In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic that is shaking our world, I spoke with several different LGBTQ families recently to see how they’re handling the crisis, what their challenges are, and where they’re finding strength.
Nina Willbach and her wife, a Philadelphia couple, have been trying to get pregnant since last June via assisted insemination. On March 13th, they were told that their most recent attempt didn’t work—and they couldn’t try again because COVID-19 had put a stop to “elective procedures” in Pennsylvania. “I know a lot of folks are going through much worse right now, but it feels like a big blow when every month counts and we’ve had this many no’s,” Willbach told me in an online message. They’re not the only ones to have family-making plans halted during the pandemic.
NASA Astronaut Anne McClain has spent 204 days in orbit, sharing tight quarters with other astronauts. In a recent post, she shared some tips for living in confined spaces—good advice right now as so many of us are holed up at home because of COVID-19.
Kids are full of questions. And with Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the news and impacting our lives via closures, cancellations, and shortages (and more rarely, by the disease itself), they’re bound to have questions about it, whether expressed or not. I’m not an expert on the disease or on child psychology, but I’ve rounded up some articles with information from those who are, so that we parents can educate ourselves and better support our children in age-appropriate ways. I’ve also included some resources aimed directly at young kids themselves.
The American Psychological Association (APA) on Monday issued updated resolutions in support of LGBTQ parents and LGBTQ children, and opposing laws, policies, and practices that discriminate against LGBTQ people.
Looking for LGBTQ-inclusive videos for kids on sexuality, gender, and different types of families? AMAZE has you covered—and they’ve recently added some great new ones.
It’s GLSEN’s annual No Name-Calling Week, a time dedicated to ending name-calling and bullying in schools. We parents, of course, can also have an impact on stopping such behaviors and supporting those who have been the subject of them. Here some LGBTQ-inclusive picture books that involve name calling and that may be useful for parents of young children to read and discuss with our kids.
Once again, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’m posting a revised list of resources for talking with kids about the holiday and about race and racism in general all year ’round. Here are some sites and articles I’ve found thought provoking, from a variety of perspectives.
Today is World AIDS Day, so I’m continuing my tradition of sharing stories and statistics about parents and children with HIV/AIDS. Even in the fourth decade of its existence, the disease continues to shatter lives and decimate communities.
Many of us have experienced them in our doctor’s office: a speculum is cold, awkward, and sometimes anxiety-producing and painful. A team of designers is working to improve both the speculum and the entire pelvic exam process, however, and to do so in a way inclusive of women, transgender men, and nonbinary patients who need them.
