Advocating Archives - Page 21 of 263

Nuclear Family. Photo Credit: Limor Inbar. Courtesy HBO

HBO’s “Nuclear Family”: A Landmark Lesbian Parentage Case and a Daughter’s Search for Understanding

September 23, 2021

It is many a queer parent’s nightmare: your child’s sperm donor sues for paternity. When it happened to Robin Young and Sandy Russo in 1991, it precipitated a landmark four-year court battle that indelibly marked 9-year-old Ry Russo-Young and her 11-year-old sister Cade. Yet Ry, now an award-winning filmmaker, had never really been able to process her feelings about what happened. Her attempt to do so, and to understand the other side of the story, led her to create Nuclear Family, a three-part documentary that premieres this Sunday on HBO.

Aetna Admits It Wrongly Denied Fertility Coverage to Queer Mom

September 17, 2021

After a lawsuit by a queer mom, insurance giant Aetna has said it improperly denied her fertility coverage and will review similar cases. Whether this means a larger change towards equal treatment of LGBTQ people under their policies remains an open question.

Queer Parent Paralympians All Earn Medals

September 13, 2021

All three queer parents who competed at the Paralympics this year won medals, including gold!

Remembering 9/11, 20 Years Later

September 11, 2021

It is not coincidental that shortly after September 11, 2001, my spouse and I began to talk seriously about having a child, after more than eight years together. Many of us have a 9/11 story. Here’s mine.

Paralympic Gold Medalist Was Raised by Two Moms (and There’s a New Picture Book About Her)

September 8, 2021

Tatyana McFadden last Saturday won her 20th Paralympic medal—8th gold—and set her 3rd world record! A new picture book biography traces her life from an orphanage in Russia, to being raised by two moms, to becoming “the fastest woman on Earth.”

How You Can Help Fight the Texas Abortion Law — and Why It’s a Queer Issue

September 2, 2021

The Texas abortion ban that was just upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court is a hugely frightening development for anyone who can get pregnant and for anyone who cares about reproductive rights, including not only abortion access but also assisted reproduction. That’s enough to make it a queer issue—but it has even more possible ramifications for other civil and human rights issues, including LGBTQ rights.

What the Buttigiegs’ Parenthood Means for All of Us

August 31, 2021

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten have become parents. This puts them among the highest-visibility LGBTQ parents in the country, and that visibility has the potential to help further the acceptance of LGBTQ parents as a whole. They cannot, however, do this alone.

Basketball Babies

August 27, 2021

Some of the most exciting recent LGBTQ parenting news is that not one but two queer couples in women’s pro basketball are expanding their families! Watch a short film about one couple’s experience and see photos here.

7 Olympic Medals (4 Gold!) Earned by Queer Parents at Tokyo Olympics

August 8, 2021

Being a world-class athlete is hard. Being a parent at the same time is even harder. Yet of the 11 queer parents I know of who were competing in the Tokyo Olympics, six medaled (one twice!) and four came away with gold. That’s better than average odds, which I’d like to think means that being an LGBTQ parent increases your chances of getting an Olympic medal. (Well, maybe not—but read on for some fun if dubious statistics and a lot of appreciation for these athletes.)

Lesbian Moms Picked for Federal Posts

August 6, 2021

President Joe Biden has recently nominated Charlotte Sweeney, a Colorado employee rights attorney, to the federal judiciary, and reappointed Sharon Kleinbaum, a New York rabbi, to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Both are also lesbian moms.