Let’s roll into February with a roundup of LGBTQ parenting news that I haven’t covered elsewhere!
Family Profiles
- Heather Langley and Priscilla Rodriguez were already moms to a 3-year-old when they welcomed quintuplets—only the second set recorded of all-girl quintuplets in the U.S., reports Metro.
- The Washington Post has a long profile of star attorney and lesbian mom Roberta Kaplan, who argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Windsor, the 2013 case that struck down key parts of the Defense of Marriage Act. Kaplan is now leading three lawsuits against Donald Trump.
- Singer Brandi Carlisle wrote a long piece for Parents about raising two kids with her wife and how we queer parents have to pave our own way. She offers this advice: “This is my wish for LGBTQ+ families who are treading out on the ice: Keep on moving the world forward and being honest about your family and your experience. Be clear and vocal about the importance of cultural representation.”
- Karine Jean-Pierre, Joe Biden’s deputy press secretary and a lesbian mom, is already busy at the White House, attending a Biden Climate Plan Briefing, among other things.
- Beth Ford, CEO of Land O’ Lakes agricultural cooperative and the first queer woman to lead a Fortune 500 Company, was profiled by Yahoo Finance UK about her and her company’s work on diversity and inclusion. While she doesn’t talk about parenting in this piece, she and her spouse have three children.
Politics and Law
- Latvia has amended its constitution with a section that defines marriage as between a man and a woman and states that the state protects and supports “the rights of parents and a child, including the right to grow up in a family based on a mother (woman) and father (man),” reports PinkNews. In this they follow Hungary, which passed similar legislation last year. Unsurprisingly, there are some people in both Latvia and Hungary who are upset over children’s books depicting LGBTQ characters. Hungary’s government is even making one publisher print disclaimers on books that contain “behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles,” reports the Guardian.
- On a similar note, South Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is proposing changes that would recognize legal parenthood for single parents and unmarried, cohabitating parents—the latter only if they are different-sex couples, reports Voice of America.