LGBT Parenting Roundup

Books and Media

• Since books form an important part of the parenting experience for many of us (and many of us were voracious readers before we became parents), go check out the Lambda Literary Foundation’s brand-new Web site, chock-full of goodness about books for adults and kids.
• Life & Style magazine’s latest cover headline asks, “Why Is Angelina Turning Shiloh Into a Boy?” Apparently it’s because Shiloh has a short haircut and a penchant for boy’s clothes. Yes, it’s a clueless article. It’s gets worse, though. The magazine also quotes an “expert” from arch-conservative group Focus on the Family on how this could harm the child. Dorothy Snarker takes them to task in her inimitable style, so I’ll refer you to her for the dressing-down they deserve.

Politics and Law

• Lake Worth, Florida city commissioners agreed to support a repeal of the state’s ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians, in a show of support for bills filed to repeal the law.
• Nancy Polikoff has further details on the long-running Janet Jenkins-Lisa Miller custody case. Not only did a Vermont family court issue a warrant for Miller’s arrest after she disappeared with their daughter, but a Virginia court denied Miller’s attempt to have Virginia refuse to enforce the orders from the Vermont court.
• Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell filed a motion requesting that the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals review a February 20 decision by a three-judge panel ordering the state Registrar of Vital Statistics to issue a birth certificate listing both adoptive dads of a boy born in Louisiana but adopted in New York. (Via Lambda Legal e-mail message. Not yet on their Web site.)
• Washington, D.C. wasn’t the only capitol to begin allowing same-sex couples to marry this week. Mexico City did as well, also giving same-sex couples the right to adopt.

Advice

• Lauren Forcella, who runs the syndicated “Straight Talk for Teens” column, takes on a question from a teen whose mother won’t let her go over to the house of a friend with two moms. Actually, Forcella’s panel of teen respondents tackle the question as well, and their comments give me hope for the next generation. (And just to alleviate any possible confusion, the “straight” in the title refers to directness, not sexual orientation.)

Congratulations, Lezzy Winners

A very hearty congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Lezzy Awards, sponsored by The Lesbian Lifestyle. There are some mighty fine blogs out there, including Up Popped a Fox, who took it home in the Parenting category, over Lesbian Dad and myself. Vikki keeps us all in stitches with her riotous tales of parenting life.

It’s a pleasure having such good competition—although I hesitate to use the word. Comrades or sisters-in-arms is more like it.

Thanks to all of you who voted for Mombian.

Go check out some of these other blogs, if you haven’t already:

• Best Entertainment/Culture: Dorothy Surrenders
• Best Humor: Grace the Spot
• Best Parenting: Up Popped a Fox
• Best Engagement/Wedding: My Big Fat Gay Wedding
• Best Feminist/Political: Feministing
• Best Personal: Peaches & Coconuts
• Best Out Later in Life: Making Space
• Best Sex/Short Story/Erotica: Sugarbutch Chronicles
• Best New Lesbian Blog: Autostraddle
• Best Podcast: The Lesbian Lounge
• Lifetime Achievement: AfterEllen.com

Last Chance to Vote!

Today is the last day to vote for Mombian as Best Lesbian Parenting Blog in this year’s Lezzy Awards, an annual contest run by The Lesbian Lifestyle. (Vote for your favorite blogs in other categories, too.) Voting closes at midnight, ET.

Even if you’ve voted before, you can do so again, as long as your previous vote was 24 hours ago. (Yes, unlike in presidential elections, multiple votes will count.)

You will receive a confirmation e-mail with a link you must click for your votes to be valid. Please don’t forget that crucial step. (It’s necessary in order to prevent vote fraud.)

Many thanks! This is a great opportunity to discover new blogs, no matter who the winners.

Please Vote for Mombian!

One of you lovely readers was kind enough to nominate Mombian as Best Lesbian Parenting Blog in this year’s Lezzy Awards, an annual contest run by The Lesbian Lifestyle. Many thanks! It turns out Mombian is now a finalist.

I hope you will take a minute to pop over and vote for Mombian, along with your favorite blogs in other categories.

The way the voting works is that you can vote once per category within a 24 hour period. That means you should vote every day for your favorite blog in each category in order for it to have a chance of winning. Voting goes through 12:00 a.m. EDT on March 2nd.

You will receive a confirmation e-mail with a link you must click for your votes to count. Please don’t forget that crucial step. (It’s necessary in order to prevent vote fraud.)

I also want to congratulate the other two finalists in the Parenting category, Lesbian Dad and Up Popped a Fox. Worthy competition both—though I view them less as competitors than friends. (You can also vote for Up Popped a Fox as Best Personal Blog.)

Many thanks! Regardless of the winners, I hope people use this as an opportunity to discover new blogs and celebrate the wide range of lesbian voices.

Lesbian Albatrosses Welcome Chick

The two female albatrosses in New Zealand who have been incubating an egg together are now the proud parents of a little chick.

The Times Online reports:

For the next six months the new parents will take turns to alternately guard and feed the chick, with one protecting it from predators while the other goes out to sea to forage for food several hundred kilometres away. They swap the roles every two days.

I bet none of us can top that division of labor.

Anyone else feel like sending stuffed plush albatross dolls to those who say same-sex parenting is unnatural?

(Photo credit: Mila Zinkova. Distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2. Not the actual albatrosses described above.)

“Our Big Gayborhood” Opens Its Doors

Many of you know Lori Hahn from her blog Hahn at Home, where she writes about life as the single parent of teens. Because that clearly wasn’t enough to keep her busy, she has also joined with writer Margo Moon to launch Our Big Gayborhood, “an entertaining new site full of lively, powerful, snarky, reflective and just plain interesting articles spanning the entire spectrum of GLBT life.”

Lori also notes that the site is home to a brand new podcast of Margo’s The Starr Ann Chronicles, “a kinda’ modern day lesbian cowgirl thing” narrated by women’s music legend Tret Fure.

Yee-ha! Check it out.

Who You Callin’ No-Name Calling Week?

Today kicks off No-Name Calling Week, “an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.” The event is organized by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), in partnership with a whole host of LGBT, educational, youth, and social justice organizations (including, I’ll note, the Girl Scouts but not the Boy Scouts).

They have produced a series of lesson plans for different ages, along with a variety of other resources. Good stuff.

On a related note, this seems a good time to mention a separate initiative in the U.K. Leading LGBT group Stonewall has produced a feature film on homophobic bullying that it is sending to all secondary schools in Britain next month. The movie, FIT, is an adaption of a play the organization produced that has been seen by 20,000 pupils to date. The Times calls it “a kind of gritty take on the shiny E4 drama Glee.”

Without getting into heavy cinematographic comparisons between the two, I’ll say that it looks pretty good from the trailers, even if it doesn’t star Jane Lynch.

Will teachers actually show it? The Times asked the same question of the film’s writer and director, Rikki Beadle-Blair, who said they will be doing screenings for teachers so they can view the film, ask questions, and become more comfortable showing it in class.

It makes me wonder, though: What advantages does a fictional drama have over anti-bullying documentaries like the ones from Groundspark? What disadvantages? How do they complement each other? And most importantly, why can’t we do something like this in the U.S., even at a state level? (Aside from the fact that the right-wing goes apes**t every time someone mentions LGBT-inclusive diversity education.)

Trailer after the jump: Read the rest of this post »

Get Mombian on Kindle

Did your sweetie treat you well this holiday season and get you a Kindle? Looking for something to fill its sleek yet capacious body?

You can now get Mombian delivered right to your Kindle. It costs $1.99 per month (after a 14-day free trial); the advantage over the free version here is that you can get it anywhere you have a wireless Kindle connection—which is just about anywhere the AT&T network reaches. On the bus, in the park, at your child’s basketball game—you name it. (Don’t let a stray ball hit the Kindle, however.)

Enjoy!

I am a member of the Amazon Associates program, and get a small referral fee from all purchases made at Amazon.com via links on this site. You are under no obligation to purchase through them.

What Was Your Favorite Lesbian Mom Celebrity News in 2009?

Let’s keep it light this week:

Heather Has a Good Laugh

Somewhere, a pair of penguins is snickering. (Thanks, Queerty.)

As always, more videos with positive images of LGBT families at the Mombian YouTube channel.