Sarah Brannen, author of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding (about which see my Saturday post, if you haven’t been following the story), was kind enough to let me share this e-mail message she sent me:

I read the book to a group of young children at a school book fair yesterday. They had a lot of questions:

How long did it take you to write the book?
How did you draw them so cute?
Is the little white mouse a baby?
Is the white one at the wedding a boy?
How did you make their clothes?
Were you ever a flower girl in a wedding?

And that was it.

Sometimes, I hate being right. It wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to foresee that the new storybook Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Sarah Brannen, would be a target for the right.

I didn’t imagine they’d quote me while doing so, however. The conservative publication Town Hall just published the article “Librarians Against Censorship,” by Brent Bozell III. Bozell says:

Already we can predict how the ALA next year will complain about any objection to a book called “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” the story of a young guinea pig who worries that her Uncle Bobby won’t play with her anymore after he “marries” his boyfriend Jamie. The book ends at the “wedding,” with Chloe as the enthusiastic flower girl.

In my March 18 review of the book at Bay Windows (and published in a longer form at After Elton), I say:

It tells the sweet story of Chloe, an anthropomorphic young guinea pig who worries that Uncle Bobby won’t keep having fun with her after he marries his boyfriend Jamie. Uncle Bobby explains that their special times together will not end; Chloe will not be losing an uncle, but gaining one. The book ends at the wedding, with Chloe as the enthusiastic flower girl.

Hmm. See any resemblance? Well, if Bozell is going to take my words, I’m not going to provide a live link to his article. You can view it at:

www.townhall.com/Columnists/BrentBozellIII/2008/05/09/librarians_against_censorship

if you want to see it. He also rails against And Tango Makes Three and the American Library Association’s Rainbow List of LGBT-inclusive children’s and young adult books. (For an alternate perspective, see my interview with the chair of the Rainbow List project, Nel Ward.) Read more »

• Congressman Joe Sestak, the highest-ranking veteran in Congress, called for a repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told graduating West Point cadets that Congress, and not the military, is responsible for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
• Some say transgender rights could be the next big civil rights battle of our time, and the Nashua Telegraph has a good overview of where some of these rights stand around the country.

Read more »

Mildred Loving, a black woman whose marriage to a white man led to the seminal U.S. Supreme Court that overturned Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage, died today at age 68. NPR has a good interview with her from last year, on the 40th anniversary of the Court’s case. Pam at the Blend observes that Loving is also a beacon of hope for supporters of same-sex marriage:

Those of us eagerly waiting for the day when same-sex marriage is finally legalized across the land owe a debt of gratitude to Mildred Loving, whose 1967 case (Loving v. Virginia) resulted in a landmark Supreme Court decision that broke down a major social and legal barrier - interracial marriage.

A moment of silence for a woman who once said she wasn’t trying to change history; she just fell in love.

• HRC announced its first round of U.S. Senate endorsements. Some criticized their omission of openly gay North Carolina candidate Jim Neal. HRC responded.
• Most gay, lesbian, and bisexual people do not know their basic rights, according to a poll by New York’s Hunter College. The poll asked “whether same-sex marriages were legal in the respondent’s state, if the U.S. Constitution bans same-sex marriage, whether gays can serve openly in the U.S. military and if there’s a federal law barring the firing of workers based on their sexual orientation.” Only 38 percent got all four questions right. Perhaps the trans community, notably absent from the poll, can do better.
• Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Daniel Tepfer spoke out against the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. Among the scenarios he asks readers to imagine is this:
  

  Before work, a military mom takes her pre-schooler to the base child-care facility. Before they hug goodbye, she reminds her child, as she does every day, “Don’t tell anyone, not even the other kids, about your other mommy.” She knows an overheard comment could jeopardize her career.

  That’s very similar to the scenario painted by the LGBT military mom and her partner whom I interviewed in January, except that they don’t even risk using the day care.

Read more »

Some residents of the Greek island of Lesbos are suing the LGBT-rights group “Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece” in an effort to reclaim the name “lesbian.” The BBC reports “The man spearheading the case, publisher Dimitris Lambrou, claims that international dominance of the word in its sexual context violates the human rights of the islanders, and disgraces them around the world.” He says it causes “daily problems” to the islanders’ social lives.

What’s next? Happy people suing to reclaim the word “gay”? Besides, haven’t copies of The L Word or Ellen made their way to Greece by now, at least via Internet video? Lesbians are beautiful, rich people with gorgeous homes and active social lives. Sometimes they tell jokes and dance. Where’s the disgrace in that?

First, the feel-good story of the week:

Canadians Ruth Pogson, 83, and Beth Aime, 79, married each other this week at a Victoria nursing home. The couple has been in a committed relationship since 1995.

On to more serious matters:

• A senior Senate Democrat says that he wants to attach expanded, LGBT-inclusive federal hate crimes laws to the 2009 defense authorization bill. A similar attempt to pass such laws failed last year.
• The U.S. military is admitting an increasing number of ex-felons, while continuing to ban law-abiding gay men and lesbians.
• The Arizona House gave preliminary approval to an amendment that would prevent same-sex couples from marrying. It needs to pass a roll-call vote, but that is seen as a technicality. If approved in the state Senate, it will appear on the ballot in November.

Read more »

Today marks the 12th annual Day of Silence, an event where students from middle school to college are asked “to take some form of a vow of silence to bring attention to the name-calling, bullying and harassment—in effect, the silencing—experienced by LGBT students and their allies.” This year’s event is in memory of Lawrence King, the California eighth-grader shot to death by a classmate because of his sexual orientation and gender expression.

The Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network coordinates the event, and they report that students from a record 6,800 middle and high schools registered as of yesterday. Last year, a day before the event, they had slightly more than 4,000. King’s death was a tragedy, but if it has helped raise awareness so fewer people suffer his fate in the future, then at least some good will come of it.

HRC also informs us that:

Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), and Lois Capps (D-CA), along with 28 co-sponsors, introduced H. Con. Res. 328 (.pdf), a resolution in support of the 2008 National Day of Silence. And yesterday, April 23, Representatives Baldwin and Sam Farr (D-CA) spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about the importance of the National Day of Silence and the need to confront anti-GLBT harassment in schools.

Support at that level is important, but not more so than students and others willing to raise awareness within their local communities. Sara Whitman at Suburban Lesbian writes about her son’s choice to participate (and her followup). Students in Breckenridge, Colorado and Los Angeles, among other places, are organizing local events. (Thanks, National Gay News.) I even know of non-student employees at one major corporation who are asking their colleagues to join them for 15 minutes of silence and/or a private observance of the event.

There are those, too, who are protesting the observance. Promotion of homosexuality and all that. You’ve heard it before, so I’m not going to dwell on it here. Google “day of silence” and you’ll find the news, if you want.

Are your children participating in the Day of Silence, or do you know others in your community who are?

It’s Earth Day. My son’s preschool had a series of related activities and discussions all last week, and he’s had the Earth on his mind.

After going through several pieces of toilet paper during a pit stop the other day, he held up the final one and asked “Mommy, if it’s clean, can I leave it on the counter for the next person?”

I explained about germs, but was impressed by his commitment to reducing consumption.

Please share some of the things you do to protect the environment and save energy. How do you teach your children to do so? Where do you compromise for convenience?

This just in from Clare of When Do We Get the Toaster:

Non-biological lesbian moms in New South Wales, Australia, will now have equal parenting rights and responsibilities under the law. The move brings NSW in line with Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory, as well as New Zealand and Canada. According to a press release issued by Attorney General John Hatzistergos, the new laws will give children greater protections in medical emergencies and other situations where a parent might have to sign consent forms. Having two legal parents will also give children equal rights to: Read more »