Today is World AIDS Day, and even while another pandemic takes the headlines, HIV/AIDS continues to shatter lives, families, and communities. I’m therefore continuing my tradition of sharing stories and statistics about parents and children with HIV/AIDS.
One of the few bright spots of 2020 was the number of new LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books. Here’s my annual list of picture books and a few select middle grade titles that caught my eye, plus queer-inclusive kids’ music albums—and some titles for and about us LGBTQ parents.
As Thanksgiving approaches this year, I am thankful for many things—and not only that I’ve finally learned to make a decent pie crust.
There’s been a veritable explosion of children’s books with transgender characters in 2020, so here’s a roundup of them (and one music album!) for Transgender Awareness Month. They’re great at any time of the year!
Today marks the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to honor the lives of those who died because of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. I wish all of my transgender friends and readers love and support on this day of mourning.
Happy November 18th! Today is the anniversary of the historic 2003 ruling that made Massachusetts the first U.S. state to allow same-sex couples to marry. It also marks the 2003 repeal of the U.K.’s anti-LGBTQ Section 28 law. Additionally, it’s the “Massaversary” of when my spouse and I legally wed (though we celebrate our true anniversary in April).
A big thanks to all veterans for your service and the sacrifices you and your families have had to make. For Veteran’s Day and any day, here are some ways the rest of us can support veterans, LGBTQ and not. (Me? I’m making my veteran spouse an especially nice dinner tonight.)
A new film on the life of the 75-year-old transgender activist Mama Gloria (Gloria Allen) is “the story of a mother’s love—the love that Gloria’s mother had for her and the love that Gloria has for her chosen children. And it is fueled by the love that filmmaker Luchina Fisher has for her teenage transgender daughter, Gia.”
A new documentary profiles comedian and parent Julia Scotti, who has performed in clubs and theaters throughout the U.S. and Canada since 1980. After a ten-year hiatus and a transition to her true self as a transgender woman, she came back to her career in 2011 with more shows, a CD, an appearance on “America’s Got Talent,” and a reconciliation with the children from whom she’d become estranged.
GLAAD’s annual Spirit Day today is a time to speak out against anti-LGBTQ bullying and stand with LGBTQ youth. That’s a tough mandate at a time when our country is led by someone for whom bullying and name-calling is a way of life, but it’s also all the more reason to focus our attention on the problem.
