Things keep happening even while I’m on a bit of a summer break, so here’s a roundup of some news items, family profiles, opinion pieces, and more that are worth a read.
Politics and Law
- Italy’s constitutional court has ruled that the nonbiological mother in a same-sex couple may take paternity leave, reports NBC News. The move comes two months after the court said both mothers in same-sex couples must be allowed on their children’s birth certificates and be recognized as legal parents—but the country still makes it a crime for Italian citizens to pursue surrogacy anywhere in the world, as Joseph Tito explains at LGBTQ Nation.
- A new Rwandan law excludes same-sex couples from surrogacy or in vitro fertilization (IVF), reports the Washington Blade. The country also does not allow same-sex couples to marry, although it does not criminalize such relationships.
- Chelsea Devona, a queer mom of triplets, writes at Today’s Parent about “How U.S. Anti-Trans Orders Could Affect All Families.”
- And yes, the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to consider a case to overturn marriage equality. While marriage rights and parental rights aren’t identical, they touch in ways that make this a matter that all LGBTQ parents should watch closely. I’ll have more in a separate piece; for now, I refer you to this Newsweek article, where several legal experts opine that they think it unlikely the court will take this case. Anything’s possible, though, so it’s best to be prepared.
Family Profiles
- At NPR, Morgan Lieberman shares images and text from her “Hidden Once, Hidden Twice,” a documentary photo and film project honoring the lives of senior lesbian partnerships across the U.S. Parents are unsurprisingly among them, including psychiatrist Nanette Gartrell, founder and principal researcher of the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, the longest-running study of any queer families (learn about the latest findings here), and spouse Dee Mosbacher, a psychiatrist and filmmaker.
- Bay News 9 profiles Luis Barnard and his husband Justin, two foster dads in Tampa, Florida, who are currently fostering three siblings whom they hope to adopt.
- Robin Lowey and her grown son Sam talk with KPIX/CBS News about what it was like for Sam growing up with two moms and what it feels like now, with LGBTQ rights under attack. “Being raised by queer moms was kind of my superpower in life,” Sam says.
- Cassidy Bailey writes at Diva Magazine about being a bisexual woman in a relationship with another woman and rethinking her earlier vision of what family creation would look like for her.
- Also at Diva, Nic Crosara writes about being a nonbinary dad in the U.K., asserting, “There’s no one way to be a non-binary and/or trans parent.” They also share how the recent U.K. Supreme Court ruling on gender will make it difficult for them and their partner, who is also gender fluid, to take their child to public restrooms. “The guidance says that not only should we not use the facilities associated with our gender, but also, in some circumstances, we’re not to use the ones associated with the sex we were assigned at birth,” they explain. “So, will she only be able to access these facilities safely with her grandparents? What if she witnesses one of us being confronted in the restrooms one day for the simple act of letting her go to the loo?” Add these to the reasons this ruling is horrible.
- “Three-parent families are more common than you think,” reports Molly Sprayregen of LGBTQ Nation in a piece that profiles asexual activist David Jay, but also weaves in information from various studies.
- Vanessa Ford writes powerfully at Katie Couric Media about “Raising a Trans Teen in Trump’s America — And Finding Hope.”
Research
The Pew Research Center has released a new report on marriage, finding that 59% of LGBTQ U.S. adults under 50 who have never married say they want to get married someday, with a similar share (63%) of non-LGBTQ adults in this age range saying the same. It also looked at the desire to have children, finding that LGBTQ adults are much more likely than non-LGBTQ adults to say they don’t want to have children (39% vs. 23%).
This breaks down by gender, with LGBTQ men and women equally likely to say they want children someday (36% and 37%)—while among non-LGBTQ adults, 54% of men say they want children, versus 39% of women.
The difference among non-LGBTQ adults “is largely driven by the preferences of non-LGBTQ Republican men,” with most (66%) saying they want children, versus only 42% of Republican women (42%). Among Democrats, 43% of men and 38% of women say they want children. I dunno; perhaps if our society stopped putting most of the burden of childcare on women (at least in different-sex relationships), and actually had sensible parental leave and childcare policies, more women might want to have kids (though of course, no one should feel pressured to do so).