Here’s what’s happening, from LGBTQ families in the news, to political happenings, new research, and even some funny stuff!
Family Profiles
- Popsugar profiles California spouses Lindsay Lanciault and Toby Fleischman, who are both pregnant at the same time (a topic I’ve covered before as well).
- Lara Lillibridge, author of Girlish
, about growing up with lesbian moms (and who guest posted here last week on what it was like for her to be a “Lesbian Tour Guide“) has another great piece over at Medium , “On Microagressions: Did You Ever Think You Were a Lesbian Like Your Mom?“
- Some trans youth are banking their gametes before transition, in order to preserve their options for biological fertility, reports the Chicago Tribune. Ignore the obvious statements like “Trans people are just as interested in having children as other people,” and read the piece for what it says about the information (or lack thereof) that young trans people are getting about their fertility options, and the decisions and challenges they face around these issues.
- Out and About Nashville profiles spouses Brandon Thomas and Michael Finch and their journey through Michael’s pregnancy.
- At Transgender Universe, U.A. Nigro interviews her two stepchildren about what it was like for them to watch her transition.
- Canadian spouses Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter talk with PinkNews about their new children’s book, The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig
, and the real-life Esther who inspired it.
Politics and Law
- The Kansas Department for Children and Families is supporting a bill that would allow adoption and foster care agencies, including ones that receive public support, to cite religious beliefs as a reason to discriminate against LGBTQ people and others. (For more on such bills across the country, see my piece here.)
Research
- The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin has put out its 2017 Statistics on LGBTQ+ Literature for Children & Teens, finding that less than 4 percent of the approximately 3,700 childrens/YA books they received last year had LGBTQ+ characters. Less than 10 percent of those were picture books; most of those were about “families in general or had secondary or tertiary LGBTQ+ parents.” The ones that did have gender-expansive characters “most often feature a child who was assigned male at birth and likes to wear … clothing traditionally considered to be ‘feminine.'” The good news is “There are books being published that better represent the vast diversity of identities and experiences within the LGBTQ+ community,” but we still have a long way to go before our children’s literature really reflects them and their world.
- Childhood maltreatment and bullying may be factors in why lesbians and bisexual women have higher rates of teen pregnancy than their straight (and presumably cisgender) peers, according to a new study published in the journal Pediatrics.
Funny
- Check out Hilary B. Price’s Rhymes with Orange comic for April 8, especially if you used assisted reproduction to create your family.
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