Lots to round up this week, in the U.S. and elsewhere, so hang on to your hats.
In the U.S.
- Not only has Virginia’s attorney general said he will no longer defend the state’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples, but a new bill has been introduced into the legislature that would allow second-parent adoptions in the state.
- A Kansas judge ruled that a man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple is a father to the child and must pay child support. As I wrote last year, this is the height of ridiculousness because the couple, now separated, don’t want his support. The non-legal mother has offered to pay child support, but the state will not recognize her.
- Houston Mayor Annise Parker wed her partner Kathy Hubbard, a tax consultant. The couple has three children.
Around the World
- A report from the Australian Institute of Family Studies says that children in same-sex headed families “do as well emotionally, socially and educationally as their peers from heterosexual couple families.” There’s no new research here, but it’s a good compilation of many of the studies to date, both in Australia and in the U.S.
- In Ireland, new proposals could lead to legal recognition for nonbiological parents.
- In Israel, gay parents of 65 babies born to surrogates in Thailand have been protesting because the Israeli government regards them as Thai nationals and will not let the babies come to Israel. Thailand One gay father has declared a hunger strike in order to pressure the government.
- Russian American journalist and lesbian mom Masha Gessen, who recently left Russia with her children out of fear of the country’s anti-gay laws, spoke with NPR’s Fresh Air about conditions in Russia and about her new book on the feminist punk band Pussy Riot.