Here’s the latest roundup of LGBTQ parenting stories and news that I haven’t covered elsewhere. Lots of family profiles this time—enjoy!
Family Profiles
- Katie Taylor writes, “I wanted to be the birth mom. Would I feel cheated that it’s my wife instead?” at the Washington Post.
- Julie Drizin, a mother of two, writes at Medium about the amicable breakup between herself and the daughters’ other mom and how it means they are “Reframing Family.”
- Lesbian mom and rabbi Rachel Isaacs tends a congregation in rural Maine—but also got invited to give the benediction at the White House Hanukkah party this year. In this Kveller interview, she talks about Maine, family life, and why Obama is a mensch.
- Vloggers Domo and Crissy took to Instagram to chastise viewers who said Crissy, not Domo, should be carrying their child because Domo is too masculine looking. (My own spouse is the more masculine looking of us and was the pregnant one—bravo to Domo and Crissy. H/t PinkNews.)
- Queer dad Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge writes of “Raising A Queer Family In An Equal World” and why he and his husband are proud of their son’s 30-character name.
- James, a gay dad from Pittsburgh now living in Texas, speaks with Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents about coming out, his current community, and raising his daughters.
Politics and Law
- An Italian court said that twin boys, sons of an Italian gay couple through a California surrogate, are not brothers. The Washington Post explains, “Because the men used separate semen samples to fertilize the eggs, the court said that each of them can now register his biological son as his own. But the babies cannot be recognized as children of the couple” nor as brothers, although they share a genetic mother who donated the eggs. Nevertheless, LGBTQ family advocates Famiglie Arcobaleno sees a positive side to the ruling, in that it did recognize the men as fathers, despite surrogacy being illegal in Italy. The group’s president, Marilena Grassadonia, noted, “It’s the first time that an Italian court has established that a child’s best interest comes before [the legality of] how he or she was born.”
Research
- Yet another study proves what we already know: The sexual orientation of parents is less important to children’s adjustment than the stress parents face. The longitudinal study by Rachel Farr of the University of Kentucky followed children adopted by lesbian, gay, and straight parents from early to middle childhood, the first such study to do so. (The earlier and better known National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study follows children with two moms who had them through donor insemination.) The work builds on earlier research by Farr and others that came to much the same conclusions.
Entertainment
- The Fosters, Freeform’s drama about a two-mom family and their teen children, has been greenlit for a fifth season. Before that, however, the second half of Season Four premieres Tuesday, January 31st at 8 p.m. ET.
