Watch: The Transgender Teen Champion Who Inspired a Marvel Comic
Could you use an uplifting video today? I sure could. Here’s Rebekah Bruesehoff, a 13-year-old transgender advocate and writer who inspired a Marvel comic.
Selves and Identities
Transgender Day of Remembrance 2019
Today marks the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, a time to honor the lives of those killed because of anti-transgender violence. I wish all of my trans friends and readers love and support on this day of mourning.
Post of the Week: “Butch Mama”
Let’s continue the conversation about gender and parental identity with a look at a recent piece by a butch mama about her princess-loving daughter. It also involves Boris Karloff, the actor who famously played Frankenstein’s monster, which seems appropriate given that Halloween is this week.
Gender Identity, Parental Identity, and the Parental Titles We Take
Last month, Freddy McConnell, a transgender man, lost a lawsuit in the U.K. to be legally named his child’s father. Because he gave birth, the judge said, his parental status is that of “mother.” The decision is wrong on many levels—and the case has made me think about the multifaceted interplay of parental identities and gender.
Rainbows Are Made of Visible Light: A Post for National Coming Out Day
Today is National Coming Out Day. This year, it falls just days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could deny employment protections to LGBTQ people and force many of us back into the closet in order to keep supporting our families. As many of us queer parents know from personal experience, coming out is not just a simple matter of finding the courage, but of balancing our needs and those of our children.
New Kids’ Card Deck Encourages “Playing with Pronouns”
A new educational card deck created by Pura Belpré Honor Award winner Maya Gonzalez and Matthew Smith-Gonzalez is designed to counter gender stereotypes and offer kids an opportunity for self expression—all through a variety of fun games!
LGBTQ Parenting Roundup: Longform Edition
This roundup is full of thoughtful, mostly longer pieces, including ones about being lesbian, bisexual, and nonbinary parents, and coming out after a heterosexual marriage and kids. Come have a read!
Mother’s Day as an Act of Resistance
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day can be fraught times for LGBTQ parents and our children, seemingly designed to underscore that our families are different. I try to see them, however, as opportunities to remind the world that queer families exist. By raising our voices on these days—or sometimes, simply being visible—we resist the attempts of those trying to ignore or eliminate us, and we welcome all who take on the mantle of parenthood.
Some Lesbian Mom History for Lesbian Visibility Day
It’s Lesbian Visibility Day, so here are a few tidbits of early visible lesbian mom history to honor those who went before us. (Plus a bonus photo of my own family being visible.)
Happy International Women’s Day
Happy International Women’s Day to all women! The official theme for the year is #BalanceforBetter—but given the expanding notions of gender today, balancing gender is a many-body problem.
