This week’s roundup includes two family profiles, including one of the first lesbian in the U.K. to use assisted insemination, a couple of twisty legal issues, a lovely school story, and more.
Family Profiles
- The Boston Globe profiles lesbian moms Casey and Shannon McLaughlin in an article on the challenges that still remain for same-sex military couples even after the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Shannon is a major in the Massachusetts National Guard, and the couple are the lead plaintiffs in McLaughlin v. Panetta, a federal case seeking equal benefits for married same-sex spouses of servicemembers. The case is stayed pending the outcome of the Supreme Court case on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
- The U.K.’s Independent newspaper profiles 66-year-old Janis Hetherington, who was the first lesbian in the U.K. to use assisted insemination. It sounds like she’s quite a character—and also seen her share of challenges, like a custody battle when her children’s other mother died. I recommend the article to anyone interested in the history of LGBT parents. (I do, however, question the author’s need to mention Janis’ son’s sexual orientation, which seems superfluous, if not gratuitous.)
Politics and Law
- Iowa, despite allowing same-sex couples to marry, still will not automatically allow both spouses of a same-sex couples to be listed on their children’s birth certificates, as with opposite-sex couples. CNN Radio discusses the situation and speaks with Heather and Melissa Gartner, whose lawsuit on the matter has reached the state Supreme Court.
- April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse of Michigan will have to wait until June to learn the results of their second-parent adoption-cum-marriage equality case from the state Supreme Court. The Court, prompted by several LGBT organizations who support the couple’s claim, chose to wait until the U.S. Supreme Court decides the marriage equality cases it will be hearing later this month. The organizations, reports Chris Geidner at Buzzfeed, have been reluctant to push the couple’s case because of fears the conservative Sixth Circuit would rule negatively on marriage equality. Pop over to Buzzfeed for all the legal ins and outs of this one.
Schools and Education
- Amelia’s piece at HuffPo, “When My 8-Year-Old Gay Son Taught His Class About Harvey Milk,” is a wonderful read about how easily kids “get” what it means to be gay, and why there’s no reason the history we teach, even to young children, shouldn’t include mention of openly gay people. (LGBT people, I would say—though the article focuses on Milk.)
Selves and Identities
- Bisexual mom Corbyn Hightower writes at HuffPo about why she is joining a demonstration at the Westfield Galleria in Roseville, California, where a security guard had asked two gay men to leave for kissing and holding hands. Read this not only for information on the mall incident, but also for her perspective as a bi mom, self-identified as “queer,” who had a child with another woman before separating and meeting her now-husband.