He probably doesn’t know it’s National Adoption Month. But when U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Jones ruled that Nevada’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples did not violate the U.S. Constitution, he insulted not only same-sex couples, but also adoptive and single-parent families.
Let’s round it up, folks. Here’s what’s been happening while I was busy cooking and stuffing myself on turkey and pie this past week or so. (I’m Jewish; I take this whole “eight-day holiday” thing seriously.)
Award-winning Australian filmmaker Maya Newell has lesbian moms, and wants to show people what it’s like growing up with same-sex parents. She is now raising funds to complete Gayby Baby, “a child’s eye view of our newest breed of family.” Watch a promotional video after the jump.
I love me some Melissa Harris-Perry, the MSNBC host, author, and Tulane University professor. This past Saturday, I came to love her even more for the lengthy segment she did on “The American Family.” She and her guests discuss families headed by same-sex couples—but Harris-Perry smartly sees our families as only one part of a larger picture that includes single parents, adoptive parents, and other forms of family that differ from the traditional married, opposite-sex parents raising their own biological children. She also looks at how conceptions of family intersect with issues of politics, race, class, and economics—going all the way back to the days of slavery. It’s a lovely broad view and well worth watching in full.
Canadian football star Jon Cornish of the Calgary Stampede won the Canadian Football League’s “Most Outstanding Canadian” award last Thursday—and came out about his two moms during his acceptance speech.
Well, not exactly. Although we did use assisted reproduction, turkey basters were not in evidence. But Thanksgiving, more than any other holiday, means family to me—both the family I come from and the family my spouse and I have created.
Today marks the 14th International Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. My thoughts are with all of the transgender community today, their parents, and their children. In 2012 alone, 51 people have been killed around the world based on their real or perceived transgender
How time flies. It’s been two years since Florida overturned its ban on gay men and lesbians adopting children. In that time, over 200 children have been adopted by gay or lesbian parents, according to the ACLU. Two hundred children! The ACLU led the legal fight against the ban, and recently created this video showing plaintiff Martin Gill and his sons, along with Vanessa and Melanie Alenier, another Florida couple who were fighting in court to adopt their son.
There’s a new place online for families with gender non-conforming and transgender children to share their stories and experiences: the Gender Spectrum Lounge. The Gender Spectrum organization has been around for a number of years now, and also runs the yearly Gender Spectrum Family Conference.
Just days after we learned of yet another pair of same-sex penguin dads, comes the news that the Austin Independent School District in Texas has cancelled the performances at local elementary schools of “And Then Came Tango,” a play based on the real-life story of two male penguins who parented together.
