It’s a day to say gay—and lesbian, bi, transgender, and queer! GLSEN’s annual Day of Silence has been rebranded this year as the Day of (No) Silence, a time for LGBTQ students and their allies to take action against anti-LGBTQ harassment and discrimination in schools.
Come have a read of some LGBTQ family stories, political news, entertainment, and even a few science tidbits that I haven’t covered separately!
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signed legislation updating the state’s parentage laws to reflect the many ways families are formed today and equally protect all of the children in them, including those with LGBTQ parents. At least three other states have similar legislation pending—though many others lag behind.
A North Carolina Appeals Court has ruled that a nonbiological mother, despite sharing custody of the child she and her former partner had via IVF, does not owe child support because she is not a legal parent and did not agree in writing to provide support.
Lesbian moms. We’re judging you. At least some of us are, with Nicole Berner confirmed by the Senate Tuesday to a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, joining Melissa DuBose, another lesbian mom who was confirmed last week to a U.S. District Court seat.
The Michigan legislature yesterday passed the Michigan Family Protection Act, a bill package to decriminalize contractual surrogacy and to ensure that all children born via assisted reproduction—including those with LGBTQ parents—can have equitable access to legal parentage ties from birth, including via a simple acknowledgment of parentage form.
Judge Melissa DuBose was confirmed Tuesday as a federal judge for the District of Rhode Island, making her the state’s first Black and first out LGBTQ federal judge, and marking the 100th time a Black woman was confirmed to a lifetime federal judiciary appointment. She and her partner of over 20 years have two sons.
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” law has been defanged. More than a dozen Florida parents, students, and teachers, plus LGBTQ organizations Equality Florida and Family Equality, who had challenged the law’s constitutionality, reached a settlement yesterday that removes the most harmful, anti-LGBTQ aspects of the legislation.
On March 11, 1973, Jeanne Manford, a teacher, and her husband Jules, a dentist, at the urging of their gay son Morty, held the first meeting of what would become known as PFLAG, an organization—nay, a movement—of allyship and love.
The city court in Padua, Italy, has affirmed that children with two moms can have their nongestational mothers on their birth certificates. The ruling defies central government officials in the city, who last fall told 27 two-mom families, raising more than 30 children, that the nongestational parent was being removed from these vital documents.
