I’m still in a happy mood from Valentine’s Day yesterday, so I’ll start you off with some happy stories about happy families before segueing into some more political items.
Family Profiles
- “Gay And Lesbian Adoptions Are The New Norm In Quebec,” writes Michel Viatteau of Agence France Presse, and profiles and adoptive gay couple and two lesbian couples (including one who did the partner egg-donation thing like my spouse and I did).
- At U.K. parenting site Yano, Phil Reay-Smith discusses the joy of being a gay dad and the unexpected acceptance his family has found. “There’s something about the reality [of gay parents] that persuades people,” he says.
- Matthew and Trey, a gay couple in Tennessee, share their journey to adoption at the Good Men Project.
- The Fosters, the Jennifer Lopez-produced show about two lesbian moms and their mix of biological, adopted, and foster kids, has been picked up by ABC Family. ABC Family is owned by Disney (about which more here)—does this mean we’ll someday see a lesbian-mom ride at Disney World? Speculate in the comments about what that might look like. . . .
Politics and Law
- The French National Assembly passed a bill granting marriage and adoption equality to same-sex couples. It will now go to the Sénat on 2 April, where it is expected to pass.
- Irishhealth.com reports on Ireland’s first study of LGBT parents. Points of note: Of the 153 LGBT people in the study, parenting 272 children, over half had become parents through a previous opposite-sex relationship; 16 percent have no legal status as parents; 46 percent had been discriminated against in the last five years; and transgender parents in particular experienced ‘significant discrimination,” mainly from family members. The authors call for greater legal recognition of those who have a parental relationship to a child.
- On a more wonky note (and I use “wonky” only in the best sense), Nan Hunter at The Nation tears apart the briefs filed at the U.S. Supreme Court by defenders of California’s Prop 8, explaining, “The briefs argue that the single most compelling reason either to prohibit same-sex marriage (Prop 8) or to forbid any federal agency from recognizing a same-sex marriage . . . is to bribe heterosexuals who engage in ‘accidental procreation’ to get married.” She goes on to deconstruct this ridiculous argument and to give us a preview of what we might expect when the justices take up the case in late March.
Thanks for pointing out the article in The Nation. I don’t have time to take it all in right now, but it looks like very interesting content–I look forward to reading it.