Here are some of the things happening in the world of LGBTQ parenting that I haven’t blogged about yet.
- Adoption rights are “the next frontier” in Alabama after the U.S. Supreme Court decision on marriage, says AL.com. Before the ruling, same-sex couples could not adopt jointly because they were not married. Now, several legal experts say there should be no barriers to their doing so—but at least one county is still refusing marriage licenses for same-sex couples.
- In conjunction with the above, however, you should read this installment of the Huffington Post Gay Voices RaiseAChild.US “Let Love Define Family” series, about the two moms who successfully challenged Alabama’s marriage ban in order for both to become legal parents—a situation made more critical by their son’s medical condition.
- A Nebraska District Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for the state to prohibit same-sex couples from becoming foster parents. The state Attorney General’s Office will appeal the ruling, however.
- Same-sex parents in Texas will now be recognized on their children’s birth certificates, but actually getting the proper paper in hand may take a while. News station WFAA8 reported that, “Issuing and amending birth certificates for same-sex couples will require a software change by a third-party vendor.” Until then, they can choose to “obtain the standard birth certificate listing ‘mother’ and ‘father’ as well as an amendment to the birth certificate once the software modification is complete.”
- The mayor of Venice, Italy, Luigi Brugnaro, has banned two children’s books inclusive of same-sex families from preschool libraries: Ophélie Texier’s “Jean A Deux Mamans,” or “Jean Has Two Mothers,” and Francesca Pardi’s “Piccolo Uovo,” or “Little Egg,” about “an unhatched egg that sees happiness in various family configurations.” The good news, such as it is, is that he originally wanted to ban 49 books that covered topics including gender identity and physical disability, and then reduced the number to two, reports the New York Times. That’s still two too many. If the mayor doesn’t want children learning about same-sex parents in preschool, it’s a very short step to banning the children of same-sex parents from preschool.
- Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts is one of the first high schools in the country to offer an LGBT studies course.
- Finally, an Australian study has found that “Same-sex parents are the most resilient, have the highest self-esteem and the greatest social support” compared with seven other family cohorts.”