The U.S. House Judiciary Committee voted 15-12 to advance the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913), aka the Matthew Shepard Act. The bill now goes up for a full House floor vote, which could happen next week. John Berry was officially sworn in as director of the Office of Personnel […]
Helen and I talk about why we liked going to the Boston Marathon with our son this week. We also discuss the tragic suicide of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, an 11-year-old boy who was repeatedly bullied in school. (We shot the video just before news broke of a second similar death.) Finally, we ask readers to
On parental rights: A Michigan state House committee approved legislation for second-parent adoptions, splitting the vote along party lines. (Do I really need to specify which party voted in favor?) A Montana woman, Barbara Maniaci, is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that recognized her former partner as a co-parent
Today marks the traditional observance of Shakespeare’s birthday. In honor of the Bard, therefore, I give you two lesbianish quotes. The first is from his gender-mix-up comedy Twelfth Night. Viola, disguised as a man, comments upon the Countess Olivia: She made good view of me; indeed, so much That methought her eyes had lost her
Breaking news: Shirley Tan, the lesbian mom who was on the brink of being deported and torn from her 12-year-old sons and her partner of 20 years, may now stay in the U.S. through 2010, the end of this session of Congress. Her reprieve is thanks to California Rep. Jackie Speier and Sen. Diane Feinstein,
It’s Earth Day! Are you celebrating? Are your kids? Our son is on school vacation this week, but last Friday, got a packet of seeds to plant in honor of the event. If it stops raining and warms up around here, we’ll plant them. How, if at all, are you teaching your kids about the
If you know even a few things about good investing, you’ll know that diversification is one of the fundamental keys to long-term success. This week over at Queercents (and on her own blog), Helen compares two popular ways of diversifying one’s investments, through index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETF’s). That may send some of you
Another 11-year-old boy, Jaheem Herrera, has hanged himself after enduring repeated bullying. (The horrible news comes via Will at Pam’s.) There is some reporting that he was bullied with anti-LGBT taunts, among others. Just last week, after the suicide of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, I asked “How many more children must die before we as a
Here is the tenth interview in this phase of the Family Voices series. This time around, I am teaming up with Julieta of Ju, An y el Perro Activista to extend the series to include non-U.S. LGBT families. Julieta has also done Spanish translations of all the interviews, which you will find after the English
Passing along this request for LGBT families to take part in a short online survey. I don’t know the researchers myself, but blogger and LGBT activist Helen Boyd of en | Gender, who also teaches at Lawrence University, vouches for the professors and students involved. If you have a few minutes, please help them out!
