Betty Crocker sits right up there with television’s June Cleaver as one of the icons of homemaking. How delightful, then, that General Mills, which owns the Betty Crocker brand, will be donating cakes to the first three same-sex couples to marry in Minnesota when it becomes legal to do so this Thursday — and that the brand is taking other steps to include same-sex couples in its marketing.
I had high expectations for The Fosters when it debuted on ABC Family in June, the first mainstream drama to focus on same-sex parents and their kids. I’m happy to say it more than met those expectations, while also throwing in a few pleasant surprises. The show has meant a lot to me as a lesbian mom — and to many others as well. I therefore invite you to join me, the Family Equality Council, and GLAAD this week by tweeting about what the show has meant to you.
I’ve long said that LGBT parents and non-LGBT parents are more alike than different. There’s no “lesbian” way to change a diaper, for example (unless perhaps you make them yourself out of old flannel shirts). It should come as no surprise then, that a new book about the first year of parenthood, aimed at a mainstream audience, happens to have been written by a lesbian mom.
More stories I haven’t covered earlier, including a terrific piece by the mother of a sperm donor; a newly out lesbian mom with a major university sports program; and yet more research showing sexual orientation of parents doesn’t negatively impact children.
From the “how could I have missed this” files: While studies show [and they do] that children with same-sex parents are just as well-adjusted as those with different-sex parents, they might lead us to overlook the full experience of adopted children, wrote Frank Ligtvoet in the New York Times a few weeks back. Ligtvoet, a gay dad with two adopted children, reminds us that “motherless parenting is a misnomer.”
I’d like to introduce you to Lois and Lily, two adventure-loving lesbian moms—who also happen to be Lego Minifigs. If only this were a real Lego play set. People seemed to like the image of the marrying Minifig moms I posted on Facebook just after the U.S. Supreme Court DOMA ruling, so I’ve brought them
On Friday, I mentioned Britney Simpson, one half of the 2013 U.S. Junior Pairs Champion figure skating team, who has two moms. I said it would be great to see both her and her skating partner’s parents in the audience if the pair makes the 2014 Winter Olympics—but forgot that the Games will be held in Russia. Russia’s increasingly harsh anti-gay laws cast Simpson’s moms’ attendance in a very different light.
My 10-year-old son throws around the word “epic” on a daily basis. His newest Pokémon card? Epic. His latest zombie-defeating battle in Minecraft, his favorite online game? Epic. The word seemed in danger of losing its original clout—and then the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). That, I told him, was epic.
Britney Simpson, one half of the 2013 U.S. Junior Pairs Champion figure skating team, has two moms—whose dedication to their daughter’s sporting career is pretty amazing.
Watching this new clip from The Gay Dad Project documentary could be most inspiring five-and-a-half minutes you spend today.
