LGBT Parenting Roundup

Safe Schools

• After reviewing the suicide of 11-year-old Jaheem Herrara, Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, a retired Superior Court judge in Fulton County, Georgia, said the boy was “emotionally ruined” by the recent murder of his uncle and the death of his grandmother, and his school was not responsible for his death. The boy’s mother, Masika Bermudez, disagrees and is suing the district for not stopping the anti-gay harassment that she had reported to administrators. SoVo also reports that Moore found few students knew what “gay” means, and that teachers had been telling them it means “happy.”
• Kevin Jennings, founder and former executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has been appointed to become the assistant deputy secretary of education for the Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
• Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, spoke at the GLSEN Respect Awards in New York, and reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to safe schools for all.
• A California superior court upheld a law stating that schools cannot discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, among other categories.
• Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) vetoed the LGBT-inclusive Safe Schools for All Bill, although his office had worked with the bill’s authors on a compromise version and confirmed it met all of his requirements. You can sign a pledge here stating your support for the bill.
• The Oregon Legislature passed the sexual-orientation-inclusive Oregon Safe Schools Act. It now goes to the governor.

Curriculum and Other Education Matters

• The Alberta Government passed a bill that includes a proposal to give parents the right to exempt their children from any teaching about “subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation.” Go here to tell the Provincial leadership what you think.
• Some parents in Connecticut are upset because their children’s elementary school yearbook included a note in its Year in Review section that mentioned the legalization of same-sex marriage in the state. The parents are worried that “sex” is too mature a topic for elementary school. I agree—but in this context, “sex” = “gender,” and that’s not so hard or inappropriate to explain.
• Under economic pressure, the Massachusetts House and Senate eliminated earmarks guaranteeing funding for LGBT youth programs including ones for youth of color, transgender youth, and homeless youth.

Laws, Legislation, and Custody

• In Australia, there is speculation that as part of a political deal, New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees will withdraw his support from legislation to allow same-sex couples adoption rights.
• A New York appeals court has held that a non-bio mom cannot be required to pay child support for the child she and her former partner conceived using donor insemination. Lawyer Nancy Polikoff explains: “The court ruling, which incurred a strong dissent, said that the court could only hear paternity cases, not those involving determinations of maternity. . . . But 40 years ago the US Supreme Court ruled that children born outside marriage should not face discrimination. A child of heterosexual unmarried parents is entitled to the same relationship with and support from both parents as a child of heterosexual married parents. We’ve got to have the same result for our children, even if same-sex couples can marry.”
• The Lithuanian Parliament is set to introduce legislation that “would make it illegal to discuss homosexuality in schools and bans any reference to it in public information that can be viewed by children.”

Outspoken Hate

• The hosts of a talk show on Sacramento’s KRXQ 98.5 FM, Rob Williams and Arnie States, lashed out in a vicious on-air diatribe encouraging violence against transgender children.
• Focus on the Family’s Candi Cushman rails against diversity and safe-schools programs like HRC’s Welcoming Schools, the appointment of Kevin Jennings to the Department of Education (see above), and the children’s books Uncle Bobby’s Wedding and And Tango Makes Three. I’m not going to boost their Google power by giving them a live link, but if you can stomach it, you can read it here: http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000010153.cfm

Forming Families

• Author and professor Elizabeth Gregory, who has researched women who become mothers later in life, points out that, “Gay women face the same pressures to establish themselves at work before starting a family as other women. . . . In addition, the gay couples I interviewed pointed out that it takes time to figure out who you are and to go through the coming out process, which makes it even more likely that gay moms will come to motherhood later. . . . These highly intentional moms are changing our understanding of what family can mean, and their successes inspire more change.”
• Moorea at Queercents answers the question: “Why Is Donor Sperm So Expensive?”

Entertainment and Media

• James Hipps at Gay Agenda highlights a charming, older Sesame Street clip explaining what marriage is. It’s non-gender-specific and perfect.
• ABC’s new animated show, The Goode Family, includes a lesbian couple as friends to its protagonists. They have a teen son, and are trying to get pregnant again. Antics with sperm ensue. Sigh. Where have we heard this before? After Ellen has more, and is also exasperated with the storyline.