LGBT Parenting Roundup

Schools and Youth

• Yes, Iowa has marriage equality. They even have a safe schools law that requires inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s Civil Rights Act and anti-bullying policies. Still, the Iowa Pride Network, in its 2009 School Climate Survey, found that more than half of the students surveyed (LGBT and not) did not know what the Safe Schools law is, and 72 percent did not feel their school had adopted it. I got this news from the Iowa Independent, but their coverage is misleading. They say survey respondents in 2009 were less likely than those in 2007 to have heard a homophobic remark in school or to have been verbally or physically harassed because of their sexual orientation—but the percentage change is very small, and may not be statistically significant. The numbers are still far too high, in any case. From the actual report (2007 numbers in parentheses):
  • 87.5% (91%) of LGBT students in Iowa reported hearing homophobic remarks frequently in their schools.
  • 78.4% (80%) of LGBT students report being verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation.
  • 37.5% (36%) of Iowa LGBT students reported some incident of physical harassment (being pushed or shoved) because of their sexual orientation
  • 20.5% (16%) of students reported some incident of physical assault (being punched, kicked or injured with a weapon) because of their sexual orientation or gender expression.

• After initially canceling its prom when a lesbian student asked to bring her girlfriend, Tharptown High School in Alabama said the couple can attend as long as the girlfriend is cleared through the same process as all out-of-district dates.
• Jessica at Feministing comments on a recent New York Times article that “presenting the continued harassment of trans students (by peers and educators) as a mere dress code problem is incredibly problematic. . . . And though the article touches on student safety and how young people are challenging the gender binary, it narrowly describes students’ gender identities in terms of skirts, tuxes or lipsticks – furthering the notion that trans students’ genders are a put-on or a performance instead of, you know, who they are.”
• A 10-year-old Arkansas boy is refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag as long as the U.S. refuses legal equality to LGBT citizens.

Politics and Law

• A lesbian couple in France have won their 11-year battle to adopt a child jointly, the first time authorities have permitted joint adoption by a same-sex couple.
• The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., said it will be unable to continue its social service programs, including help with adoption placements, homelessness, and health care, if the District doesn’t change a proposed marriage equality law. A City Council committee this week rejected an amendment to allow individuals, based on their religious beliefs, to decline to provide services for same-sex weddings.
• HRC is hosting “Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Family,” a series of conversations and blog posts celebrating National Adoption Month. Their blog series will feature entries from LGBT foster/adoptive parents, adults who were adopted by LGBT parents, and child welfare professionals. On November 19 at 3 p.m. ET, HRC will host a national Web chat on LGBT adoption. Questions may be submitted in advance to webchat@hrc.org.
• An appeal panel of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal in New South Wales, Australia, ordered the rehearing of a case that found a church-based foster care agency had illegally discriminated against a same-sex couple by refusing to let them apply to become foster parents. Churches are applauding the ruling.
• An Australian member of parliament for Queensland introduced a bill that would allow only married opposite-sex couples who have been together more than two years to have a child by surrogate arrangement.
• WalMart has banned two gay dads for life. The two men were accused of stealing BIC lighters and were taken away by police while their 11-year-old twin sons were held by store security personnel, “where the couple alleges the boys endured disparaging remarks about their lifestyle from Walmart employees.” Security tapes eventually showed the men had not stolen the lighters, but they were banned from the chain anyway.
• This isn’t new news, but Tampabay.com has a good article on In re: Gill, the pending case in Florida on the right of gay men and lesbians to adopt.

Personal Stories

• Lesbian moms Ruby Kane and Ami Eaton are taking their three children, ages eight months, one year, and 11 years, on an RV road trip to “visit their marriage” in the six states and one city where it legally exists, and are blogging about the journey at AreWeMarried.com. (The site seems to be having some issues. Keep trying.) (Thanks, SeattlePI.)
• Nancy Polikoff writes a touching memorial to Rosalie Davies, the first lesbian mother she ever met, and the founder of Custody Action for Lesbian Mothers in 1974. Nancy is, as many of you know, now one of the leading lights in lesbian and gay family law.
• New LGBT blog I’m from Driftwood is collecting true stories by the LGBT community from all over the world. Founder Nathan Manske wrote to me, “My main goal is to help gay youth feel not so alone, but also to create an archive of sorts of our stories. . . . I would love to get more stories written by gay parents, so by all means, encourage your readers to write them and send ’em my way!”