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20 Years of Stories by Children of LGBTQ Parents

COLAGE, the national organization for people with one or more LGBTQ parents, has a great new video out chronicling the history of the organization and the first generation of COLAGEers—young people who were finding their voices and building a community of support and activism. From the video: “We had these stories that as soon as [...]

“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 119

After a few weeks hiatus, I’m back with a new vlog about LGBT parenting books and videos of 2010—great for holiday gifts! (Those of you who prefer your gifts guides in text could try my earlier written post.) Mombian: She Got Me Pregnant, 12-16-2010 Uploaded by drudolph. – Watch more LGBT videos. (If the embedded [...]

It’s Raining Lesbian Moms

Well, not quite raining. But seeing two of us on screen at one time (aside from fictional couples) is still something of an event. Barely a week after CBS’s The Talk had actor and gay dad Neil Patrick Harris as a guest, they had chef and lesbian mom Cat Cora on as well, talking with actor [...]

Modern Family, The L Word, and Telling Our Stories

(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column, October 25, 2010.) Gay dads Mitchell and Cameron of ABC’s Modern Family were looking for a preschool for their daughter Lily in the October 20 episode of the hit series. Mitchell was worried that a failure to get into the “right” preschool would have a negative impact on [...]

“Off and Running” with Film About Adopted Teen of Lesbian Moms

PBS’ POV (Point of View) show is streaming three films about adoption through December 7—including Nicole Opper’s documentary Off and Running, which tells the story of Avery, an African American teen who had been adopted as an infant by two Jewish lesbians. She also has two adopted brothers, one who is black and Puerto Rican, and [...]

Broadway Stars Sing “It Gets Better”

Listen. Share. Wonder what we need to do to get this on Glee. Available October 19th on iTunes, with all download proceeds benefiting The Trevor Project, the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth.

Latina Lesbian Moms Wanted

I’m passing along this message from Julia Li, a producer of the documentary “Out in America,” which will air nationally on PBS in 2011. She says “It’s a film that celebrates and explores a diverse spectrum of experiences in various LGBT communities, but there are a few voices that are still missing from the film.” [...]

Kelly McGillis and Partner Get Civilized (or Unionized)

Civilly unionized? United civilly? Yet another reason civil unions don’t work: there’s no verb form. Regardless of the linguistic hurdles, however, I’d like to send best wishes to actor Kelly McGillis and her partner, sales executive Melanie Leis, who had a civil union ceremony last week. McGillis, who came out last year, has two children from [...]

TV Alert: Off and Running

Tune in to PBS tonight for Off and Running, a film about lesbian parents raising a multiracial family. It’s part of “POV Adoption Stories,” itself a subset of the POV (Point of View) documentary series. If you can’t catch it tonight, it will be streamed on the Web for three months starting tomorrow. I haven’t [...]

Cat Cora on Cover of Working Mother

Funny how things happen. Just days after my family and I ate at Cat Cora’s new restaurant in Disney World, I find out (thanks, Debbie!) that she’s on the cover of the current issue of Working Mother. While it’s just her and one of her sons on the cover, there’s a nice picture of her, [...]

Choosing Children Showcases Pioneering Lesbian Families

(Originally published in Bay Windows, August 30, 2010.) With Eric Stonestreet winning an Emmy Sunday for his portrayal of a gay dad in ABC’s Modern Family, and the summer movie about two lesbian moms, The Kids Are All Right, garnering early Oscar buzz, it is easy to forget what things were like just 25 years [...]

Modern Family’s Gay Dad Explains His Role’s Impact on Children, Bullying

After winning an Emmy Sunday night for playing a gay dad on ABC’s Modern Family, Eric Stonestreet talked at a press conference about the impact of the show: “We get amazing compliments from kids of same-sex marriage families. For example, the most recent one just was the other day. A gentleman approached me and said [...]

Emmys for Lesbian Mom; Gay Dad Portrayal

Congratulations to Jane Lynch, who won a Best Supporting Actress Emmy last night for her role as Sue Sylvester in Fox’s Glee. Here’s an absolutely adorable picture of her, her spouse Lara Embry, and their daughter, from the couple’s New York Times wedding announcement last June. All together now: Awww. The gay-friendly (but surprisingly gay-dad free) [...]

How I Met Your Father: Neil Patrick Harris and Partner Expecting Twins

Actor Neil Patrick Harris, star of How I Met Your Mother, and his partner, actor and chef David Burtka, are expecting twins this fall, according to a tweet from Harris this afternoon. He wrote: So, get this: David and I are expecting twins this fall. We’re super excited/nervous/thrilled. Hoping the press can respect our privacy… [...]

Harry Potter Lego Sets to Include Suspiciously Short-Haired Quidditch Coach

With Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe making the cover story of Out magazine, I’d be thinking about Harry even if I wasn’t in the middle of reading the series with my son and playing the new Lego Harry Potter Wii game. (And I’m not the only queer parent to be doing so, as Paige Schilt’s [...]

How Well Do You Know Your Sperm Donor Movies? And Why They Matter

Okay, dear readers: Here’s a little Monday-morning puzzler for you. Which movie involving a sperm donor is referenced in the following quote? The point of the movie is what is it that defines family? It isn’t necessarily the traditional mother, father, two children and a dog named Spot. Love is love and family is what [...]

Mombian Weekly Reader

I’m not going to do my usual political roundup this week because the Prop 8 ruling and Elena Kagan’s confirmation have made it a week full o’ politics. I will, however, point out a few items, political and otherwise, that are worth a read. “What teens think about Prop. 8 being struck down” from the [...]

All Right Kid Thinks The Kids Are All Right Is All Right

Yes, we’re all waiting for the Prop 8 decision to come out later today. In the meantime, let’s go back to the ongoing discussion about The Kids Are All Right. Over at Moms and Bombs, Kellen Kaiser asserts, “I’m ‘all right’, I don’t know about the rest of them,” and offers her opinion as the [...]

Sara Gilbert: “I am who I am”—But Does She Represent All of Us?

Last Thursday, I pointed out that the CBS press release announcing lesbian mom and actor Sara Gilbert’s new talk show simply said she lived “with her family,” whereas for each of the other five co-hosts, it mentioned their husbands by name. Deadline Hollywood now reports that Gilbert told the Television Critics Association (TCA) Press Tour, [...]

Why Didn’t CBS Mention Sara Gilbert’s Partner in PR About New Show?

Actor and lesbian mom Sara Gilbert (Roseanne, The Big Bang Theory) will be one of six mothers starring in a new daytime talk show on CBS this fall, the network announced. But just how comfortable is “America’s Most Watched Network” with Gilbert’s family? Gilbert developed the show and also serves as executive producer. She and her [...]

The Kids Are All Right: Marriage In the Bathroom Mirror

I reviewed the lesbian mom movie The Kids Are All Right when it first came out, a little over a week ago. At the risk of overdoing it, I want to write some more. Many other lesbian bloggers have also turned their pens to reviews, including Dorothy Snarker at After Ellen, Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard [...]

The Next Great Film About Lesbian Moms

Regardless of whether you’ve seen The Kids Are All Right yet (and you should—here’s why), what do you think the next major film about lesbian moms (or heck, any type of LGBT family) should be about? I’d love to see a family that wasn’t white and middle class, myself. How about you? What family characteristics, [...]

The Kids Are All Right: Interviews and Openings

I’m pleased to see coverage of The Kids Are All Right popping up all over the media. (My own review is here.) I wanted to highlight a couple of interviews with director Lisa Cholodenko and many in the cast, including Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutcherson, and Mia Wasikowska. Below is comedian Bridget McManus doing [...]

The Kids Are All Right: The Perfect Lesbian Mom Date Movie

(The Kids Are All Right opens in select theaters tomorrow, and in wider release soon thereafter. My short review: Go see this film. My longer review, which first appeared in Bay Windows, is below.) I was a skeptic. When I first heard of The Kids Are All Right, a film about a pair of lesbian [...]

What Did You Think of Gary and Tony?

Did any of you watch Gary and Tony Have a Baby, the story of two gay men starting a family, last night on CNN? What did you think? There have been a variety of opinions about the show (even leaving aside the far-right nonsense)—but if you haven’t read them yet, I hope you’ll leave a comment [...]