What do you get when you take two moms and five kids of assorted race and ethnicity, place in a home, sprinkle the neighborhood with other parental figures, and stir well? The answer is ABC Family’s The Fosters, which finished its second season in August. It remains not just a show about a lesbian-headed family, but one of the most thoughtful family shows on television. Here are some of the things I liked best about this season.
Madame Martine is the latest picture book from Sarah Brannen, the author and illustrator whose gay-inclusive children’s book Uncle Bobby’s Wedding sits on many of our shelves. It doesn’t have any explicitly LGBTQ characters this time, but it’s a charming tale and I’m happy to support an LGBTQ-inclusive author even on other projects, especially when they’re as charming as this one.
Last January, I wrote about the pilot for Transparent, a half-hour drama that centers around a transgender parent who is just beginning to transition. Amazon Studios had promised to use viewer feedback to determine whether to produce the full series — and I’m happy to say the results were favorable. Watch the trailer after the jump.
Like many writers, I love word games, and am eager to get a copy of the just-published fifth edition of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, which includes more than 5000 new words. One of the new entries is the Yiddish word “schmutz” — and for those of you unclear on its meaning (hint: it’s not the same as schmuck), Judy Gold, a “comedian, actress, writer, and Jewish mother” (also a lesbian mom) is here to help you out.
The Fosters, ABC Family’s lesbian mom drama, airs its second season finale tonight. I hope you’ll join me (and many others) tonight at 9 p.m. ET to watch the show and tweet along using #TheFosters and #gaydybunch. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m a big fan — how are the rest of you enjoying it? Any wishes or predictions for the finale and/or Season Three? (After the jump, catch a sneak peek of the Adams Fosters sitting down for family dinner in tonight’s episode.)
Among the little-known deeds of comedian Robin Williams, mourned by many of us this week, is that he helped launch a groundbreaking children’s film that included same-sex parents.
What do you do if you’re sure a gremlin is sneaking into your house at night, but your moms don’t believe you? That’s the dilemma for a girl named Emlyn, star of Emlyn and the Gremlin, a fanciful new picture book in which the fact of her two moms is merely incidental to the tale.
Most of you likely know the story of Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student brutally murdered in 1998 for being gay. Cathy Renna was working for GLAAD at the time, and was asked by the LGBT student group at the University to help manage the overwhelming media attention in the wake of the attack. She recently gave a TEDx talk on her experience, the impact of Matthew’s death, and the power of stories.
I wrote recently about a new Kickstarter campaign by Flamingo Rampant, which will launch a book club for new LGBTQ and two-spirit picture books, committed to making half of them by and about people of color. I was happy to see the project mentioned at Slate — but the article incorrectly says that the last children’s book featuring same-sex parents who are not White was Asha’s Mums, published in 1990. That’s not true. Although the number is small, and we desperately need more, there have been a few.
Today is the birthday of both Harry Potter and his creator, author J.K. Rowling. I’m an unashamed Potterhead, for many reasons, and was thrilled to see results of a new academic study indicating that reading the Harry Potter series can help reduce prejudices.
