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Your Monday “Arrgh”: Judge Orders Lesbian Mom’s Partner to Move Out Because They’re Not Married
A Texas judge has ruled that a lesbian mom’s partner of three years move out, because of a “morality clause” in the mom’s divorce papers (from a previous opposite-sex marriage). The clause requires that no one she has a non-marital “dating or intimate relationship” with may stay in the home after 9 p.m. if the children are present, reports the Dallas Voice. And of course, same-sex couples are forbidden by law to marry or have their marriages recognized in Texas.
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Minnesota Proves 13 Is Lucky
Minnesota will today become the 12th state to legalize marriage for same-sex couples—the 13th if one counts the District of Columbia—after the state Senate voted yesterday (May 13, 2013) to pass a marriage equality bill. Lucky 13.
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Bill Reintroduced in Congress to Prevent LGBT Discrimination, Give More Children Homes
Over 400,000 children are in foster care in the U.S., with over 100,000 of them eligible for adoption—and yet otherwise qualified LGBT prospective parents still face discrimination and legal restrictions in adoption and foster care. A bill being reintroduced in Congress this week seeks to change that.
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Victory for Lesbian Moms in Iowa!
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled unanimously today that the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) must provide an accurate two-parent birth certificate to any child born to married lesbian parents in Iowa. Same-sex couples have been able to marry in Iowa since April 2009—but the IDPH has refused to recognize both members of a same-sex couple as parents of children born to them. They can do so no longer.
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11-Year-Old Boy Writes: “Please Don’t Let [My Mom] Get Fired Because She Is Gay”
Joe is an 11-year-old boy who lives with his mom in Pennsylvania. He recently wrote a letter to his member of Congress, asking, “Please don’t let [my mom] get fired because she is gay.”
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Binational Lesbian Moms Fight to Keep Family Together
The French National Assembly and a Rhode Island Senate committee each passed a marriage equality bill yesterday, making them likely to become law in both places. The Delaware House also passed one on to the Senate, and the Nevada Senate took the first step towards repealing its constitutional ban on marriage for same-sex couples. Good news. But for Ariana and Diana, two lesbian moms, only a repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and a reform of immigration law will allow them to keep their family together without the risk of deportation.
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To End the Silence
Today marks the 16th annual Day of Silence, an event sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), where students from middle school to college take some form of a vow of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. But a federal bill reintroduced yesterday that would prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination, harassment, bullying, and violence in public schools faces a tough road ahead.
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“Science Led to Gay Families”? Not Exactly
An article for CNN yesterday ran the headline “Science led to gay families: Law should follow.” I’m the last person to argue that our families shouldn’t have equal legal rights—but the headline is overstating science’s role and inadvertently perpetuating a dangerous myth about same-sex parents. The article’s author, Debora L. Spar, is president of Barnard [...]
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Haiku for the Supreme Court
It’s National Poetry Month, and in its honor, I’ve composed two haiku to the highest court in the land.
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Anti-Gay or Anti-Miscegenation?
Amid the wave of marriage equality news and posts this week, this one from Mediaite stood out for me for the way it cleverly shows the similarities between anti-gay and anti-miscegenation quotes. Here’s another scary quote on the same theme, related to children’s books.
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An Answer for Justice Alito: Look to the Past
At yesterday’s U. S. Supreme Court hearing on marriage equality, Justice Samuel Alito asked, “But you want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution [same-sex marriage] which is newer than cell phones or the Internet? I mean we—we are not—we do not have the ability to see the future.” I have an answer for him.
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Children of Same-Sex Parents Speak Out for Equality
Children and adults with same-sex parents have been in the headlines lately by speaking up for marriage equality, making their voices heard all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. We parents should be proud—but should also keep some things in mind before our children make public statements about our families.
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Sixth-Grader Testifies for Family at Rhode Island Marriage Equality Hearing
Marriage equality will be the issue of the week, with the U.S. Supreme Court hearing two cases on the matter Tuesday and Wednesday. Let’s get into the swing of things with this video of sixth-grader Matthew Lannon, who lives with his two moms, two dads, and sister in Rhode Island, testifying at that state’s Senate hearing on marriage equality last Thursday.
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A Good Day: Support Growing for Same-Sex Parents; Moms Challenge in New Mexico
Yesterday was a day of good news, with a new study showing growing support for same-sex parents, a major medical organization stating that marriage equality benefits children, and three moms and a stepmom (two of whom are also grandmothers) filing a suit for marriage equality in New Mexico.
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Helen and I Celebrate 20 Happy (but Not Legal) Years Together
My spouse Helen and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary in about a week. Coincidentally, the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing two cases on marriage equality at the same time. I’m hoping our happy anniversary vibes will sway them.
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Hillary Clinton Says Parenthood Influenced Her Support for Marriage Equality
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finally announced her support for marriage equality yesterday in a video for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). She not only cited her experience fighting for LGBT rights around the world, but also commented, “Like so many others, my personal views have been shaped over time, by people I have known and loved” —including her daughter, Chelsea.
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Good News Friday
I could talk about the fact that the new pope called adoption by gay parents a form of “discrimination against children.” But are we really surprised by this? I could talk about how the National Organization for Marriage insulted adoptive parents of all types (including U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts) as well as same-sex parents. Again: It’s NOM. Are we surprised? But the next couple of weeks are going to be full of perturbing marriage- and parenting-related news, I’m sure, as the U.S. Supreme Court gets set to hear two marriage equality cases on March 26. I’ve chosen, therefore, to highlight some of the positive news of the week for LGBT families. Have a great weekend, all!
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The Colorado House followed the state Senate yesterday in passing a civil unions bill, which the governor has said he will sign. An AP photo of lesbian moms Fran and Anna Simon tops the CBS News report on the occasion; and a photo of the Simons and their son is part of this gallery at HuffPo.
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DOMA and Parenting: Game On
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments March 26 and 27 in two cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Parenting plays a key role in the arguments, as I explained in my latest newspaper column, below. In the week or so since I wrote it, however, even more briefs have been submitted to the court in support of parenting by same-sex couples. Marriage equality advocates have taken the opposition’s arguments apart, piece by ridiculous piece. (Arguments, I should add, that are as insulting to adoptive and other “non-traditional” straight families as they are to gay and lesbian families.)
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BREAKING: Kansas Supreme Court Recognizes Non-Bio Parents
Great news out of Kansas this afternoon. In a case involving two lesbian moms, the state Supreme Court ruled that a non-biological mother may be recognized as a parent under the law.
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German Adoption Ruling Through the Eyes of a German Lesbian Mom
Germany’s highest court ruled Tuesday that same-sex partners may adopt children already adopted by their partners. Stephanie Gerlach, a lesbian mom living in Germany, who has been writing, researching and counseling in the field of lesbian and gay parenthood for over 20 years, sent me an e-mail explaining the ruling in the context of the broader situation for gay and lesbian couples in her country. She was kind enough to let me share it here.
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Lesbian Moms “the de facto face of the civil unions debate in Colorado”
Lesbian moms Fran and Anna Simon “have almost become the de facto face of the civil unions debate in Colorado,” according to NPR. NPR’s KUNC interviewed the couple last week, where they spoke about the long fight for civil unions and their hopes for full marriage equality.
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10-Year-Old Writes About Why Her Dads Should Be Able to Marry
The Illinois Senate voted on Valentine’s Day in favor of marriage equality, and the state House looks likely to follow suit. The best argument I’ve seen in favor of it is this essay from 10-year-old Braiden Neubecker, “My family and marriage equality.”
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Three’s Company: How Many Parents Make a Family?
A Florida judge has allowed three people—two lesbian moms and the man they asked to be their sperm donor—to be listed on the birth certificate of their toddler. And the Dutch justice ministry is about to commission a report examining the possibility of recognizing three parents or more for one child. For some of the parents involved, this expanded recognition is good news; for others, not. But although three-parent recognition may seem newfangled, it has been around for longer than you might think.
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In Memoriam: Charlie Morgan — Officer, Mom, DOMA Plaintiff, Cancer Fighter
The world has lost a fighter for justice. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Charlie Morgan of the New Hampshire National Guard, and a lesbian mom, passed away this morning, Outserve-SLDN informs us. She had been fighting stage 4 breast cancer. Morgan was also a plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
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