Moms Rising, the organization dedicated to building a “family-friendly America” through better employment rights and benefits for parents, is promoting a bevy of activities for Mother’s Day weekend. I’ve written before about Moms Rising, and noted the similarities between the parents-rights movement and the LGBT rights movement:
Parents’-rights groups are working to change the playing field for working families, acknowledging that the old model of working father and stay-at-home mother isn’t the only one around anymore. They want government policies to reflect social realities and changing conceptions of family and family roles—and that’s exactly what the LGBT-rights movement is striving to achieve.
Not that the two movements have identical goals, or should in any way merge—but there are commonalities. Those of us who are both LGBT and parents have a vested interest in both. I think it makes sense for LGBT parents to become involved in the parents’-rights movement so it becomes a voice for all parents, not just non-LGBT ones. As I wrote before, I think the parents’-rights movement needs to do more to be inclusive of LGBT families, but we should also extend a hand from our side and show them how we can work together to accomplish our separate, but linked, goals.
Here are two small ways we can learn about the parents’-rights movement and help them remember to include us:
- Watch The Motherhood Manifesto, Moms Rising’s documentary on the state of mothers in America, this weekend on your local PBS station. It’s one of the fastest ways to get up to speed on parents’-rights issues and what the movement is attempting to accomplish.
- Contribute to Moms Rising’s The Power of ONEsie campaign. Decorate a onesie (or small kids t-shirt) that Moms Rising will add to a chain of them around your state capitol, reminding lawmakers of the need for family-friendly legislation. Moms Rising says “We invite you to add catchy slogans (“Paid Family Leave or Bust”) or your hopes for the future”; I suggest “All families deserve family leave,” with the appropriate rainbows and stick figures of two moms, two dads, and kids. This could even be a project for your local LGBT-parents’ group. (E-mail me photos of what you create, and I’ll post them.)