Following the speech Tuesday night by gay dad and Colorado Rep. Jared Polis at the Democratic National Convention, Zach Wahls, the former University of Iowa student whose speech about marriage equality to the state House went viral—twice—on YouTube, spoke to the Convention on Thursday, quipping, “People want to know what it’s like having lesbian parents. I’ll let you in on a secret: I’m awesome at putting the seat down.”
The gay dad in question is, of course, Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colo.), who told the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night: “My great-grandparents were immigrants. I am Jewish. I am gay. I am a father. I am a son. I am an entrepreneur. I am a congressman from Colorado. I am always an optimist. But first and foremost, I am an American.”
The California legislature advanced two bills recently that would provide greater protection and equality to lesbian families and others that don’t fit the “mom-dad-kids” mold.
Tired of the the Republicans’ anti-LGBT and anti-women platform? The Family Equality Council (FEC) has an alternative. The organization yesterday released its Family Platform, calling for “the full inclusion of all families, including families headed by LGBT people and same-sex couples, in the life of our nation.”
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” may be gone, but the inequalities linger for married and partnered servicemembers, including those with children. Several of these families are telling their stories through letters they have written to Congress, as part of a new campaign from the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe.
Spring Valley Hospital in Clark County, Nevada, has denied a lesbian the right to make medical decisions for her pregnant domestic partner. When Brittney Leon and Terri-Ann Simonelli went to the hospital in July after Leon began experiencing complications with her pregnancy, an admissions officer told them that Simonelli could not make medical decisions for Leon without a power of attorney—despite the fact that they are legal domestic partners in the state, which should give them the same rights as married couples to make medical decisions for each other. Leon ended up losing the pregnancy.
Quick: Name all of the Latin American countries that allow same-sex couples to adopt. Can’t do it? Neither could I, before I read this Washington Post article (Answer: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Uruguay.) WaPo centers the article around the story of Columbian lesbian moms Ana Leiderman and Veronica Botero, who have brought a lawsuit arguing for Botero’s rights as a nonbiological mother.
I was sickened by the news of the shooting this past weekend at a Sikh temple, or gurdwara, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Few things scare me more than random shootings that occur in what are supposed to be places of safety, such as schools and houses of worship. There is little that can help us make sense of what are senseless acts—but one article that has helped me think about how to move forward is “Today, we are all American Sikhs” by Valarie Kaur at CNN.
A few articles for your reading pleasure this week, including two at the end that remind us how not to behave as lesbian moms.
In my post yesterday about the new Amtrak ads, I mentioned that it was good to see same-sex parents of color in the media. In discussing the ads with a friend and educator who is Black and a lesbian, however, I came to realize my White perspective was only giving me part of the story.
