The U.S. Senate unanimously adopted the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill. This means its fate is tied to whether the president will veto the bill because it also includes funding for F-22 fighter jets, which he opposes. The NAACP announced a partnership with National […]
Helen and I discuss the lesbian moms who appeared on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie this week, and tell you why we thought the portrayals by Blythe Danner and Swoosie Kurtz broke new ground. We also share highlights from our recent trip to Washington, D.C., and offer some tips for traveling with kids so the whole family
Johann Hari at HuffPo reports that—shock—we’re in the middle of a gayby boom, and Bruno is spreading the word. He writes, “This quiet trend has finally poked its way to public attention with the sight of Bruno – the crazed Austrian fashionista played by Sasha Baron Cohen – sitting with a little African baby on
Politics and Law First, a great ruling from the Oregon Court of Appeals via the vigilant Nancy Polikoff: “If the biological mom’s partner consents to the insemination [of her partner], she is also the parent of the resulting child.” The ruling states, in part: “There appears to be no reason for permitting heterosexual couples to
My spouse Helen, whom I’ve lured into blogging, has just posted about the opportunity for lesbian and gay stay-at-home parents to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth. Because Uncle Sam still doesn’t recognize a partner’s income when we file our federal taxes, most of us lesbian SAHM’s (and gay SAHD’s) end up in a
From the “fun with scientific conclusions” department: A new study in the journal Child Development has found that babies who are the result of unplanned or mistimed pregnancies “had fewer resources [including parental support and learning materials] than intended siblings” and “Parents’ emotional resources to older children decreased after the birth of a mistimed sibling.”
A friend whom I’ve known since college has launched a new blog with her husband, in which they offer their perspectives on gender and popular culture. They’ve only been at the blog, The Two Body Solution, for a short time, but they’re both English professors and have been writing about this sort of thing in
Thanks to Curve magazine and contributing editor Sheryl Kay for profiling me in the “Out in Front” section of their July/August issue. It’s an honor. The issue is not yet online, but you can view the PDF here. If you subscribe, you can find me on p. 19.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Showtime’s new series, Nurse Jackie, would be featuring Blythe Danner and Swoosie Kurtz as the lesbian moms of Dr. Cooper, one of the main characters. Well, tonight’s the night. It airs at 10:30 PM ET/PT. I’ve seen the episode already, and while I won’t reveal any spoilers, I will say
(Originally published in Bay Windows, June 17, 2009.) Disney Pixar’s new animated feature, Up, is a good movie, better than most children’s fare. My kindergartener and I both enjoyed it—but it left me with a few lingering qualms about its depiction of parenting and gender roles. The story revolves around 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen, who is
