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.
My 10-year-old son throws around the word “epic” on a daily basis. His newest Pokémon card? Epic. His latest zombie-defeating battle in Minecraft, his favorite online game? Epic. The word seemed in danger of losing its original clout—and then the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). That, I told him, was epic.
Britney Simpson, one half of the 2013 U.S. Junior Pairs Champion figure skating team, has two moms—whose dedication to their daughter’s sporting career is pretty amazing.
Like many, I am deeply saddened and disturbed by the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. My wish now, in the aftermath of the verdict, is that we as a country use this as an opportunity to build bridges, not barriers.
Marriage equality isn’t the only area where moms have been in the news this week pushing for LGBT equality. Two Ohio mothers with LGBT children are leading a campaign asking parents and relatives of LGBT people to encourage their senators to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
The past couple of weeks have seen a new round of progress in several marriage-equality lawsuits—and just as with the cases that brought down the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, lesbian moms are again in the forefront, along with a number of gay dads. Two of the cases (in Michigan and North Carolina) even began as challenges to state bans on second-parent adoptions, and later evolved into marriage-ban challenges as well.
Lots of good stuff lately that I haven’t covered elsewhere, starting with a few pieces from the perspective of adults with gay and/or lesbian parents.
I wrote this for my Mombian newspaper column the week before the Supreme Court ruled on DOMA and Prop 8. I think the sentiments still hold, and are a good way to close out what may have been the most exciting Pride Month ever.
As we head into the end of a milestone week for LGBT equality, please enjoy this short video of three California same-sex families, including two dads (with their daughter) and two moms, talking about what this week’s Supreme Court rulings on marriage mean to them.
As we all ride the waves of elation and joy from yesterday’s marriage equality victories, we lesbian moms can take extra pride in knowing that several of our own were among those leading the way.
