You’ve heard of Thomas Edison—but have you heard of Margaret Knight? She was a contemporary of Edison and the holder of at least two dozen U.S. patents. (Some sources say nearly 90, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says 26, and I take them for the authority.) She created her first invention, a safety mechanism for mechanical looms, when she was only 12.
I’m starting a new feature here at Mombian, highlighting some of the posts from independent parenting bloggers that have especially caught my eye. I’ll keep the more “newsy” items in my LGBT Parenting Roundups—what I want to feature here are more personal posts about our lives as parents and LGBT people.
Last night’s Glee dealt with a tough and timely topic, bullying-related suicide. Even if its treatment felt somewhat superficial and hurried, it will have served its purpose if it helps save even one life. As a lesbian mom, too, I found it particularly interesting that when Kurt (Chris Colfer) is helping Karofsky (Max Adler) imagine a future to live for, he asks him think about having a son and taking him to his first football game. Karofsky’s face lights up at the thought. Fictional though the scene is, it reflects the truth that LGBT young people today can envision a future that includes children.
I spent President’s Day weekend with my family in a most appropriate place: Washington, D.C. I’m still catching up on laundry and such, so for today, please enjoy an image from our visit to the National Museum of American History. The museum, part of the Smithsonian, is now the repository for the papers and materials of LGBT equality pioneer Frank Kameny, as explained in a museum blog post last October.
Children’s books with gender nonconforming/transgender protagonists are rare, but over the past year or so there have been some encouraging signs of progress.
Most LGBT parents, I suspect, wonder what will happen the first (or the second, or the tenth…) time their children get asked questions about their family, such as, “How can you have two moms [two dads]?” I wrote about my own experience with this a few years back—and yesterday, Mom1 over at 2 Moms 2 Boys wrote about hers.
This was soon followed on my Twitter feed by Els Kushner noting her kids’ snappy response, “Well, why do you have a mom & a dad?” and MommieV saying, “Would love to see how single/choice moms handle similar.”
So have at, folks. I know many of you have similar stories and questions, and I hope you’ll share in the comments. (You can just leave a link to your blog if you’ve written about it before.)
Need to find a health insurance plan that offers coverage for same-sex partners? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that the Health Plan Finder tool on HealthCare.gov now allows consumers to filter for plans that offer such coverage. Consumers can also compare the cost sharing and benefit choices of the plans.
As Kellan Baker of the Center for American Progress notes at the Health Insurance Resource Center, however, there is still room for improvement.
Yet another in my occasional but ongoing series on why I love IKEA. This adorable carrot family shows that what matters is love and happiness. The gender of the parents doesn’t matter–or can be imagined to be whatever the child wants them to be.
Black LGBT families are an unfortunate rarity in the media, but the Washington Post this week showcased not one, but two, black lesbian couples with kids. Taken together, the stories show that just maybe, we are moving towards several different types of acceptance in this country.
Since the blogosphere has been abuzz with news about breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure pulling funds from Planned Parenthood, I thought I’d post the slightly revised version of an interview I did several years ago with Dr. Susan Love.
