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Working Is Funny
I’m off to moderate a parenting panel—”Our communities, our careers and our families: Being an LGBT parent in the workplace”—at theOut and Equal Workplace Summit.
Because I have workplace issues on my mind, I thought I’d ask all of you:
Please share your funniest (or most memorable) experience of being a parent in the workplace—or of transitioning to become a stay-at-home parent.
We’re Out, We’re (Becoming) Equal, and We’re in LA
Two lesbian moms, a transgender parent, and a gay dad walk into a room. . . .
No, it’s not the start of a joke, it’s the start of a discussion panel on LGBT parenting that I will be moderating during the Out and Equal Workplace Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The parenting session, “Our communities, our careers and our families: Being an LGBT parent in the workplace,” will be October 6, 3:00 to 5:30 p.m.
Cat Cora on Cover of Working Mother
Funny how things happen. Just days after my family and I ate at Cat Cora’s new restaurant in Disney World, I find out (thanks, Debbie!) that she’s on the cover of the current issue of Working Mother. While it’s just her and one of her sons on the cover, there’s a nice picture of her, [...]
Going to the Out and Equal Workplace Summit?
I’m honored to announce that I will be moderating a discussion panel on LGBT parenting at this year’s Out and Equal Workplace Summit. The Summit runs October 5-8 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The parenting session, “Our communities, our careers and our families: Being an LGBT parent in the workplace,” will be October 6, [...]
Cat Cora to Receive Alumna of the Year Award at CIA
Cat Cora, the Food Network’s “Iron Chef,” will be honored tonight as “Alumna of the Year” by her alma mater, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at the CIA Leadership Awards (“Augie Awards”) in New York City. Cat and her partner Jennifer welcomed their fourth son last July, with Cat giving birth to him not [...]
Wanted: Your Experience with Paid or Unpaid Parental Leave
I’m passing along this request for your comments (and possible participation in an interview) about paid and unpaid parental leave. I’m not involved in the project, but I think it’s vital to have LGBT voices heard in studies like these. Human Rights Watch, a nongovernmental human rights group, is interviewing parents (including LGBT parents) about [...]
Work/Life Balance and the LGBT Community
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of participating in Fem 2.0’s “Work/Life in Our Communities Blog Radio Series” as part of a panel on “Work/Life and LGBT Families: Reimagining Policy for ALL Families in the 21st Century.” The radio series is part of their larger 2010 Wake Up! Campaign, which also includes [...]
Work/Life and LGBT Families on Fem 2.0 Radio Today
Work/life balance is an issue near and dear to many of our hearts. Achieving that balance can be even tougher for LGBT people, who may have to contend with a variety of unfriendly laws, policies, and attitudes. I’ll be speaking this afternoon on Fem 2.0′s “Work/Life in Our Communities Blog Radio Series” as part of [...]
COLAGE Is Hiring
I’m passing this message along from the folks at COLAGE, who are hiring for a couple of positions. I also want to offer outgoing Program Director Meredith Fenton my best wishes for her future endeavors. She was a great help in promoting Blogging for LGBT Families Day among COLAGErs and has always been willing to [...]
Marriage Recognized in D.C.? Act Now for Benefits
Here’s a little piece of advice for families living in Washington, D.C.: The city recently passed laws recognizing same-sex couples who were married or legally partnered in a “substantially similar” way outside the District. HRC warns people, though that if you are already hitched and want to cover your spouse or partner through your employer’s [...]
“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 62
Helen and I do what everyone seems to be doing this week, and debrief on The L Word. We offer a parenting twist, however, and show how our own career paths as mothers have paralleled those of Bette and Tina (though without the high salaries and glamour). What does this say about lesbian parents in [...]
Philanthropy and Family a Sweet Combination
(Originally published with slight variation in Bay Windows.) For Jen Rainin, creating a lesbian travel company based on the idea of giving back to the world was an extension of her role as a philanthropist, but also a way to convey positive values to her children. Rainin is one of the founders of Sweet, which [...]
Staying at Home vs. Outside Employment
Nina over at Queercents has posted her thoughts on Leslie Bennetts’ The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?, a book that warns women of the financial risks of staying home as full-time caregivers. The book spawned much controversy when it first came out, with the media hyping it as part of the “Mommy [...]
HRC Tackles FMLA for LGBT
I’ve written before about how the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leaves same-sex families behind. Looks like HRC is stepping up to the plate here: The DoL [Department of Labor] issued a notice that they plan to make changes to some of the regulations governing how the FMLA is administered—and asked groups to comment. [...]
Mary Cheney Shows Heart
Lesbian mom Mary Cheney has joined the Board of Directors of the Richard B. and Lynne V. Cheney Cardiovascular Institute. I’m guessing it wasn’t a rigorous interview process. The press release says “As a director, she will help to form the strategic direction for the Institute.” This is in addition to her work as Vice [...]
Want to Testify About the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
I received an e-mail today from the the Mothers Ought to Have Equal Rights (MOTHERS) coalition. They are looking for parents in the D.C. area to testify for a Senate committee next week “on how FMLA [the Family and Medical Leave Act] has helped them or why they were unable to take FMLA.” I thought [...]
An End Run Around ENDA?
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. and the New York City Pension Funds today called on two dozen major corporations, including ExxonMobil, to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Comptroller’s office says this is nearly twice as many proposals as in the previous proxy season, and the second season [...]
Families Left Behind
Posh parenting magazine Cookie recently pointed out all the federal and state protections offered to new parents. (Article is not online; thanks to Elisa via MomsRising for the tip.) None of the federal protections, of course, apply to same-sex couples. The non-biological parent of the couple is not entitled to any parental leave under federal [...]
Mary Heads Back to Work
Mary Cheney is ending her seven months of maternity leave and going back to work Monday. She’s taking a new job as a VP of strategic communications for Navigators LLC, “a full-service issue management, governmental relations and strategic communications firm” that has worked for that has worked for Arnold Schwarzenegger and John McCain, among others. [...]
Career and Motherhood: At Last, a Balance
Finally, someone talking about women’s careers and families and not making it sound like an epic battle. In an article at Huffington Post, Emily Amick and Rosanna Hertz report on their survey of women from the Wellesley College classes of 2007, 2008 and 2009 “to find out their expectations for work and family.” What they [...]
All of Us, Every One of Us
I’m posting below (with permission) an op-ed by Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. In it, he brings us up to date with what NGLTF has been doing to push for a version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that includes protections for gender identity and expression. Not all [...]
Same-Sex Parents, Money, Marketing, and Influence
New studies from the Williams Institute at UCLA have shown that same-sex parents in Illinois, Michigan and Rhode Island have “significantly” lower average and median incomes than opposite-sex married parents in those states. (I’ve omitted exact numbers for ease of reading; you can find them in the original reports, however. Thanks to Gay Wired for [...]
Working Mother vs. HRC
Last week, the Human Rights Campaign released its 2008 Corporate Equality Index, which rates major U.S. companies on their LGBT friendliness, based on inclusive benefits, anti-discrimination policies, marketing, and philanthropy. A record 195 businesses earned the top rating of 100 percent. I didn’t blog about it last week, however, because I saw Working Mother magazine [...]
Time for Action on Two Key Family Bills
Two bills expected to come before Congress this week could have a direct impact on many families across the U.S. The first, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), adds protections on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to existing anti-discrimination laws. The House will likely vote this week. Openly gay Representative Barney Frank [...]
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has just released its 2006-7 report, State of the Workplace for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Americans. The most striking news this year is the progress made towards transgender equality. Now, 25% percent of Fortune 500 companies ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity, versus 1 percent at the [...]
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