A lesbian teacher at an all-girls Catholic school in Michigan says she was fired because her pregnancy is “nontraditional.” Thousands have rallied to her cause — but she is not the only lesbian teacher to be fired recently by the Catholic Church over a pregnancy. Funny for a church founded on a nontraditional pregnancy.
Once again, it’s 9/11. Somehow, the observance seems dampened this year, with yet another spin around the sun between us and the tragedy. Yet the currents that led to the event still swirl through our world. I’ve written in past years about working next door to the World Trade Center until two business days before the tragedy. This year, I turn to others’ words — words of poets.
Sometimes, the world renews my faith in it. Back in July, I wrote about the First Church Congregational in Rochester, New Hampshire, which had two Pride flags stolen within a week. Here’s what happened when the pastor then asked people to send in rainbow flags to cover the building.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that same-sex couples in Wisconsin and Indiana have the right to marry. My spouse and I met in Wisconsin (although we don’t live there anymore), so I’m especially pleased by this win. Making it even better was reading the ruling of Judge Richard Posner, who had grilled marriage equality opponents mercilessly during the hearing. Read on for highlights of his delightfully snarky decision.
As a general rule of life, I try not to gloat. But yesterday’s arguments in the federal marriage equality case in Indiana and Wisconsin were so overwhelmingly on the side of same-sex couples and our children that I can’t help but feel a little smug. One judge was particularly scathing in his questions to marriage equality opponents.
Two Virginia women who want to be moms are practicing by being awesome aunts. Why aren’t they taking steps to become parents? They’re waiting until both can be legal mothers to their child in their state. The U.S. Supreme Court is (so far) not helping.
Many of us who have any sense of social justice — nay, of humanity — are angry, outraged, and saddened by the shooting death of Michael Brown, a Black teenager in Missouri. I find myself once again scared for my son’s friends who are Black. I find myself hoping I can raise my son, who is White, to be a strong ally and help continue to erase the racism in our world. I hope I can be a good role model in that regard.
A miscellany of LGBT parenting news, from the personal to the political, that I haven’t covered elsewhere.
Most of you likely know the story of Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student brutally murdered in 1998 for being gay. Cathy Renna was working for GLAAD at the time, and was asked by the LGBT student group at the University to help manage the overwhelming media attention in the wake of the attack. She recently gave a TEDx talk on her experience, the impact of Matthew’s death, and the power of stories.
It’s a big day for marriage equality cases as the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals hears arguments in five cases covering the constitutionality of bans on marriage for same-sex couples in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee. Approximately 18,300 children of same-sex couples and nearly 52,400 same-sex couples could be impacted by the outcome, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute.
