Here are some of the stories about LGBTQ families that I haven’t covered elsewhere. Pull up a cup of coffee.
- Michigan law is preventing a non-biological mom from having access to the two children she has raised since their birth. She and her former partner broke up before same-sex couples could marry in the state—and only married couples could adopt.
- Adam Pertman of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency writes at HuffPo about how so-called laws that allow discrimination against LGBT people on the basis of religious belief decrease the odds that children in foster care will find permanent and loving families.
- Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents profiles Sara, a queer single mom in Ohio.
- Brent Almond of Designer Daddy reports that the two dads and their daughter profiled in American Girl magazine were recently honored at Family Equality Council’s 2016 Impact Awards. The magazine was targeted for a boycott by the right-wing group One Million Moms for featuring the family.
- Dear Abby is blunt with a mom who is upset her son donated sperm to a lesbian couple.
And a quick tour of a few other countries:
- A British magistrate who was fired after speaking out against adoption by same-sex parents has been suspended as a non-executive director of a National Health Service (NHS) trust.
- The U.K.’s Telegraph helps answer questions about family leave policies for same-sex parents.
- Austria remains the only country in the world which allows same-sex couples to adopt but not to marry. A case heard this week on behalf of two moms and their four-year-old son in Upper Austria’s provincial administrative court aims to change that.
- Australia’s Lower House passed an Assisted Reproductive Technology Amendment Bill, which among other things, redefines the five-woman limit for a single sperm donor to a five-family limit. This will make it easier for two-woman couples who each want to carry a child from the same donor. Previously both women had been counted separately.