Sometimes, I hate being right. It wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to foresee that the new storybook Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Sarah Brannen, would be a target for the right.

I didn’t imagine they’d quote me while doing so, however. The conservative publication Town Hall just published the article “Librarians Against Censorship,” by Brent Bozell III. Bozell says:

Already we can predict how the ALA next year will complain about any objection to a book called “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” the story of a young guinea pig who worries that her Uncle Bobby won’t play with her anymore after he “marries” his boyfriend Jamie. The book ends at the “wedding,” with Chloe as the enthusiastic flower girl.

In my March 18 review of the book at Bay Windows (and published in a longer form at After Elton), I say:

It tells the sweet story of Chloe, an anthropomorphic young guinea pig who worries that Uncle Bobby won’t keep having fun with her after he marries his boyfriend Jamie. Uncle Bobby explains that their special times together will not end; Chloe will not be losing an uncle, but gaining one. The book ends at the wedding, with Chloe as the enthusiastic flower girl.

Hmm. See any resemblance? Well, if Bozell is going to take my words, I’m not going to provide a live link to his article. You can view it at:

www.townhall.com/Columnists/BrentBozellIII/2008/05/09/librarians_against_censorship

if you want to see it. He also rails against And Tango Makes Three and the American Library Association’s Rainbow List of LGBT-inclusive children’s and young adult books. (For an alternate perspective, see my interview with the chair of the Rainbow List project, Nel Ward.) Read more »

Having preschool teachers who make sure your son brings home two handmade flowerpots for Mother’s Day?

Priceless.

I don’t usually respond to drivel from the ultra-right, but this one got to me. The Washington Times, in an article titled “Growing Up Confused,” reported Sunday on the memoir “Out From Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting,” by Dawn Stefanowicz. Stefanowicz is the daughter of a gay father who was married to her mother. She says that because of her father’s sexual orientation, she “experienced insecurity, depression, anxiousness, sleeplessness and sexuality confusion, and her psychological well-being and peer relationships were affected.”

Stefanowicz has been speaking up for the ultra-right for several years now. The book itself reads like a text for the Family Research Council, whose vice president for policy, Peter Sprigg says “It’s a very moving, brutally honest, first-person account of what it is like to grow up with a homosexual parent.” Perhaps one of them, but let’s not overgeneralize here.

The Washington Times relates: Read more »

Today marks the 12th annual Day of Silence, an event where students from middle school to college are asked “to take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment—in effect, the silencing—experienced by LGBT students and their allies.” This year’s event is in memory of Lawrence King, the California eighth-grader shot to death by a classmate because of his sexual orientation and gender expression.

The Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network coordinates the event, and they report that students from a record 6,800 middle and high schools registered as of yesterday. Last year, a day before the event, they had slightly more than 4,000. King’s death was a tragedy, but if it has helped raise awareness so fewer people suffer his fate in the future, then at least some good will come of it.

HRC also informs us that:

Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Lois Capps (D-CA), along with 28 co-sponsors, introduced H. Con. Res. 328 (.pdf), a resolution in support of the 2008 National Day of Silence. And yesterday, April 23, Representatives Baldwin and Sam Farr (D-CA) spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about the importance of the National Day of Silence and the need to confront anti-GLBT harassment in schools.

Support at that level is important, but not more so than students and others willing to raise awareness within their local communities. Sara Whitman at Suburban Lesbian writes about her son’s choice to participate (and her followup). Students in Breckenridge, Colorado and Los Angeles, among other places, are organizing local events. (Thanks, National Gay News.) I even know of non-student employees at one major corporation who are asking their colleagues to join them for 15 minutes of silence and/or a private observance of the event.

There are those, too, who are protesting the observance. Promotion of homosexuality and all that. You’ve heard it before, so I’m not going to dwell on it here. Google “day of silence” and you’ll find the news, if you want.

Are your children participating in the Day of Silence, or do you know others in your community who are?

School administrators in Bristol, England have removed the books King & King and And Tango Makes Three, and the DVD That’s a Family from two primary schools. Some parents complained that they should have been consulted before LGBT-inclusive materials were used in the classroom. The schools had introduced the books in order to comply with new laws intended to combat homophobic bullying.

The complaints in this case came from the Muslim community, but as many of you know, there have been any number of similar complaints elsewhere from conservative members of other religions. I’ve written several times before about a lawsuit brought by two right-wing Christian couples against the school district of Lexington, Massachusetts, claiming the parents had the right to be notified before books with LGBT-inclusive content were read.

If parents always had to be consulted before schools introduced potentially inappropriate materials, where would it end? Schools can’t determine everything that might be offensive to someone. At some point, parents have to step up and, well, do some parenting. As the U.S. Circuit Court ruled in the Lexington case, “The mere fact that a child is exposed on occasion in public school to a concept offensive to a parent’s religious belief does not inhibit the parent from instructing the child differently.”

If parents want to be able to opt their children out of exposure to material that goes against their views of religious acceptability, they might as well require notification before teachers read Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, which is all about a boy trying to force someone to eat a meal that violates Jewish and Islamic dietary laws (and those of certain Christian traditions, if the book is read on fast days). I’m not hearing reports of complaints about that book, though. LGBT-inclusive materials should be no different.

The NCAA Women’s Final Four is upon us, and it seems relevant to revisit a Washington Post story from 2003 about women’s college coaches who try to sway potential recruits away from a competitor’s school by implying that the other team’s coach is a lesbian. Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer has been the subject of many of these rumors, but has managed to build a top-notch program regardless. She leads her Cardinal team into the championship game tomorrow night. Clearly, some people are able to see past the rumors (and, I suspect, a few see them as a positive).

The Washington Post reported the problem is greater in women’s sports because so few men’s coaches are thought to be gay. Still, the fear of having LGBT people near children goes beyond sports. Right now, Phyllis Cole, a City Council candidate in Collin County, Texas, is being attacked for her appointment of openly gay Justin Nichols as Teen Court coordinator. A detractor is sending around an anonymous e-mail stating disparagingly “Look who Phyllis appointed to work with your kids.”

Sigh. I hate fear mongering even when it has a basis in reality, and this doesn’t. I have to think that we LGBT parents, by being visible in our communities, can help dispel these erroneous beliefs that impact LGBT people (and those perceived to be) both parents and not.

This is not to say there aren’t other, valid considerations when evaluating a teacher, coach, or caregiver for your children. What are the factors that are important to you? How do you investigate them?

I rarely pass along a press release wholesale, but this one from COLAGE, about scholarships for children of LGBTQ families, seemed worthy:

Sponsored by COLAGE with generous support from the Horizons Foundation Joseph Towner Fund

COLAGE is pleased to announce a continued partnership with Horizons Foundation to award four $1,000 scholarships to support the undergraduate studies of students who have one or more LGBTQ parent(s)/guardian(s) and have demonstrated ability and commitment to effecting change in the LGBTQ community and the community at large.

The application deadline is Monday, June 2, 2008.

Read more »

“Gay” is the number-one insult among schoolchildren, reports the BBC, although most use it to mean “lame,” without any intended reference to sexual orientation. The article charts how the meaning of the word has changed over the years (remember when it used to mean “happy” or “festive”?), and notes “This mutation of the word is one reason why using ‘gay’ as in a pejorative sense often goes unchallenged.” Still, they say, it does get used to insult those who are gay or perceived to be. A good article on why anti-bullying measures in schools must still discourage use of the term in a pejorative sense, and an interesting read for language geeks as well. (Thanks to Box Turtle Bulletin for the link.)

Box Turtle Bulletin also reports this morning on a bill just passed by the Arizona House, “designed to ensure students expressing their religious beliefs are treated the same as those taking more secular positions.” I’m all for religious freedom, but the bill’s author, Rep. Doug Clark (R-Anthem) is specific about what this might mean: Read more »

(Originally appeared with slight variation in Bay Windows, March 6, 2008)

Where can children, teens, parents and librarians find new LGBT-themed children’s and young adult books of merit? Starting now, they can turn to the annual Rainbow List published by the American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world.

It can be very hard for kids to discover LGBT-themed books, explains retired librarian and schoolteacher Nel Ward, chair of the Rainbow List committee. Even a helpful librarian may have trouble locating titles of interest, since the Library of Congress cataloging information will often use a phrase like “best friends” instead of a description indicating an LGBT relationship. Certain electronic searches will only yield titles on how to prevent homosexuality. “Librarians want lists so they can help kids access these books,” Ward asserts. Read more »

Helen and I blind you with science this week as we demonstrate a bunch of experiments and explorations for kids. Watch us use marshmallows, blue gooey stuff, really long words to describe peanut butter, and gummi bears like you’ve never seen them before (including one variation just for adults). We also point out the very lesbianish cartoon mom in a popular book of kids’ science projects. Whether you’re a parent or a cool aunt or godparent, you’ll want a few of these in your repertoire. Plus: An honor for Lesléa Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies, and a sneak appearance by our cat.

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If the Veoh video above isn’t working (sometimes their server can be flaky), you can try it at Daily Motion.

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