June 2011

Mazel Tov! Jewish LGBT Children’s Book Contest Winner Announced

Jewish LGBT organization Keshet has announced the winner of its first Jewish Children’s Book Writing Contest (mentioned here in February): The Purim Superhero, by Elisabeth Kushner, a public librarian in Vancouver, Canada—and a lesbian mom herself. Kushner told Keshet: When I heard about the Keshet contest, it seemed like a perfect fit: in the Purim story, […]

Proud Parents

I keep seeing bumper stickers around town with slogans like, “Proud Parent of a Middle School Honor Student,” and “Proud Parent of a Soldier.” They remind me, in this season of LGBT Pride, of how often “pride” is associated with both LGBT identity and parenting. We LGBT parents have a lot of which we can be proud, in a lot of different ways.

First LGBT Parent in Congress: Out U.S. Rep. Jared Polis to Become Dad

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and his partner Marlon Reis are expecting a baby in September, reports the Denver Post. That will make him the first out LGBT parent in Congress. Polis has refused to tell the press how he and Reis will be creating their family—and I give him a lot of credit for

“Impossible is nothing”: Zach Wahls Speaks with Lambda Legal

Remember Zach Wahls? The University of Iowa student with two moms shot to fame in February after testifying at an Iowa House hearing about a bill that would ban marriage for same-sex couples. He’s since spoken with Ellen and the Human Rights Campaign, among others. This month, he’s profiled in Lambda Legal’s Impact newsletter (PDF

Weekly Political Roundup: A New York State of Mind

No big roundup this week. As with many of you, I’m busy watching the marriage equality happenings in New York tonight. Stay tuned. [10:45 p.m. ET: A wee update, from my piece for Keen News Service.]

Same-Sex Parents: More than a Boom

Data from Census 2010 is slowly rolling in, state by state, and so far, it looks like about one quarter of same-sex couples are raising children, in states as diverse as Alabama, California, Hawaii, and Wyoming. The diligent demographers at the Williams Institute of UCLA are doing the analysis; they have yet to release breakdowns

Lesbian Mom Writes About Her Gender Variant Daughter

There’s been a growing amount of coverage lately about parents supporting their gender variant and/or transgender children—most recently in a worthwhile New York Times article last week. Veronica Rhodes of Parent Dish, however, gives us a perspective seen even less often—that of a lesbian mom with a gender variant child. Rhodes explains the extra criticisms

Happy 15th Birthday, WNBA!

The WNBA is 15 years old today. I remember being at the first game in 1997. (For those doing the math: the league was founded in 1996, but play began in 1997.) That means some of the players were my son’s age (eight) or younger when the league began. Now I feel old. Former WNBA

Gay Dads Share Top 10 Things They Learned from Their Child

Sure, Father’s(s’) Day is over, but I can’t help sharing this great video of gay dads Mark Bromley and David Salie (brother of CBS News and NPR contributor Faith Salie). Kudos to them for such a funny, wise piece, and kudos to CBS News for running it.

Happy Father’s Day (or Fathers’ Day)!

Happy Father’s Day to all of you who are fathers, have fathers in your lives, or use Father’s Day to celebrate one of the parents in your family in whatever fashion works for you. There’s no dearth of Father’s Day reading around, but I’ll point out a couple of LGBT-relevant pieces here: “A Father’s Day

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