Happy 10th Anniversary, No Name-Calling Week!
In addition to celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this week, it’s also a time to observe No Name-Calling Week, “one of the largest bullying-prevention initiatives in the country.”
Health and Safety
School Shooting in New Mexico: Questions Still Unanswered
Another school shooting. Another school shooting, this time in New Mexico, where an 12-year-old boy on Tuesday sawed off a shotgun and shot two classmates, ages 12 and 13, before being restrained by a teacher. The classmates are alive, but one is in critical condition. Right after the Sandy Hook shootings, I wrote about some of
Sandy Hook, One Year Later
I hugged my son today, thinking of those who have lost theirs. It’s been one year since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. One year — and yesterday, there was another, as a high school student in Colorado opened fire with a shotgun and incendiary devices and critically injured a fellow student.
Breastfeeding: One Lesbian Mom’s Experience
Whether you’ve breast fed, bottle fed, or adopted kids after they were weaned, you should go read “Failing at Feeding” over at Brain, Child. In it, writer Paige Schilt offers some excellent thoughts on maternal stereotypes and expectations, being the lone lesbian in a mothers’ support group, and the physical and emotional toll of having difficulties with breastfeeding.
World AIDS Day: Remembering the Children
Today is World AIDS Day. Since so many other LGBT sites are ably covering how HIV/AIDS impacts the LGBT community, I want instead to highlight once again some recent statistics about HIV/AIDS and children. There has been a drop in new infections over the last few years, but even so, the numbers are still sobering.
Stand Against Bullying on Spirit Day and Every Day
Today is Spirit Day, a time to take a stand against bullying and show support for LGBT youth. Not all LGBT youth are bullied, of course, and not all victims of bullies are LGBT — but anti-LGBT harassment is still pervasive, even if things are slowly getting better. GLAAD, which is organizing the event, is urging
Study: Parents’ Relationship More Important to Kids’ Development than Sexual Orientation
A second study published within the past week has concluded that how adoptive parents relate to each other is more important to their children’s development than their sexual orientation is.
World’s Largest Study of Children with Same-Sex Parents Finds They’re Doing Just Fine
The world’s largest study of children with same-sex parents, from the University of Melbourne in Australia, has released initial findings that show the children are doing just as well as any others—and better on some indicators. Before you dismiss this with an “I could have told them that,” read on for why this is important, and why we must use it with caution.
To End the Silence
Today marks the 16th annual Day of Silence, an event sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), where students from middle school to college take some form of a vow of silence to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. But a federal bill reintroduced yesterday that would prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination, harassment, bullying, and violence in public schools faces a tough road ahead.
Dr. Susan Love: Lesbian Mom, Cancer Researcher, Advocate, and Now Patient
Dr. Susan Love is one of the world’s foremost breast cancer researchers and a tireless advocate for finding both causes and cures for the disease. Now, however, this lesbian mom is also a cancer patient.