But is it ever really post-Pride? Let’s keep the feeling going all year. Nevertheless, let’s move through July with a look at some of the many recent pieces at the intersection of queerness and parenting.
Family Profiles
- Dese’Rae L. Stage at Romper offers some smart thoughts on “What Queer Families Deserve In The Birthing Room.”
- The New York Times Magazine photo essay, “A Family Portrait: Brothers, Sisters, Strangers,” is a must-read for anyone in or interested in donor-conceived families (as is Rosanna Hertz’ book, Random Families
, about which more here).
- StoryCorps shares the story of dads Josh Davis and Elliot Long, a “second generation” queer family. (Josh’s dad is also gay.) The audio piece also includes the story of Patrick Haggerty, whose father in the 1950s offered surprising support to his gay son.
- StoryCorps also has this wonderful piece about “finding your people”: “LGBTQ folks who found that within their families” and “those who found family in their friends.”
- Bradley Jacobs Sigesmund writes at Shondaland, “I’m a Gay Dad. My Son Loves Sports. Here’s How That Unexpectedly Changed My Life.“
- The Guardian offers a lovely photo essay on “The new American family: Trans, gender queer, nonbinary, two-spirit.”
- Gay dads Thomas and Jonathan West of Manchester, Vermont, are traveling the country to create “Acceptance Through Visibility,” reports People. They plan to “at every U.S. military base [Thomas is a veteran], national park and baseball stadium throughout the country.”
- Openly profiles Jovi Wu and Mindy Chiu, two moms in Taiwan and one of the first couples as one of the first same-sex couples in Asia to marry legally. They worry about conservative backlash after marriage equality, but are persevering with a children’s book club they started in their neighborhood to discuss equal rights through story telling.
- Insider shares “15 inspiring photos of families around the world with same-sex parents,” a nice reminder that we are indeed everywhere (but unfortunately ignoring the fact that sometimes LGBTQ parents can exist in non-same-sex formations).
Books and Media
- Stephanie Fairyington at the New York Times writes of the continuing relevance of LGBTQ children’s book classic, Heather Has Two Mommies
, even after 30 years. (For other LGBTQ children’s and young adult books celebrating milestone anniversaries this year, see my own piece here.)
Politics and Law
- I’ve already written about Rhode Island’s unfortunate failure to pass updated parentage laws; here’s a piece from the Providence Journal about the impact on LGBTQ parents and prospective parents in the state.
- Angie Craig (D-MN), the first lesbian mom elected to Congress, wrote an op-ed for The Hill on why she supports the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, a bipartisan bill to end discrimination in adoption and foster care.
- A U.K. family court magistrate who had been fired because he opposed, on religious grounds, same-sex couples adopting children, has lost his battle to challenge his firing.
- French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said a bill could be introduced by the end of July that would allow state-funded fertility treatments to be available to all who need them, including single people and those in same-sex relationships. Currently, they are only available to different-sex couples who are married or who have lived together for two years.
- A recent case in Australia, writes journalist Margaret Ambrose at the Guardian, highlights the need to clarify who is a parent, who is a donor, and why those using known donors should do their paperwork.
- Alanna Vagianos at HuffPo looks at how recent abortion bans will affect transgender men and other gender-nonconforming people.
Resources
- The HRC Foundation’s All Children – All Families project has released “Celebrating Everyday Change-Makers in Child Welfare,” highlighting more than 70 child welfare agencies across the country that partnered with the project to improve the services they provide to the LGBTQ community.
- The Rainbow Families organization of New South Wales, Australia, has launched its Trans and Gender Diverse Parents Guide, with personal stories, practical advice, and answers from trans and gender diverse parents, their partners, and children. Lots of good stuff here for folks from other countries, too.