LGBTQ Parenting Roundup

It’s time for another roundup! Here’s what’s happening that I haven’t yet covered during this shortest of months.

“I am a queer woman, raised by lesbians, raising my daughter with my butch partner,” writes Vanessa Martir in the Washington Post. As should be obvious, while queer parents don’t make queer children, some have them anyway. I encourage you to go read her lovely piece on love and representation.
Amal Awad became chief of police in Hyattsville, Maryland—the first black, female, and openly LGBTQ person to hold the position. The 27-year veteran of the department was sworn in last December with her wife and their daughter standing at her side, reports the Washington Blade.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and her partner Milica Djurdjic have welcomed a baby.
Brianna Sharpe at HuffPost Canada spoke with me about my long-running spreadsheet of LGBTQ parental names for a piece on “Why Some Parents Pick Alternative Parenting Titles Beyond ‘Mom’ And ‘Dad.’“

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) reintroduced the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act, which would guarantee that employees have access to 12 weeks of partial income when taking medical and family leave and is inclusive of same-sex couples and their children. Here’s what Ellen Kahn, director of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Children, Youth, and Families Program, has to say about it.
The Virginia General Assembly has passed an update to its surrogacy laws that will now give “same-sex couples and intended single parents the same rights as heterosexual couples wishing to start or grow their family through surrogacy,” reports the Augusta Free Press. The legislation, known as Jacob’s Law, is named after the son of two dads who had to fight for their rights to him after he was born with the help of a surrogate. A Virginia court refused to recognize their Wisconsin surrogate contract, precipitating a long legal battle.

Tyler Curry wrote recently at Plus about living with HIV and starting the process of adopting a child.
New York-based non-profit Men Having Babies, a New York-based nonprofit dedicated to offering advice and support to LGBTQ people who want to become parents via surrogacy, will host its first event in Asia next month with a conference in Taipei, Taiwan.

Even when characters aren’t explicitly LGBTQ, many classic children’s books have very gay undertones, writes Jesse Green at the New York Times in a fascinating and thoughtful piece.
Gay television and radio personality Andy Cohen welcomed his first child.
ABC’s award-winning comedy Modern Family, which includes two gay dads and their daughter in its ensemble cast, will end after its 11th season.