Here’s a little piece of advice for families living in Washington, D.C.: The city recently passed laws recognizing same-sex couples who were married or legally partnered in a “substantially similar” way outside the District. HRC warns people, though that if you are already hitched and want to cover your spouse or partner through your employer’s […]
Ever watch an NBA game? In many arenas, there’s a “KissCam” that puts images of couples in the audience on the overhead Jumbotron screen, so the rest of the audience can encourage them to kiss. It’s silly but harmless. Go to a WNBA Washington Mystic’s game, however, and you won’t find a KissCam, even though
My friend Prof. Moss at The Two Body Solution, a blog about gender and popular culture, raises an interesting question: Now that politicians’ affairs have cheapened marriage and various mainstream media channels have effectively declared American marriage dead, are people more willing to open it up to same-sex couples? “Just like the country had to
In early June, the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Kathryn Kutil and Cheryl Hess, a lesbian couple who have been fostering an 18-month-old girl since shortly after she was born, can maintain custody and not turn the child over to an opposite-sex couple for adoption, as ordered by a lower court. Here’s my
Confused by the bevy of marriage-related lawsuits now in play? Lisa Keen at Bay Windows breaks it all down in a multi-part series. (Parts I and II are out; Part III will be next week.) Chris Geidner does a similar breakdown for federal hate crimes legislation. Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed the Defense Department authorization
Children and Gender Brett Berk rightly shreds the conclusions of a recent study on children and gender roles. Sassymonkey at BlogHer looks at the recurring question of why there aren’t more books for boys, and astutely asks, “Maybe the question isn’t about where the books for boys are but why boys need books about boys?
In a national first, a new Washington, D.C. law grants legal parenthood to both women of a couple who plan a child together using donor insemination. More specifically: When a woman bears a child conceived by artificial insemination, and her spouse or unmarried partner consents in writing to the insemination, the consenting spouse or partner
“Writing has always been my political activism,” said Lesléa Newman, author of Heather Has Two Mommies, the classic 1989 children’s book that was one of the first to feature a child with two moms. Her two new books, however, are sweet, simple tales of family life, without any overt politics or agenda. Mommy, Mama, and
Two lesbian moms who had a child in Florida are in the midst of a custody battle with their known sperm donor. The donor, Ray Janssen, and his partner Craig were involved with the child’s life until the moms, Katherine Alicea and Ana Sobrino, moved to California. Janssen then sued them for custody. A Miami-Dade
The U.S. Senate unanimously adopted the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act as an amendment to the Department of Defense authorization bill. This means its fate is tied to whether the president will veto the bill because it also includes funding for F-22 fighter jets, which he opposes. The NAACP announced a partnership with National
