The Senate today confirmed lesbian mom Jenny Durkan to become U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington. She lives in Seattle with her partner and two sons. “I am honored and humbled by this challenge and responsibility, and will spend each day working to honor the rule of law, protect our citizens from crime, […]
My favorite Banned Book Week quote so far: When we ban a book about a kid on the outside, we’re taking a step toward banning the kid. —Chris Crutcher, whose books have several times landed him on the American Library Association’s list of Top Ten Most Challenged Books (sometimes for homosexual content). He was speaking
Between the horrible Florida court decision and Banned Books Week, I’ve been feeling a lot of angst this week. What better way to dispel it than a new video about peace by high-profile lesbian mom Melissa Etheridge, which she made with Pakistani musician Salman Ahmad? They created it for Search for Common Ground, a non-profit
I’m spitting nails over this one: A U.S. District Court in Florida rejected a lawsuit by a lesbian mom who had been kept apart from her partner who lay dying in a Florida hospital. The couple’s three children were kept from her as well. In February 2007, Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond boarded an R
I first had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Brannen when her children’s book Uncle Bobby’s Wedding launched early last year. I wrote about the right wing’s first attack on the book, which involved shameless plagiarism of my earlier piece by ultra-conservative writer Brent Bozell III at Town Hall. I then followed the story as the
Continuing my posts in honor of Banned Books Week. This is a slightly updated version of a piece I wrote for Bay Windows during last year’s Banned Books Week. If you haven’t yet read it, try to guess which children’s book featuring rabbits was challenged in 1959 for promoting (gasp!) interracial marriage. And come back
President Barack Obama has proclaimed today Family Day. A minor holiday? Perhaps—but he breaks new ground by his inclusive definition of family.
Protect Maine Equality has responded to Stand for Marriage Maine’s Prop 8 copycat ad I posted about last week. They now have two new ads out, one that directly addresses the allegations raised by the right-wing ad. In my previous post, I cautioned the Maine equality group against responding in the same way the No
Continuing my series of posts in honor of this year’s Banned Books Week, here’s a public service announcement about it from the American Library Association. It’s aimed at helping kids understand the meaning of the week, and why banning books is un-American.
It’s the start of Banned Books Week here in the U.S., “an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. . . . Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted
