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Happy Gay-Straight Alliance Day!
Today marks the first-ever National Gay-Straight Alliance Day, a project of the Iowa Pride Network in partnership with the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). In honor of the occasion, I’ll point out my coverage a few years ago of the 20th anniversary celebration of the GSA at Phillips Academy, which has the second-oldest GSA in [...]
Three Quotes for Martin Luther King Day
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, here are three of my favorite quotes from Dr. King: Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity [...]
Did Your Kids Get Holiday Presents You Regret?
Now that we’ve all had a little time to recover from the holidays, let me ask: Which of your children’s holiday presents are you most glad they got? Are there any you regret? And do they feel differently? Speaking for myself, I have no regrets. We seem to have progressed past the age when he [...]
Happy New Year!
A joyous 2012 to you and your families! May the year be full of love, happiness, peace, and equality for all.
“Girls” Toys and “Boys” Toys: Some Progress and Some Cautions
The winter holidays always seem to highlight that the world tends to divide toys into “girls” and “boys” varieties. Most of us here, I think, would agree that no one should be forced into particular types of play based on real or perceived gender. Over at Skepchick, Natalie Reed has a great article on “Guyliner, Murses, [...]
Families Make the Holidays — and Love Makes a Family
Happy holidays to you and yours from me and mine. Posting will be light here through New Year’s, but I’ll be putting up a few things, so do stop by. In the meantime, please enjoy ”Love Makes a Family,” a video from Zach Wahls and MoveOn.org, and once again, celebrate the amazing diversity and love of families [...]
To Grandmother’s House We Go: Talking About LGBT Issues at Holiday Time
Visiting relatives (or having them visit) for the holidays? Worried about what will happen when conversation over the roast goose (or latkes) turns political, and you find yourself trying to explain to Aunt Mabel why you and your beloved want an actual, legal, marriage? Or why military readiness hasn’t suffered from the repeal of Don’t [...]
Hanukkah Songs and Miracles
Like many of the Hebraic persuasion, I’ve always felt a little shortchanged when it comes to holiday songs. Radio stations play hours of Christmas carols without repeats, whereas we’re pretty much stuck with “I Had a Little Dreidel” and “Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah.” (I know, there are a handful of other traditional tunes, but really, just [...]
Happy Turkey Baster Awareness Day 2011
A very happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating it this week. Remember to make the turkey baster jokes before your relatives do. Posting will be light here for a few days as our family will be stuffing ourselves with poultry and pie.
A Weekend of Triple Remembrance
Today is International Survivors of Suicide Day and National Adoption Day. Tomorrow marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Three separate observances, but each of which has meaning for many of us as members of the LGBT community. No one deserves to die from hatred and prejudice, or because they saw no alternative to suicide. Every child deserves a permanent [...]
What Are You Making or Eating This Thanksgiving?
It’s that time of year again, when we lesbian moms plan to roast turkeys, bake Tofurky, and roll our eyes at our relatives’ turkey baster jokes. What are you planning on cooking or doing for the holiday? As I have for many years, I’ll be making my cranbanero sauce, which puts some habanero fire in the [...]
Weekly Political Roundup
First, a happy Veterans Day to all of you, including my spouse, who have served or are serving in our country’s armed forces. The observance this year is, of course, the first one at which gay and lesbian servicemembers can celebrate openly with their families. Over at the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Col. E. A. [...]
Halloween Open Thread
It’s Halloween, even though the snow on the ground here in the Northeast is making it seem more like Christmas. I thought I’d celebrate with an open thread on all topics Halloweeny, so jump in with a comment on your kid’s (s’) costume(s), your costume, your favorite costume from childhood, best Halloween recipes, or what [...]
Are Boys in Princess Dresses the Scariest Thing on Halloween?
Halloween is almost upon us, the holiday that underscores like no other that society has certain gender expectations for boys and girls. Girls, by and large, are princesses; boys tend towards the violent as superheroes, Star Wars characters, soldiers, or pirates. But each year, it seems, at least one family makes the news because their child wants to defy those boundaries.
Birthday Gift Ideas Needed
OK, let’s have a little group participation on this one. I need to get a birthday present for a classmate of my third-grade son. The boy is friendly enough to invite my son to his party, but not in the “best friends” category. I’ve never met the boy or the parents. Other than “Star Wars,” my [...]
Coming Out As an LGBT Parent
It’s National Coming Out Day once again, so I hope you’re having a happy day no matter where you are in your coming out journey. Here’s an updated version of a piece that sums up a lot of my thoughts on coming out as an LGBT parent. It has become something of a truism in [...]
Parenting Funnies at Autostraddle
Lesbian news and entertainment site Autostraddle is terrific, but perhaps not the first place you’d turn for parenting information. If you haven’t read executive editor Laneia’s posts on “How to Live With Kids: Toys & Entertainment” and “How to Live with Kids: Food & Cooking,” however, you’re missing two of the funniest yet most truthful [...]
Gay Cruising of a Different Kind
(Something a little lighthearted at an otherwise somber time for me. Originally published several weeks ago as my Mombian newspaper column.) I’d only ever done gay cruising before. No, not that kind of cruising—I mean the floating around on a big ship kind. My in-laws recently took my spouse, our son, and me, plus my [...]
A Book for the Sneaky Kids in Your Life
My eight-year-old son is on a secret agent kick right now. He runs around the backyard talking into an old, bulky, non-working digital watch I gave him, and plots the overthrow of evil villains. I’m pleased to say our backyard is villain-free. (Unless you count the mosquitoes, but I think they’re the henchbugs of a distant insect overlord.)
I’ve been watching a lot of the Tour de France this week, as I’m a semi-rabid cyclist myself and love a good athletic endeavor, male or female. But heck, if I’m going to watch Lycra-clad butts for hours a day, I’d really rather they were of the female variety. (Because I want to emulate their cycling style, of course. What did you think I meant?)
New Summer Camp For Kids with LGBT Parents
There’s a new summer camp for kids with LGBT parents! Camp Highlight joins a small list of other such camps, and has burst onto Twitter with a flurry of posts in the last day or so. I don’t have any personal experience with it, but I’m happy to pass along the information so you can [...]
Take several hundred LGBT families from around the country—moms, dads, children young and old, and assorted other relatives–add sun, sand, movies, and a bonfire, and you’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of what Family Week in Provincetown is all about.
Gay Dads Share Top 10 Things They Learned from Their Child
Sure, Father’s(s’) Day is over, but I can’t help sharing this great video of gay dads Mark Bromley and David Salie (brother of CBS News and NPR contributor Faith Salie). Kudos to them for such a funny, wise piece, and kudos to CBS News for running it.
Happy Father’s Day (or Fathers’ Day)!
Happy Father’s Day to all of you who are fathers, have fathers in your lives, or use Father’s Day to celebrate one of the parents in your family in whatever fashion works for you. There’s no dearth of Father’s Day reading around, but I’ll point out a couple of LGBT-relevant pieces here: “A Father’s Day [...]
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