Family Profiles
- Fenway Health, the LGBT health organization in Boston, reposted a piece by prospective lesbian mom Andrea about the journey she and her wife are taking to parenthood, starting with alternative insemination. Andrea also blogs at Little Lesbian Baby Blog.
- CNN profiled Frederic Deloizy and his husband Mark Himes, fathers of four. Deloizy, a French citizen, faces deportation from the U.S. under the Defense of Marriage Act. (Thanks, ThinkProgress.)
- A Note to My Kid shares a note from a kid—15-year-old Zac, who writes about what being adopted by his two dads has meant to him. And lesbian mom Leamy writes to her teenage daughter Jordyn, thanking her for supporting her through divorce and coming out.
- Ynet News (via PinkNews.co.uk) reports that Yuval Topper has become the first transgender man in Israel to give birth.
- The Medill Report from Northwestern University discusses the challenges for LGBT adoptive parents.
- MSNBC reports on two lesbian moms who decided that the non-bio mom would follow induced lactation protocols so the two could co-nurse. (Any readers ever tried this? Share your experience in the comments!)
- Even though I wrote last week about why the whole “gay parents are better” meme is rather ridiculous, I loved this tongue-in-cheek piece by Hellraisin at Aiming Low on how straight people can “be as awesome as us.”
Politics and Law
- The Washington Post reports that a Virginia state senator has introduced legislation to prohibit the state from funding adoption and foster care agencies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, among other characteristics. The state Board of Social Services last month removed such discrimination protections. Bills from other senators would explicitly allow private agencies to deny placement to prospective parents if the placements would conflict with their religious beliefs.
- A lesbian couple in Michigan filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s practice of preventing unmarried couples from jointly adopting children.
- WSVN in Florida reports on yet another case in which a bio mom is trying to prevent her ex-partner, their child’s non-bio mom, from seeing the child.
Entertainment
- Diane Ehrensaft at HuffPo writes about what the character of Roscoe, a gender variant child on Showtime’s new series House of Lies, can teach us about gender non-conforming children and how parents can support them.
- Brian Stokes Mitchell and Jeff Goldblum will appear in an upcoming episode of Glee as character Rachel’s gay dads. (Thanks, Towleroad.)
My wife and I are co-nursing our first baby and would totally do it again, it’s fantastic. We had no idea this was newsworthy!
We did basically the same protocols for induced lactation as the women in the story, but haven’t found it difficult at all. It saved us from having to give him formula when one of us was in hospital and recovering from surgery, and it means either of us can come to the rescue when he starts up with that hungry cry. Our baby is also super fat and adorable and seems to like having so many boobs.