Parenting megasite Babble has just launched Babblepedia, a Wikipedia-like “Encyclopedia of Parenting Knowledge” that “anyone can edit.” It’s a great idea, though the usual cautions apply about doing your own thorough research before believing anything you read online.
Here’s the action item: Go contribute to Babblepedia to make sure LGBT families are well represented. Many of the existing categories (e.g., Sex During Pregnancy) could certainly benefit from a lesbian perspective, and topics like Daycare Options bring up special concerns for all LGBT parents. Even if you’re not talking about LGBT issues per se, it’s useful to indicate that LGBT parents are there and contributing to the general parenting community, e.g., “when my partner and I were potty training our son . . .”
It looks as if Babblepedia isn’t the editing free-for-all Wikipedia is. For the initial categories that Babblepedia launched with, Babble heads each category with its own opinion and then adds “Expert Opinions” of various medical organizations, well known doctors like Dr. Spock, and major health Web sites. Users’ opinions are added comment-like after that. Users can also create new categories for themselves and others to write about; it’s unclear if Babble will offer its own opinion or experts on any or all of those as well.
Show where we’re the same; show where we’re different. Mostly, show that we’re there.
Excellent call to action, Dana! I added a link to Rainbow Conceptions in the section on infertility treatment.
Thanks, Liza. I had Rainbow Conceptions under the Community/Family Groups and Organizations/General and Online section; I’d been keeping the Conception section more aimed at professional (medical/legal) resources. One of my summer to-dos is to take a fresh look at the categories and see if any need adjusting, though.