Here’s the latest news to warm your heart or boil your blood—either way, it will keep you toasty in the polar vortex!
Family Profiles
- A 2016 Ontario law allows up to four parents to be listed on a child’s birth certificate. Two queer couples who “joined forces with the intention of raising children together” share their story with CBC Radio. Read or listen.
- Catherine Kelly, a bisexual mom, writes at Autostraddle about raising her transgender child.
- The Washington Post’s “On Parenting” column spoke with four gay men who had all become fathers in the past 10 years in different ways. “It’s easier now for gay men to adopt,” they conclude. “But they still face lots of pushback, and weird questions.”
Politics and Law
- The American Bar Association has adopted a resolution that “opposes laws, regulations, and rules or practices that discriminate against LGBT individuals in the exercise of the fundamental right to parent.” The resolution was made in the wake of 10 states that now have laws permitting religiously-based discrimination against LGBTQ people and others in adoption and foster care, and continued litigation that questions LGBTQ people’s right to parent.
- A Virginia Senate committee killed a bill that would have removed gender-specific pronouns from parentage laws and made state laws more inclusive of same-sex couples.
- While I usually focus on LGBTQ parents, I think it’s worth sharing this piece by (not LGBTQ) Sally and Dave McBride, parents of Sarah McBride, the first transgender person to address a major party’s political convention. President Trump’s ban on transgender service members “says to all who are parents of transgender children that our children don’t matter, that they don’t deserve to be treated with fairness and as equals,” they write.
Entertainment
- Cartoon Network show Steven Universe has always been pretty queer, but the latest story arc makes it “not just a metaphorically queer story,” but “re-positions all of Steven Universe as a metaphorically trans one,” writes Julie Muncy at io9.
- Disneyland Paris will become the first Disney theme park to host an official pride event (although Disneyland and Disney World in the U.S. have both been the site of unofficial LGBTQ gatherings). This June 1 in Paris, selected rides will be open from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. for “Magical Pride,” and there will be character meet-and-greets, musical performances, and a pride-themed “diversity parade.”
Hot Moves
- The Durham Children’s Aid Society in Ontario has launched an LGBT2SQ+ Initiative “to address the issues of over-representation of LGBT2SQ+ children and youth in the child welfare system” and “to inspire dialogue and encourage those who identify as LGBT2SQ+ and allies to get involved.”
- Kate Kendell, former executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights—and a lesbian mom—and Lee Schreter, co-chair of the Wage and Hour Practice Group at Littler Mendelson, are joining the OutWOMEN talent accelerator of Out Leadership, the global LGBT+ business network, as vice-chairs.
