Politics and Law The Massachusetts legislature held a hearing on an anti-bullying bill that would include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories. Sirdeaner Walker of Springfield, Mass., whose 11-year-old son, Carl J. Walker-Hoover, committed suicide in April after being subject to extensive anti-gay taunts, was among those who spoke at the hearing. Lawyer […]
Schools and Youth Yes, Iowa has marriage equality. They even have a safe schools law that requires inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s Civil Rights Act and anti-bullying policies. Still, the Iowa Pride Network, in its 2009 School Climate Survey, found that more than half of the students surveyed (LGBT and
Let’s start with a funny: When I first saw the Advocate headline, “Lesbian Named Part Owner of Cubs,” my first thought was, “And I thought it was hard enough for lesbians to adopt human babies.” Politics and Law Lisa Neff’s piece at 365gay.com gives a touching example of how HUD’s proposed new anti-discrimination policies would
Personal Stories Some of you may know Brett Berk, aka The Gay Uncle, from his blog, his book, The Gay Uncle’s Guide to Parenting, his pieces at Momlogic, or even Stick Shift, his Vanity Fair gay car blog. The guy gets around. Seems like he’s not the only one in his family to be in
I’m breaking away from the bullet points for this roundup, and going for the “connected by vague trains of thought” approach. [Updated 8:30 p.m. Added an article by Jessica Cerretani that I’d missed earlier because the Boston Globe screwed up our delivery last Sunday.] Let’s start with the best news: U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)
Just Awesome The Harry Potter Alliance, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit “dedicated to bringing the themes of Harry Potter into the real world” announced a grassroots effort to help defeat Ref. 1 and support marriage equality in Maine. As Jeremy at Good As You said, Dumbledore would be proud. Youth and Schools Fifty-three Republicans have signed a
I’ve already written about the great news from Montana this week. Here’s what else is happening. (There’s not a whole lot, but since my last roundup was rather massive, I thought I’d keep this one light). Parenting Advice New England LGBT newspaper Bay Windows (for which I am a contributing writer) just published its Fall
It’s a big roundup this week, so grab some coffee: Personal Stories The U.K.’s Mirror brings us the story of Emma and Laura Flanagan, who used the same known donor to get pregnant five months apart, and plan for their children to know the man as their father, though not a legal one. It’s pretty
Time for another roundup. Yee hah! Youth and Schools Kevin Jennings, assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools in the U.S. Department of Education, and founder of GLSEN, is speaking out about the beating of a high school student in Belleville, Illinois and the inaction (or cheering encouragement) of bystanders. Meanwhile,
Politics and Law Uruguay’s Senate approved a bill to allow same-sex couples and unmarried opposite-sex ones to adopt children. It now goes to President Tabare Vazquez, who is expected to approve. Uruguay would then become the first Latin American country to permit same-sex couples to adopt. In other happy news, same-sex female couples in the
