Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2006

• Allies, Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2006, Politics and Law, Raising, Selves and Identities • 103 Comments

Blogging for LGBT Families Day

If you’re looking for information about the 2007 Blogging for LGBT Families Day, please click here.

UPDATE, June 1, 2006: The list of participating blogs is here.

I’m declaring June 1, 2006 Blogging for LGBT Families Day, a day to raise awareness about LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) families. I want to invite you all to participate. Please also pass the invitation along to anyone, LGBT or straight, whom you think may be interested.

Why June 1st? This date falls exactly between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. As such, it honors mothers and fathers equally, but also conveys that not all families fit into the traditional structure of one mother and one father. June 1st is also the start of Gay Pride Month.

Here’s how it works, in a nutshell: You blog about a relevant topic on or before June 1, and do one of several easy things (see below) to let me know you’ve done so. I will compile a list of all the posts, showcasing the voices of our community and allies. I will also market the event within and beyond the world of LGBT-family blogs.

Thank you in advance for participating. Together we will do great things.

Here are the details:

What is Blogging for LGBT Families Day? Blogging for LGBT Families Day is a time for bloggers to write about LGBT family issues and collectively raise awareness of LGBT families, our diverse nature, and how current prejudices and laws negatively impact our lives and children. I aim to make people more comfortable interacting with LGBT families and discussing LGBT families with their own. I also hope the event will make people more informed voters, showing them how their decisions at the polls directly affect the families in their communities.

When is it? June 1, 2006. This date falls exactly between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. As such, it honors mothers and fathers equally, but also conveys that not all families fit into the traditional structure of one mother and one father. June 1 is also the start of LGBT Pride Month.

Who can participate? Any blogger, LGBT or straight, who wishes to support the goal above. I expect participants to include LGBT parents and parents-to-be, children of LGBT parents, parents of LGBT children, straight parents, other LGBT individuals, and other straight allies.

Why should I participate? By participating, you help show the strength of those who support LGBT families and their rights. Your blog may also receive exposure to an audience it wouldn’t otherwise reach, since I hope to get coverage for this event in both LGBT and non-LGBT blogs and other media.

How can I participate? Simply write a post on a relevant topic on or before June 1. Let me know you’ve done so by doing one or more of the following (depending upon your blogging software and personal preference):

I’ll compile a master list of all participants, which I’ll either append to the current post or link to from here. You can also view the Comments section of this post (at the bottom) for a rough list of preliminary participants.

What should I write about? The choice of topic is up to you. If you are part of an LGBT family, and normally blog about your family’s activities, you may simply do so again. You may also choose to write on broader issues of LGBT family rights, acceptance, your personal path to parenthood, being the child of an LGBT family, what you’ve learned from the LGBT family down the street, or anything else that supports the goal above. Regardless, please let me know you’re participating.

How can I promote Blogging for LGBT Families Day? Please help to spread the word! I encourage you to mention the event to your readers as soon as possible (even if you submit your contributed post later), with a link back to http://www.mombian.com/2006/05/03/lgbtfamilies/, which contains all the details. You may also download buttons and banners for use on your site. (Please download them and then upload them to your blog, rather than linking to them on mombian.com.) I hope you will e-mail family and friends about the event as well, but request that you do not send unsolicited e-mail (spam) to people you don’t know.

Is there an organization sponsoring “Blogging for LGBT Families Day”? No. The event is a grassroots effort, and benefits no particular organization. It was developed by Dana Rudolph, publisher of Mombian, a blog for lesbian moms.

Information About Same-Sex Parents

The Human Rights Campaign estimates that same-sex couples are raising children in at least 96% of all counties in the U. S. At least one out of three lesbian couples and one out of five gay male couples are raising children nationwide. There are also an additional number of LGBT parents whom we cannot accurately count. (See COLAGE for a discussion.) Many leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have said parents’ sexual orientation is irrelevant to their ability to raise children.

At the same time, in many states, same-sex couples cannot legally establish a joint relationship to children they are raising together. Furthermore, all same-sex parents and their children are denied the 1,138 federal protections of marriage. In most states (with the exception of those in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont) they are also denied hundreds of state marital benefits. This can impact children’s quality of life in many ways, including:

  • A reduced chance of having family health insurance through an employer, or, at best, higher insurance costs than for the families of married heterosexual workers.
  • Loss of Social Security benefits when one parent dies.
  • Additional federal income tax for a same-sex family where one parent stays at home with the children.

(Information from the Human Rights Campaign: The Cost of Marriage Inequality to Children and their Same-Sex Parents, April, 2004 and Professional Opinion.)

Acknowledgement to Blogging for Disaster Relief, Blog Against Racism Day, Blog Against Sexism Day, Blogging Against Heteronormativity Day, and Blog Against Disablism Day for their similar initiatives.

Thanks to Abigail and Steve for assuring me this was a good idea and for reading an initial draft of this post. (All errors and omissions are my own.)

Questions or comments? E-mail Dana Rudolph at drudolph@mombian.com.

103 thoughts on “Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2006”

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  3. vegankid

    hey mombian! Great to see another “Blog for” day. As a Queer persyn who hopes to adopt, i’ll add my two cents to the topic. I’ll be traveling a lot in June, but i’ll try to find my way to internet access on the first. I also added the call to a Progressive Bloggers Kicking Ass discussion group, so hopefully some more folks will chime in.

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  13. marijkegbe

    Cool! I will write a special post about carrying my partner’s baby (Baby G due in July) and all of the love and support we have been shown on our journey to parenthood.

    Thanks to “The Muriels” for pointing me to this site!

    Cheers
    Marijke

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  17. Canadian Lesbian Mom of 3

    Canada is officially participating! We have three children 17(f), 10(f) and 9(m). All are extremely wonderful and happy and safe and secure and content and “normal”. I recently finished reading this really great book! It’s titled HOW IT FEELS TO HAVE A GAY OR LESBIAN PARENT – SNOW, JUDITH. This is essays based on interviews conducted with children of gays and lesbians who’s parents were once in straight relationships. Children of Divorce plus children of gay and lesbian parents. It was interesting for me having children who have gone through this. Especially, reading about the adult children looking back, saying what was damaging for them and what wasn’t. This book, in my opinion is a must read for anyone and everyone involved with children with gay parents; teachers, caregivers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, every single adult! It is that important! It is a reasonably priced book! It also has a list of resources. I hope you will check it out and buy a few copies to give out to your loved ones and your Exes if you have receptive ones!Like the blog idea and excited to keep an eye on it as it picks up momentum!
    Jill
    Williams Lake, BC
    Canada

  18. Carsen

    With your permission I’ll repost this in it’s entirety at SpectrumBloggers to hopefully get more people into it.

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  26. amy

    thanks for having GLBT blogging day. What a great idea. I’m in. Wishing to to hear about the subject of gay foster parenting.

  27. Jim Johnson

    I’ve posted a story on my blog announcing my participation and encouraging others to do so. Thanks for organizing this event, I think it could cause people to really dig deep and look at their own families and experiences. I know preparing for it has already motivated me to do so.

    Jim Johnson
    http://www.straightnotnarrow.org

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  30. Maria

    This is very exciting and an absolutely wonderful idea. I have written the draft of my post for this special day and am looking forward to sharing it with the world.

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  34. daddyjohn

    hope to have my own blog up and running by then…great idea. we adopted three brothers two years ago and life as a parent is the best thing ever.

  35. Tim Cravens

    I’m in! I blog largely about religion — I am the bishop of an inclusive small independent sacramental Christian church which welcomes lgbt folk equally, including the sacraments of marriage and ordination. I’ve so far only performed same-sex weddings, not heterosexual ones (not that there’s anything wrong with that!).

  36. FosterAbba

    Great idea! My partner and I are licensed foster parents and are waiting for our first placement. We will definitely participate in this event!

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  42. Samantha

    Hi! I did a post on Blogging for LGBT families. I am not very computer savvy, so hopefully my post is adequate in participating.

    Here is the link Blogging for LGBT families.

    Let me if that works and if it doesn’t I can change/add things on the post if necessary.

    Thanks for doing this, it’s wonderful that you started this and we are all showing our support for LGBT families.

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  59. Kwynne

    Will do! I hope I can get it done today (what with taking care of a 1 month old and all!) i hope to include not only discussions about being a queer family, but also the reality of being a racialized queer family…I look forward to writing.

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  84. Lukas Blakk

    My video is up – I don’t know how to do trackbacks, but I did everything else on the list. Can’t wait to go peruse the other entries! Thanks for coming up with this.

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  89. Karin

    I just got in by the skin of my teeth for June 1. I had an excellent post but Blogger ate it, so I just posted a quickie, and then I’ll get back to a more indepth post later. Now I must go to bed.

    much love

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  99. Kris

    I know I’m late, but wanted to say that I added a post. Of course my whole blog is about our family, good, bad and otherwise!

  100. Karen

    Hello,

    A word of warning. If you post anything that can be traced to yourself, you may have a big problem.

    I posted a personal ad on Craigslist. I was contacted by a woman, fine, that’s what I wanted. Well it turned out she was working for this journalist. His name is John Berlau and he has this theory that GLBT folks are the losers of the digital domain or something like that.

    I told him I did not want to be interviewed for his story. He said that since I had posted I was a public figure. He works for this place called the Competitive Enterprise Institute and they believe that all so-called public figures must agree to work with journalists. He’s basically threatening to out me if I don’t. Now I have made some noise about this and he’s kind of backed off but just be careful. He is somehow connected to a magazine called Reason.

    Karen in NY

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