A Parade of Same-Sex Penguin Parents!
Same-sex penguin pairs raising chicks aren’t new—but another expectant couple made the headlines this week, so let’s take a look at just how many there are!
Raising
New LGBTQ School Climate Survey Shows Worrying Trends
The verbal harassment of LGBTQ students at school had been in decline for nearly a decade—but that decline has stalled, and the frequency of verbal harassment based on gender expression has actually increased in recent years, according to a new national survey from GLSEN.
Girl Learns to Understand Her Transgender Brother in New Picture Book
National Coming Out Day is this week, and I’m celebrating with reviews of several new LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books that are coming out! The first—part of a partnership to increase LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books—is about a girl learning to understand her transgender sibling.
LGBTQ Parenting Roundup
Here’s what’s happening that I haven’t covered in depth elsewhere. Pull up a cup of coffee, tea, or other beverage and read on!
How to Talk with Kids About Consent
The news this week has once again underscored the need to teach children at an early age about consent. Here are a few resources to help parents and teachers address the topic in age-appropriate ways.
Here’s What’s Missing from Discussion of Bert and Ernie’s Relationship
I’ve been writing about Sesame Street’s need for LGBTQ inclusion for well over a decade, and been a fan since it first aired in 1969, when I was two. I was disappointed, however, by producer Sesame Workshop’s denial this week of a romantic relationship between Bert and Ernie, not only because that would be awesome, but also because they missed an opportunity to highlight the existing (though limited) queer inclusion on the show and to commit to more.
Ellen Gives $25K to Guidance Counselor and Mom Placed on Leave for Same-Sex Marriage
Ellen DeGeneres and her sponsor, Shutterfly, have given $25,000 to a fund set up by students at a Catholic school in support of their former guidance counselor, who was placed on leave from her job for being married to another woman.
In the Face of Disaster: Helping Children Cope
A hurricane bearing down on the Carolinas. Wildfires in California. A typhoon in the Phillipines. A gas line fault causing multiple explosions and fires in residential areas near me in Massachusetts. All this in the week of 9/11. Disasters are much on my mind, so here are a few resources to help us parents help our kids prepare for them and cope during and after—including one resource that’s unabashedly queer.
National Guard Center Named for Lesbian Soldier Killed in Afghanistan
Six years ago, Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson was killed in Afghanistan and her wife had to fight for survivor benefits. Now, the National Guard is naming a readiness center in her honor.
Mombian Cooks: My Best Challah Recipe
If I didn’t have a parenting blog, I’d probably have a food blog. Herewith, my go-to recipe for challah, the Jewish bread that is a staple on many a Shabbat (Sabbath) table and during the High Holy Days, which start this week. It’s also just a darn tasty bread, enriched with eggs and honey, that makes the world’s best French toast.