One last roundup before 2022 winds to a close! Here are some of the stories of LGBTQ parents and our kids that I haven’t covered already.
Politics and Law
- The Respect for Marriage Act (RMA), which recently became law, provides important protections, but as I’ve said, is not enough to fully protect queer families. PBS News Hour shares the same assessment of the new law in its coverage, explaining how it helps and where it still comes up short.
- Chasten Buttigieg’s piece from just before the RMA’s passage, “What Marriage Means to Me” is still worth a read—a reflection on both marriage and parenting.
- D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is leading a coalition of attorneys general opposing Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay [or Trans]” law, reports the Washington Blade. He and the AGs of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a case against the law in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Division of Florida.
- Several British citizens born outside the U.K. who have same-sex, EU citizen spouses, have been told by the British Home Office that their children born abroad are not eligible for British citizenship, reports the Guardian. They share two examples, one of a case involving a baby born in Spain to parents of U.K. and Bulgarian citizenship, which I wrote about in a June roundup; the other involves a child born to parents of Greek and U.K. citizenship but born in Spain.
- An Italian court has ruled that a same-sex couple has the right not to be called “father” and “mother” in their children’s ID papers. Unfortunately, “It only applies to the specific case, not all same-sex couples,” reports Reuters.
Family Profiles
- PrideSource profiled Luke Londo, the first LGBTQ+ commissioner of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and a bi dad.
- LGBTQ Nation profiled teacher and mom Jere Chang of Georgia.
Books and Media
- It’s not news that this year has been full of attempts (some successful) at banning or censoring books and other educational material, often because of content with representation of LGBTQ people and those of other marginalized identities. PEN America has collected some of the most absurd examples.
- I hope you’ll also check out all of the wonderful books about LGBTQ families for children and parents that I’ve added to my Database of LGBTQ Family Books this year! Some are among the best I’ve read.