Have a read of some stories for and about LGBTQ parents and our kids that I haven’t covered elsewhere, including ones about sports stars, securing your family’s legal ties, talking with kids about anti-LGBTQ bias, and more!
Family Stories
- U.S. Women’s National Team and Gotham FC soccer stars Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger have adopted their first son, who will be a sibling to the daughter they adopted last year. They now have two children under two years old—it’s a good thing they train for endurance! Best wishes to the whole family.
- Australian rugby player Ellia Green isn’t the only queer parent whose kids were an inspiration to come out. WNBA star Candace Parker told TIME that her daughter was the inspiration for her to do the same: “I always tell my daughter to be proud of who she is. And I always tell my daughter to speak for herself and speak up for those that she loves. And I can’t say that to her if I’m not doing it myself.”
- Michelle Tea, who just wrote an excellent memoir about her path to parenthood via reciprocal IVF, writes at The Cut about securing her child’s legal ties to both of his parents. It’s a cautionary tale about the hoops we queer parents still have to go through. (Here’s my own far less entertaining but perhaps still informative tale of parenthood via RIVF and the requisite legal hoops.)
- On a feathery note, two flamingo dads have hatched an egg together at the U.K.’s ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, after it was abandoned by biological parents.
Helpful Tips
- Lori Fox writes at Xtra about the interactions between hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and birth control for trans and nonbinary people, whether you are trying to get pregnant or trying to avoid it.
- Laura Leigh Abby writes at The Cut, about explaining anti-LGBTQ bias to her kids, in “How Do I Tell My Kids Our Family Has a Target on Our Backs?” (If you’re interested in the topic, see also this information from Family Equality.)
Politics
- Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY) introduced the LGBTQI+ and Women’s History Education Act, which would “authorize the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to develop and disseminate resources for classrooms to teach LGBTQI+ and women’s history education in an inclusive and intersectional manner.”
- After a transgender woman had two children born via sperm that she preserved before her transition, a Japanese court said that only the one born before her legal gender change would be recognized as her legal child, while the one born after would not.
Studies to Help With
- The LGBTQ+ Families and Schools Study, from GLSEN, Family Equality, and COLAGE (Parents with children in school, as well as middle and high school students over 13 years old, may take this survey.)
- Birth Includes Us: Understanding Queer and Trans families’ experiences of pregnancy care, from a study team at the University of Washington.