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
(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column.) For same-sex couples wanting to have children, knowing where to begin can make a big difference. For couples starting their families through biological means, one new resource is the Family Building Options Web site, part of the Fertility Lifelines educational program created by pharmaceutical company EMD Serono. Despite
If you don’t watch Glee regularly, or missed it last Tuesday, get thee to the Fox Web site and watch it. Not only were there two—count ’em, two—queer storylines, but they were handled with a sensitivity and honesty that puts most other shows to shame. (If you don’t believe me, go read Dorothy Snarker’s perspective
Maybe it’s the fact that my last name is the same as the famous reindeer, but I couldn’t help writing a little piece over at Change.org on what Rudolph might say as part of the It Gets Better campaign in support of LGBT youth. Hope you’ll go have a read. And who here also thinks
It may seem obvious to many of us: LGBT youth whose families are accepting of their LGBT identities are more likely to become happy, healthy adults, and less likely to have depression, suicide risk, substance abuse, and similar problems. But Dr. Caitlin Ryan of the Marian Wright Edelman Institute at San Francisco State University, in
Today marks World AIDS Day. AIDS continues to impact many people we know and many communities of which we are part. Since this is a parenting blog, however, I want to do what I have done in previous years, and highlight some recent statistics about AIDS and children. The numbers, of course, don’t capture the
New results from the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running and largest study of American lesbian families, has found that the among the 78 17-year-old children of lesbian mothers in the study, none report having ever been physically or sexually abused by a parent or other caregiver. This contrasts with 26% of American adolescents who report parent or caregiver physical abuse and 8.3% who report sexual abuse.
(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column, October 13, 2010.) Children in the LGBTQ community are dying. As LGBTQ parents, we need to be on the front lines working to help them. We’ve all heard by now of the string of suicides by youth bullied because they were LGBTQ or perceived to be. Children of
