I was recently asked by a mainstream journalist: “Are you worried about providing male role models for your son?”
I answered, as I always do to the question, “No.” It’s not that I don’t want him to have male role models; it’s just that I’m not worried about it. I think that very often, when the media asks that question, they are ignoring the realities not only of same-sex and single parents’ lives, but also of children’s lives in general.
I keep seeing bumper stickers around town with slogans like, “Proud Parent of a Middle School Honor Student,” and “Proud Parent of a Soldier.” They remind me, in this season of LGBT Pride, of how often “pride” is associated with both LGBT identity and parenting. We LGBT parents have a lot of which we can be proud, in a lot of different ways.
There’s been a growing amount of coverage lately about parents supporting their gender variant and/or transgender children—most recently in a worthwhile New York Times article last week. Veronica Rhodes of Parent Dish, however, gives us a perspective seen even less often—that of a lesbian mom with a gender variant child. Rhodes explains the extra criticisms
In yesterday’s LGBT Parenting Roundup, I mentioned the two gay dads who had run into difficulties bringing their son, born in Ukraine to a surrogate, into Belgium to live with them. The boy has lived in an orphanage for over a year because of Belgian surrogacy laws that kept him from his fathers. Good news.
Here’s another must-read for your coffee break as you’re getting back to work after the holiday: Sarah Hoffman’s excellent piece for Salon, “My son, the pink boy,” in which she argues that her son is not “confused,” but Dr. Phil is. She concludes: As social acceptance of gay people grows, it’s time to look critically
Parenting magazine has a great article in this month’s issue titled, “Meet the Same-Sex Parents Next Door.” It’s very much in the category I call “Lesbian Parenting 101,” i.e., aimed at non-LGBT people who may not have met or thought about LGBT parents before. But consider the venue—a leading mainstream parenting magazine—and it’s a terrific
A few days ago, I mentioned the post over at Nerdy Apple Bottom about a mom’s support of her son when he wanted to dress up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween—and a few weeks ago, I posted about the mom who wrote My Princess Boy: A mom’s story about a young boy who
If you have any interest in gender variance, self-expression, taking no nonsense from bigots, or a mother’s love, go read “My son is gay,” by Cop’s Wife over at Nerdy Apple Bottom. It’s an amazing piece, and well worth your time.
By now, you would have to have been living on another planet not to know the story of Constance McMillen, whose Mississippi high school canceled its prom after she told officials she wanted to bring her girlfriend and wear a tux. What most news channels have missed, however, is that Constance’s mother is also a
The Church of Sweden consecrated its first openly gay bishop Sunday, making lesbian mom Eva Brunne Bishop of Stockholm. According to Agence France-Presse (via the Advocate), Brunne is in a civil partnership with a woman, and they have a three-year-old child. By pure coincidence, Helen and I spent Sunday assembling IKEA furniture for our son’s
