If, like me, you’re planning for a big family gathering this week, here are some stories for when you need a break from cooking or while you’re sprawled on your sofa after the meal—including a bunch of podcast episodes by and about LGBTQ parents (and not really about turkey basters, despite what some might think)!
Things to Read
- Allison Hope at Parents writes about why even though she and her spouse are married, they did a second-parent adoption. At the same time, she points out, “the hurdles to secure second-parent adoption, such as time, effort, and sheer cost, limit who can access that path.”
- Self magazine asks, “How Do Bi Parents Come Out to Their Kids?” and turns to psychotherapist and bisexual parent Wendy C. Ortiz, along with a number of other bi parents, for their answers.
- When Guy Sadaka and Hai Aviv applied to the government for preschool tuition assistance for their two-year-old twins, the government employee tried to insist one of them must be listed as the mother, using the criteria of some very outdated gender roles. The incident highlights “the precarious position of LGBTQ parents in the Promised Land.”
- The Boston Globe gives us “A look at the most generous employee benefits out there today,” including ones for gender transition, adoption, surrogacy, and other fertility treatments.
- Nia Clark, an HRC Foundation All Children – All Families Trainer, writes about why “Adoption Is a Trans Issue.”
- Frank J. Bewkes at the Center for American Progress explains how the “marital presumption of parentage”—the legal idea that children born to a married couple are presumed to be products of that marriage, with both members of the couple recognized as parents—has been applied unequally to same-sex parents.
Things to Hear
- The new Pregnantish podcast spoke with Seth, a transgender man, about his experience using reciprocal IVF to start a family with his wife.
- The Rad Child podcast, hosted by a different Seth who is also a transgender man, speaks with co-founders of Shift Book Box, Rebecca Hachmyer and Chrystal Sunshine, to discuss their favorite books about invisible disabilities.
- In the latest episode of If These Ovaries Could Talk, hosts Robin and Jaimie discuss navigating the disconnect that can happen between partners after kids are in the picture.
- Family Equality’s Outspoken Voices podcast most recently featured a special live taping of Inside Out LGBT Radio, where activist, author, and trans-racially adopted queerspawn, Tony Hynes, hosted a discussion about trans-racial adoption, ethics, and adoptee experiences.
For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving, may you have a good holiday week! Posting will be light here for a few days as I spend time with my own family, but chances are you can still catch me on Facebook and Twitter.