New Zealand welcomed marriage equality this week, and moms Lynley Bendall and Ally Wanikau were among the first to wed. They did so in style — at 30,000 feet on a special Air New Zealand flight, after winning a contest held by the airline. Watch a video of their wedding, along with the charming video of their kids that won them the contest in the first place.
“Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet” goes the old ad jingle. I therefore felt rather all-American on a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest to test drive the Chevy Volt as part of the iconic brand’s outreach to the LGBT community.
I wrote yesterday about a journalist and lesbian mom in Russia who is leaving the country because she fears the new anti-gay laws that could take her children away from her. She’s not the only one. Here are more stories of gay and lesbian parents and their struggles under the new laws.
Russian American journalist and lesbian mom Masha Gessen is leaving her Russian home for the U.S., she told the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper. She fears the harsh new laws against “homosexual propaganda” put her family at risk, especially given her activism and visibility.
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued new guidance that confirms married same-sex couples are now eligible for the same leave as married different-sex couples under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). That’s one of the very concrete Good Things to happen since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on DOMA — although I’d argue that all committed couples should be eligible, married or not. Unmarried same-sex parents should note, however, that they still have some rights under FMLA.
A few items I haven’t posted about previously, including a couple of family profiles, some good national and international news brought to you by the letter “A,” and Xena.
Two professors at the University of Oregon are conducting a new study about LGBT parents and how we “navigate legal and social hurdles” on behalf of our kids. They’re looking for LGBT parents to interview (anonymously) — I hope you’ll consider helping them out.
Betty Crocker sits right up there with television’s June Cleaver as one of the icons of homemaking. How delightful, then, that General Mills, which owns the Betty Crocker brand, will be donating cakes to the first three same-sex couples to marry in Minnesota when it becomes legal to do so this Thursday — and that the brand is taking other steps to include same-sex couples in its marketing.
More stories I haven’t covered earlier, including a terrific piece by the mother of a sperm donor; a newly out lesbian mom with a major university sports program; and yet more research showing sexual orientation of parents doesn’t negatively impact children.
On Friday, I mentioned Britney Simpson, one half of the 2013 U.S. Junior Pairs Champion figure skating team, who has two moms. I said it would be great to see both her and her skating partner’s parents in the audience if the pair makes the 2014 Winter Olympics—but forgot that the Games will be held in Russia. Russia’s increasingly harsh anti-gay laws cast Simpson’s moms’ attendance in a very different light.
