In honor of No Name-Calling Week, educational film company Groundspark is offering free streaming of its anti-bullying and anti-name-calling film Let’s Get Real. Aimed at students in grades five through nine, it is notable for not preaching at kids, but rather letting them speak in their own voices about race, sexual orientation (real and perceived), learning […]
The media has been full of stories about bullying and its damaging effects—but most stories have centered around middle-school and high-school students. Less has been said of bullying in elementary schools. A new study from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), however, shows that such bullying does exist—including bullying and teasing based on homophobia and gender-nonconformity. Those
Dr. Susan Love is something of a legend in the world of breast cancer research and advocacy. (She also happens to be a lesbian mom.) Her Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation launched the “Army of Women” in October 2008 with the goal of recruiting one million women of all ages and ethnicities, including those who have never
Cathy is a lesbian mom, a licensed social worker, and has a child on the autism spectrum. She also blogs about autism at Autism Home Rescue. She wrote to me asking if I could help connect her to other LGBT parents who have children on the autism spectrum, so consider it done. Go check out
My last name is the same as that of the famous reindeer. I also have red hair—which meant I was the target of quite a number of “Rudolph the Red-Haired Person” jabs when I was a kid. It wasn’t bullying, but it was annoying, until I learned to embrace the difference and just lord it
Today marks World AIDS Day. HIV/AIDS continues to impact many people we know and many communities of which we are part. Since so many other LGBT sites are ably covering how it impacts the LGBT community, I want to do what I have done in previous years, and highlight some recent statistics about HIV/AIDS and
“For American parents,” says the publisher’s blurb for Amy Schalet’s new book, Not Under My Roof: Parents, Teens, and the Culture of Sex, “teenage sex is something to be feared and forbidden: most would never consider allowing their children to have sex at home, and sex is a frequent source of family conflict.” Contrast this to
Like Steve Jobs, my father passed away recently because of complications after pancreatic cancer. If you want to learn more about this disease, I recommend checking out the Lustgarten Foundation, which is dedicated to its treatment, cure, and prevention. I’m also going to jump on the bandwagon and share the Steve Jobs video that is
(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column the first week of September.)
Hurricane Irene raged up the East Coast this past weekend, sending people scrambling to the stores for bottled water and canned tuna. Of course, hurricanes weren’t the only thing I prepared for this week. Back-to-school time is here, so I’ve been buying pencils and erasers alongside the flashlight batteries. And because I am an LGBT parent, I’ve also been thinking about the “emergency supplies” we should have as we navigate the sometimes-stormy weather of our educational system, in case our children encounter anti-LGBT prejudice, bullying, or simply exclusion.
Have you spoken with your kids about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan? We’ve touched on it with our seven-year-old, trying to provide some insight into the world beyond our borders—but also wondering whether too much detail will just scare him. So far, I think we’ve managed a balance, though we’ve avoided talking about nuclear
