February 2008

Some/thing New

For my second contribution to Robin Reagler’s blog carnival, here’s Some/thing New: Israel announced Sunday that same-sex couples will now have the same adoption rights as opposite-sex couples. Previously, they could only adopt if one partner was the child’s biological parent. Mazal tov!

LGBT Parents Creating Change

(Originally published as the Mombian newspaper column, week of February 4, 2008.) How can LGBT parents create change? I’ve been pondering the question in light of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s annual Creating Change conference in Detroit this week. Becoming a parent is itself a life-altering change. We must then master the fine

Some/Thing Blog Meme

Robin Reagler of The Other Mother has come up with a clever blog carnival idea. For the rest of the week, post a photo, memory, poem, music, or a combination on the following theme: Tuesday, 2/12: Something old Wednesday, 2/13: Something new Thursday, 2/14: Something borrowed Friday, 2/15: Something blue Further details at her site.

Teaching Teens About LGBT Issues

I just did a guest post for Teens Today with Vanessa Van Petten, a site for parents of teenagers. Van Petten, 22, wrote You’re Grounded!: How to Stop Fighting and Make the Teenage Years Easier while she was still in high school, basing it on dozens of interviews with teens, parents, and teachers. She continues

Freedom to Marry Week

It’s Freedom to Marry Week, and I thought I’d mark the occasion by talking about why marriage matters to me. Legal protections are part of the story, but only part. Civil unions and domestic partnerships can cover some (but not all) of the same rights and responsibilities. The greater reason for marriage, in my mind,

Weekly Political Roundup

Bruce Kluger of USA Today asks “In Election ’08, is there a place for gay rights?” He calls gay marriage “a non-issue” in the 2008 elections (which I think is overstating things a little), but makes a hopeful call for gay issues to be part of a national conversation. He is heartened by the “Don’t

NY Post Still Thinks LGBT People Are Evil

I didn’t think the New York Post could outdo its headline “Evil Lesbian Mom Left Toddler to Die Slow Death.” Today’s “Axis of She-vil: Death to Gays but Free Ops for Irani Trannies” may be the winner in reprehensible journalism, however. The article points out the oddity of the Iranian government subsidzing sex reassignment surgeries

National Diversity Book Month for Children

February is getting busy. In addition to being Black History Month and primary season, it is also National Diversity Book Month, as declared by the Family Equality Council. They have a page full of resources on LGBT-inclusive children’s books, including an extensive book list. The list isn’t perfect; it only lists three books from Todd

“She Got Me Pregnant”: Episode 14

In this week’s video blog, Helen and I take a retrospective look at three films in which Jodie Foster plays a single mom. We discuss Foster’s own commentary on Little Man Tate, her directorial debut, and speculate on how Foster’s own experience as the daughter of a single mom may have shaped the film. We

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