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“Pregnant Butch” Takes a Comic Look at Pregnancy and Gender
You’re probably saying, “What would make this Monday morning just perfect is a new comic about a pregnant butch lesbian.” What? You’re not? Well, you should be. Go check out A.K. Summers’ new comic/graphic tale, “Pregnant Butch” over at comic collective site Act-i-vate. It’s a funny, insightful, semi-autobiographical look at “a butch dyke enduring that [...]
Blogging for Adoption: There Are No “Alternative” Families
The Family Equality Council is holding a “Blogging Adoption” day today in honor of National Adoption Month. I’ve written a lot about adoption lately—some great new resources have just come out, including a book looking at recent research on adoption by lesbians and gay men, edited by David Brodzinsky and Adam Pertman of the Evan [...]
Blog for Adoption November 21
Passing this along from Steve Majors, director of communications at the Family Equality Council. Looking forward to reading your posts! On Monday, Nov. 21, we are inviting you to Blog Adoption. As you may know, November is National Adoption Month and we are working to raise awareness about the obstacles LGBT families face in opening [...]
Journalist Seeks Known Donors Involved “Part-Time” with Kids
I’m passing along this message in the hope some of you can help. Tim Murphy, a journalist in New York City, is doing an article on straight sperm donors who remain involved “part time” in the lives of the children. Please contact him directly (or pass this message along) if you or someone you know can [...]
New book Explores Lesbian and Gay Adoptive Families
(November is National Adoption Month. Here’s my review of a new book on adoption by lesbians and gay men. Originally published in my Mombian newspaper column.) There have been a number of studies over the past 25 years on lesbian and gay parents and their children, but few have looked specifically at lesbian and gay [...]
A Bit of Lesbian Mom History
I posted this newspaper column of mine last year, but I think it bears repeating as part of LGBT History Month. Enjoy this look back at how lesbian moms have been a central part of the LGBT rights movement since the beginning—while simultaneously waging some intensely personal battles to maintain contact with their children.
Steve Jobs, Pancreatic Cancer, and Adoption
Like Steve Jobs, my father passed away recently because of complications after pancreatic cancer. If you want to learn more about this disease, I recommend checking out the Lustgarten Foundation, which is dedicated to its treatment, cure, and prevention. I’m also going to jump on the bandwagon and share the Steve Jobs video that is [...]
Proud Parents
I keep seeing bumper stickers around town with slogans like, “Proud Parent of a Middle School Honor Student,” and “Proud Parent of a Soldier.” They remind me, in this season of LGBT Pride, of how often “pride” is associated with both LGBT identity and parenting. We LGBT parents have a lot of which we can be proud, in a lot of different ways.
U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and his partner Marlon Reis are expecting a baby in September, reports the Denver Post. That will make him the first out LGBT parent in Congress. Polis has refused to tell the press how he and Reis will be creating their family—and I give him a lot of credit for [...]
More Same-Sex Couples Adopting, Says New York Times
Nineteen percent of same-sex couples raising children had an adopted child in the house in 2009, reported the New York Times yesterday. That’s up from eight percent in 2000. The article also looks at the struggles same-sex couples have to start families in the many states where they cannot jointly adopt. I covered a lot [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
New Social App Helps Lesbians Find Sperm Donors
Lesbians seeking to get pregnant now have a new tool at their disposal: Dōnr, a new app for mobile devices that lets them check out the credentials of potential sperm donors. Like the social app for gay men, Grindr, that helps 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.
LGBT-Friendly Grants to Help with Adoption Expenses: Deadline Approaching
Need help with adoption expenses? An LGBT-inclusive nonprofit, Helpusadopt.org, is offering grants between $500 and $15,000 for just that purpose. The spring deadline for their semi-annual grants is April 15, so you’ll have to get moving if you want to apply. I have no affiliation or experience with the organization, so you’re on your own from here.
LGBT Parenting Roundup
School Issues The New York Times reports on parents who are objecting to inclusion of same-sex families, gay people in history, and other LGBT content in school curricula. If you read the above, you should also read the great piece in the Advocate by Stuart Biegel, a member of the education and law faculty at [...]
Join Us for a Webcast with Bestselling Author Jodi Picoult About Her New Novel of Lesbian Moms
I’m very excited to invite you to a special event here at Mombian: a live, streaming interview on Monday, March 7 with #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult about her latest novel, Sing You Home, the story of a lesbian couple and their attempts to have a child.
Belgian Dads Bring Home Son
In yesterday’s LGBT Parenting Roundup, I mentioned the two gay dads who had run into difficulties bringing their son, born in Ukraine to a surrogate, into Belgium to live with them. The boy has lived in an orphanage for over a year because of Belgian surrogacy laws that kept him from his fathers. Good news. [...]
See And Baby Makes More Writers in Chicago
I’ve written before about And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents, and Our Unexpected Families, a terrific essay collection edited by Susan Goldberg and Chloë Brushwood Rose. Susan was kind enough to inform me that she, Chloë, and several other contributors to the volume will be doing a reading in Chicago on February 17 [...]
Children at Heart of Florida Adoption Case Finally Adopted
The two children at the heart of the case that legalized adoption for gay men and lesbians in Florida have now been legally adopted by Martin Gill. The family had an adoption ceremony yesterday in the offices of Judge Cindy Lederman, the Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge who ruled that the adoption ban was unconstitutional and said [...]
Known or Unknown Donors: The Kids Are All Right Either Way, Study Shows
More intriguing results from the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) (about which more here and here). This time, Drs. Nanette Gartrell of the University of California, San Francisco and Henny Bos of the University of Amsterdam have found that “the development of psychological well-being” in children of lesbian mothers between ages 10 and 17 [...]
North Carolina Supreme Court Says Second-Parent Adoption Not Legal
Just when I was starting to get all happy about the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal comes a court ruling that really pisses me off. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a second-parent adoption by state Sen. Julia Boseman of her ex-partner Melissa Jarrell’s son was invalid. The ruling could jeopardize other [...]
Living Adoption: Gay Parents Speak Live Streaming Today
Today, November 30, from 4 to 5 p.m. ET, the HRC Family Project is hosting a live streaming of the film Living Adoption: Gay Parents Speak, followed by a panel discussion with adoption experts and several of the parents featured in the film. RSVP for details of how to access the live stream and join the discussion.
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