, with lyrics by Picoult and music composed and sung by her friend Ellen Wilber. Each chapter, or “track” is named for the associated song. It makes sense in the context of the book, whose protagonist is a music therapist—one who uses music as a clinical tool to help patients with mental or emotional problems.

Less than a month later comes Times Two, a memoir by lesbian moms Sarah Kate Ellis and Kristen Henderson, whose chapters are also named after song titles, as Henderson explains in a blog post.  Henderson is a founding member of the all-women rock band Antigone Rising, so music also makes sense for her story. (Only one song of the book’s “soundtrack” is by Antigone Rising, though.) You can listen to all of the songs over at her blog.

Both books are from different publishers, and because they came out at about the same time, I don’t think either could have possibly copied the idea from the other. Must be something in the air.

What songs would be on the soundtrack for your journey to/through parenthood?

After the jump is a promotional video Henderson and Ellis did for their book, discussing their adventure of simultaneous pregnancies. Read the rest of this post »

New Social App Helps Lesbians Find Sperm Donors

Lesbians seeking to get pregnant now have a new tool at their disposal: Dōnr, an app for mobile devices that lets women check out the credentials of potential sperm donors. Like Grindr, the social app that helps gay men find potential mates nearby, Dōnr lets lesbians access profiles of men in close proximity to see if they might be suitable candidates for providing genetic material.

“Lesbians have long used cutting-edge science to create their families,” said Elizabeth Bean, the CEO of  Dōnr, Inc., herself the mother of twins. “It’s time that the search for sperm donors catches up with the rest of the family creation process and takes advantage of modern technologies.”

After their phone alerts them to the presence of a potential donor, lesbians can use the app’s extensive profile information to check out details such as education, hobbies, health, and whether the man wants contact with the child. They can then connect with the man to talk in person.

Bean says her company will soon be coming out with several related apps: Bāstr, which allows lesbians to find the nearest LGBT-friendly fertility clinic, and Lawyr, which helps them find an attorney to do the legal paperwork necessary to protect their families.

(Original photo credit: Visual Dichotomy. Heavily edited.)

“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 123

This week, Helen and I discuss two recent books about lesbian moms—bestselling author Jodi Picoult’s new novel Sing You Home and Times Two, a memoir by a couple who were pregnant simultaneously. We also share one of our favorite new creative kids’ toys.

(Note: I’ll have more on both books coming up here at Mombian. Times Two is brand-spanking new—it’s not technically out until April 5, but seems to be shipping already from Amazon, BN.com, Powells, and probably other online venues. One of the moms is a founding member of the all-women rock band Antigone Rising, which has toured with Joan Jett and the Rolling Stones, among others, and whose CDs you may have seen in Starbucks.)

Mombian: She Got Me Pregnant, 03-31-2011 by drudolph
(If the embedded video above doesn’t work for you, try it at Dailymotion.)

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