A humorous but pointed new video from Family Equality shows two dads answering their child’s question of “Where do babies come from?” by discussing lawyers, home studies, and bias against queer families. It reminds us that the path to parenthood for LGBTQ people is still full of obstacles and inequalities. Watch it here, just in time for Parents’ Day this Sunday, July 25.
It’s time for the Tokyo Olympics! As a fan and athlete, I will watch any event at any time—but I’ll be keeping a special eye on the queer parent athletes (and athletes with queer parents). Balancing parenting and high-level training, not to mention possible queerphobias—it’s a lot to handle, and they deserve our respect and admiration.
Massachusetts, which led the nation in marriage equality, has fallen behind in protecting the children of LGBTQ parents. It is now the only New England state that has not comprehensively reformed its parentage laws to protect children regardless of the circumstances of their birth or the gender or marital status of their parents. The Massachusetts Parentage Act (MPA), a bill now in the Legislature, could change that.
As July rolls on, here are a few news items for and about LGBTQ parents that I haven’t yet posted about. Catch up on what’s happening!
Imagine: U.S. civics lessons reframed as a call to action, set to rap, R&B, and pop music sung by some of today’s top artists, and skillfully animated, in a show created by Emmy Award winner (and lesbian mom) Chris Nee, with a theme song by Grammy Award winner (and bisexual mom) Meshell Ndegeocello, and an episode featuring Grammy Award winner (and lesbian mom) Brandi Carlile. Happy July 4, everyone—this thing exists! Listen to Carlile’s song here and learn how to catch the rest of this great new show.
Fran and Anna Simon were the first same-sex couple in Colorado to get a civil union in 2013 and the first in Denver to get a marriage license in 2014. For Pride, they spoke with the City of Denver’s “I Am Denver” project about their family, their activism, and the protections LGBTQ families still need. Watch the video here.
A week after two county commissioners asked a local Pennsylvania library to remove a Pride Month display of children’s books from its children’s wing, community members showed overwhelming support of the display at a county meeting.
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia in favor of a faith-based foster care agency that refused to contract with same-sex parents. While this is not the win we might have wanted, it is a narrow loss that one LGBTQ legal expert is still calling “a huge victory.”
Maine has become the 10th state to allow LGBTQ couples, regardless of gender or genetic connection to their children, to establish legal parentage with an easy, free form that can be completed at the hospital right after a child’s birth. This form, unlike a birth certificate, is equivalent to a court decree.
Two of the three commissioners in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, have asked a local library to remove from the children’s wing a Pride Month display featuring several LGBTQ-inclusive picture books. Many others in the community are rallying in support of the books.
