LGBT Parenting Roundup

The news came fast and furious this week:

The good:

A Kentucky bill to ban unmarried couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents is effectively dead after not being called for a floor vote this session. Good news.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that the antigay Arizona-based Adoption Profiles, LLC and Adoption Media, LLC stopped doing business in New York after they were found to be violating New York laws prohibiting discrimination against same-sex couples. Lambda Legal had filed a complaint on behalf of a New York gay couple.
Vermont’s leading mental health and human service organizations say legalizing marriage for same-sex couples won’t hurt kids. Well, duh. But since they’ll be testify in support of marriage equality next week at the Statehouse, I guess they need to state the obvious.
Florida state Senator Nan Rich (D) has introduced a bill to repeal the ban against adoption by gay men and lesbians, and a second that would allow judges to determine adoptions solely on “the best interests” of the child. Which is how it should have been all along, no?
The Obama administration wants LGBT youth to be among the White House summer interns, and has told HRC as much, according to Candace Gingrich, senior manager for the HRC Foundation’s Youth and Campus Outreach Program.
I’ve covered it before, but I can never get too much of hearing children of LGBT parents speaking against Prop 8 (though I really wish it wasn’t necessary in the first place).
A U.S. District Judge granted a preliminary injunction to force Nassau County, Florida school officials to allow a gay-straight alliance on campus.
PFLAG has seen a “significant” spike in chapters and attendance across the U.S. since last November’s elections. It has received at least 75 inquiries about starting new chapters.
Across the pond, Pinknews.co.uk explains what the U.K.’s new IVF rules mean for lesbians.
The Tel Aviv family court ruled that a gay couple can legally adopt their 30-year-old son after a 14-year struggle. The men are the first same-sex male couple in the country to be granted this right.
I don’t watch the show, but apparently this season of CBS’s The Amazing Race features a gay dad and his adult son. From what I glean on the Web site, they’re doing quite well.

The not-so-good:

Butler County Children Services in Ohio has adopted (!) a new policy that gives opposite-sex couples preference over single parents or same-sex couples in fostering or adopting children. County commissioners have asked the county prosecutor to review the new rule. Here’s the perspective from the two gay dads whose adoption led to the policy.
A lawyer for a lesbian couple argued before the West Virginia Supreme Court that the women should be allowed to adopt the 15-month-old girl they had been fostering. A lower court judge had refused the adoption, saying the child would be better off with an opposite-sex married couple. The Supreme Court is allowing the girl to stay with the couple until a final ruling.
Say what you will about Lisa Miller, but she’s persistent. Even after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear her custody case, the “ex-lesbian” mom has filed another appeal with the state of Virginia, arguing that the state cannot enforce the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, which requires custody orders of one state to be upheld by other states.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana is suing the Lebanon Community School District on behalf of lesbian student after she was told she could not wear a tuxedo to the school’s prom. The district says the prom is still six weeks away and they can reach an agreement without going to court. Bil at Bilerico has more about the local right-wing response.
More than 30 students were pulled out of classes at a school in East London over lessons about LGBT history month. 365gay.com notes that the area contains mostly immigrant families, many of them Muslim. Parents who removed their children could face prosecution, officials say, although no decision has been made.
That’s a tough one. I’ve always been against parental notification when LGBT issues are discussed. Still, prosecution seems harsh. What say you?