Four heroes in the news:
- Trans activist Jenn Burleton, founder and executive director of TransActive Education & Advocacy, a Portland, Oregon based organization that works with parents and schools to support transgender and gender-variant children.
- 18-year-old student Clyde Calloway, for helping to organize a Gay-Straight Alliance at his high school in rural Kentucky, despite threats of violence.
- Mother and writer Sarah Hoffman, whose article in Cookie magazine shows a straight parent’s thoughtful support of her gender-variant son.
- Judy Shepard, who needs little introduction, but who has been fighting to replace hate with acceptance for ten years now, as USA Today documents.
. . . and one villain:
- Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern, who thought she was giving her anti-gay tirade only to fellow Republicans. Unfortunately for her, someone recorded the speech in which she says “Not everybody’s lifestyle is equal, just like not all religions are equal” and “I honestly think [homosexuality is] the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.” The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund has written an open letter to Kern, condemning her speech. You can add your name to the signatories. Pam has some other ideas for actions to take against Kern.
Thank you for the link to the Sarah Hoffman article.
My son tends to land on the pink side of the dressup box too. I tend to think its more from trying to relate to his older “pink Disney princess” sister- but you never know. He is giving up karate for dance lessons and is our own little Billy Elliot. This article gives me hope and helpful suggestions for keeping about him and not having to prove levels of manliness in my son because of his two mombians.
The article about the mom with a preschooler was too awesome.
In second grade I refused to ever wear a dress for school pictures again, and threw a huge fit to my mom. Then my dad goes, “what’s the problem, [her brother] has outgrown his suits, let her wear one.”
Please sign the petition to get Sally Kern out of Office. Forward to all your friends, post on your blogs!
Oh, you bring up a really good point, DivaJean. I think many LGBT parents feel pressure to have their children demonstrate traditional gender roles as a way of “proving” that LGBT parents don’t beget LGBT children. (Which is nonsense, of course, since statistically, some of us will have LGBT children, even though it has nothing to do with our own orientations or identities.) It’s great to see you’re letting your son find himself, whatever that is.
I’ve sorta got the opposite problem going on…we’re a two-mom family with two daughters aged 5 and 3. Neither my partner nor I are into make-up or fashion and we don’t watch much commercial television. Nevertheless, somehow we’ve ended up with two of the girliest girls you could ever imagine. I took my oldest to the store to buy her a new two-wheeler and tried to gently steer her interest towards some neutral colour like green but we ended up with the pinkest bike you’ve ever seen. Our house is awash in frilly dresses, bright bangles and Barbie dolls. What are two lesbian feminist moms to do? Just accept it, I guess – our girls are what they are.
My son is 7 and loves pretty things. He has always wanted his nails painted and more than once I have painted them clear or ivory. Well, last month he wanted them red or pink and after debate, we decided that he could paint just his toenails & he could pick out his own boy color. After a trip to the drugstore he settled on a pretty dark blue and I set to painting his toenails. He loved them! He knew there was a chance he would be picked on, even by his dad & older brother, but he accepted the risks and enjoyed his toenails.