Why I’m Writing a Blog for Choice
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which also makes it the annual Blog for Choice day. The organizers have asked us to share our stories about why we are pro-choice. Here’s mine.
Health and Safety
Happy No Name-Calling Week!
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day—but it also kicks off No Name-Calling Week, “an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.”
We Must Not Forget: A Guest Post from My Mom
Yesterday, I posted my column about the December 14th school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Today, I’m honored to bring you a guest post from my own mother, who had her own thoughts and offered to share them here. Some of our thoughts (not surprisingly) overlap, but she adds her own perspective as a mental health professional.
Thanks, Mom!
In the Wake of Tragedy
(I wrote this for my newspaper column the day of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. I hope 2013 is the year we as a country begin to take serious steps to ensure such tragedies never happen again.)
This was going to be a very different column. Then 20 children died in Connecticut.
World AIDS Day: Remembering the Children
Today is World AIDS Day once again—and while Secretary of State Hilary Clinton may have a vision for an “AIDS-free generation,” HIV/AIDS continues to devastate lives and communities around the world. Since so many other LGBT sites are ably covering how it impacts the LGBT community, I want to instead once again highlight some recent statistics about HIV/AIDS and children.
Facing the Storm as an LGBT Family
Here’s wishing safety to family and home for any of you in the path of Hurricane Sandy. We’re bracing for it here in Massachusetts—but I think those of you farther south will bear the brunt. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has produced a suggested Basic Disaster Supplies Kit that all families should keep on hand. LGBT families, however, should pay special attention to one item on the list.
It’s Spirit Day! Speak Out Against Bullying
Today is Spirit Day, an observance begun in 2010 in response to the increasing number of young people known to have died by suicide after relentless bullying. Much of the focus is on harassment and bullying of LGBT youth (or those perceived to be), and rightly so—but let’s not forget that children of LGBT parents, regardless of whether they are LGBT themselves, may also be targets.
Hospital Denies Rights to Lesbian Couple with Pregnancy Complications
Spring Valley Hospital in Clark County, Nevada, has denied a lesbian the right to make medical decisions for her pregnant domestic partner. When Brittney Leon and Terri-Ann Simonelli went to the hospital in July after Leon began experiencing complications with her pregnancy, an admissions officer told them that Simonelli could not make medical decisions for Leon without a power of attorney—despite the fact that they are legal domestic partners in the state, which should give them the same rights as married couples to make medical decisions for each other. Leon ended up losing the pregnancy.
Happy 40th Birthday, PFLAG!
A very happy 40th birthday to PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)—the nation’s largest grassroots-based non-profit for families, friends, and straight allies of LGBT people. Not everyone is pleased to hit middle age, but I have to imagine the folks at PFLAG are pretty excited.
Children’s Health Care Facilities Named “Leaders in LGBT Healthcare Equality”
Several children’s health care facilities, including one of the top children’s hospitals in the country, were named “Leaders in LGBT Healthcare Equality” in HRC’s 2012 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI).