Archives › Extended Families
Washington Post Showcases Black Lesbian Families
Black LGBT families are an unfortunate rarity in the media, but the Washington Post this week showcased not one, but two, black lesbian couples with kids. Taken together, the stories show that just maybe, we are moving towards several different types of acceptance in this country.
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 [...]
Gay Dads Become Joyous Grandpas
These two dads react with surprise and elation when they find out they’re going to be grandpas. Some things are universal. (Thanks, Family Equality Council!)
How to Help Aging LGBT Parents
How do we help our parents as they age? For adults with non-LGBT parents, there are plenty of resources on how to help parents through the various legal, financial, and emotional issues of growing old. Search the Web or your favorite online bookstore for “aging parents,” and you’ll be swamped with results.
For adults who wish to help their LGBT parents, however, the resources are far fewer. And while many of the issues older LGBT and non-LGBT people face are the same, some are not.
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.
The Dads in Our Lives
Father’s Day will be upon us this weekend, and while we’re usually all about the moms around here, I do want to take time to acknowledge the dads in our lives. Many of us have dads, or our spouses/partners do; some of us recognize our children’s biological and/or legal fathers for other reasons (previous relationships, [...]
One Parent, Two Parents, Three Parents, Four . . .
Yesterday’s Boston Globe published a great article by Drake Bennett titled “Johnny has two mommies – and four dads,” asking, “As complex families proliferate, the law considers: Can a child have more than two parents?” Good question, and one I’ve written about a few times before. In particular, Bennett looks at lesbian couples who want [...]
An Invitation, A Fridge, and a Known Donor
Many of you have participated in my recent giveaways of And Baby Makes More and the wonderful discussions they have generated. Co-editor Susan Goldberg has asked me to invite readers to the official book launch tomorrow in New York. Hope some of you can make it. (I won’t be able to, unfortunately, being far away [...]
It Takes a Queer Village
The Canadians are on a roll. Hot on the heels of Who’s Your Daddy?, the volume of LGBTQ parenting essays I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, comes And Baby Makes More, a similar volume from a Canadian press, but one that focuses on the experiences of those who have used known donors, those [...]
Grandparents for Equality
Liberal grassroots group Truth and Hope created this video as part of a study about the effects of targeted marriage equality advertisements on a group of voters. You can read the Advocate post about the project to find out what both Democrats and Republicans thought—but before you do, take a minute to watch the video. [...]
Gay Grandfather and Gay Grandson Talk with NPR
As part of NPR’s StoryCorps, a project recording conversations between loved ones, Morning Edition’s Renee Montagne spoke with Tony Perri and his 20-year-old grandson Jeffrey. Tony came out as gay after being married to Jeffrey’s grandmother for 12 years. They remained married for another five. In the piece, he talks about confessing to a priest [...]
Songs about Grandparents from Erin Lee and Marci
Children’s musicians Erin Lee and Marci bring us the next of their regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family. Look for Erin Lee and Marci here on the first Monday of each month, or visit their homepage, www.gottaplay.org. I’ve created links [...]
Family Voices XVIII: LGBT Grandparents
Here’s the next post in my Family Voices series. This phase of the series is in partnership with Stonewall Communities, an organization dedicated to creating residential, educational, social and supportive opportunities among older LGBT people. Sandy and Deb have been together for 26 years. They each offer their answers to the interview questions, and talk [...]
Family Voices XVII: LGBT Grandparents
Here’s the next post in my Family Voices series. This phase of the series is in partnership with Stonewall Communities, an organization dedicated to creating residential, educational, social and supportive opportunities among older LGBT people. I’ll be posting the stories of LGBT grandparents (and the occasional grandaunt/uncle) once a week for the next few weeks. [...]
Family Voices XVII: LGBT Grandparents
I’m very pleased today to bring you a new wave of posts in my Family Voices series, in partnership with Stonewall Communities. Stonewall Communities is an organization dedicated to creating residential, educational, social and supportive opportunities among older LGBT people. The previous phases of Family Voices showcased the stories of other LGBT parents and the [...]
Happy Grandparents’ Day!
It’s Grandparents’ Day today in the U.S., a lesser-known holiday than its non-grand counterparts, but a reason to celebrate nonetheless. Here’s to our own son’s grandparents, who have been a supportive and happy influence on his life and ours. Parenting is largely about on-the-job training, and it’s nice to know there are trustworthy people we [...]
Coming Out as LGBT Grandparents
With increasing coverage of LGBT parents in the media today, it is surprising LGBT grandparents are still largely invisible. I suspect this has much to do with the frequent media focus on lesbian couples with cute little tots or funny stories about finding sperm, or, for occasional variety, gay men searching for surrogates. The idea [...]
New Free Donor Registry
There’s a new online registry for donor-conceived children, their parents, and sperm, egg, or embryo donors to find each other. Donor Offspring Matches (DOM) has just launched as an alternative to the older Donor Sibling Registry (DSR). DOM has one advantage over DSR, though: it is free, whereas DSR charges $40 per year. Is this [...]
Same-Sex Grandparents and the Long Arc of History
Same-sex parents inevitably lead to . . . not just “I love my mommies” t-shirts, but same-sex grandparents. Anndee Hochman of the Philadelphia Inquirer has a great article on gay and lesbian grandparents who are out and proud, despite having started their families, in some cases, in the early days of the LGBT-rights movement. The [...]
Happy Grandparents Day!
Today is Grandparents Day, a lesser-known holiday than the two days for parents earlier in the year, but one I would be remiss to overlook. My grandmother is turning 95 soon, but has accepted my partner and our son without question as part of her family and lineage. Here’s to her. My own parents have [...]
Stress-Free Thanksgiving Tips
Life coach Paula Gregorowicz is dishing out Thanksgiving advice all over the place, both at Queercents and her own site, Coaching4Lesbians. Worth a read if you’re starting to feel your pressure rise as you think about stuffing and gravy and in-laws. Personally, I’m too busy arranging my wedding this weekend to even think about Thanksgiving [...]
Happy Grandparents’ Day
Today is Grandparents’ Day here in the U. S. One might have guessed that such a commemoration would be subsumed, by definition, under Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, or that the holiday was a pure contrivance by Hallmark. Not so. According to the National Grandparents’ Day Council: The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated [...]
FamilyRoutes: New Online Community for Families
FamilyRoutes is a new online community for families offering free, unlimited blogging and photo sharing as well as a host of other great features. Samantha Fein, one of the founders (and a mom herself), explains the company’s vision: “Each of us has many dimensions, not just parenthood or our work life. This service is about [...]
Happy Anniversary
My partner and I recently celebrated our thirteenth year together. Did we honor the occasion with a wild display of lesbian hedonism, an example of our depraved homosexual lifestyle? ‘Fraid not. We spent it at IKEA, picking up some bookshelves for my parents. That evening, we assembled it and stayed at their house with our [...]
Raising Boys without Men
A few weeks ago, a publicist for Peggy Drexler’s new book, Raising Boys Without Men: How Maverick Moms Are Creating the Next Generation of Exceptional Men, contacted me and asked if I’d review it on Mombian. The book, a study of lesbian moms and single moms raising sons, seemed relevant, so I agreed. (Long post [...]
1 of 2
