For Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Let’s just give Dr. King the floor today:
Advocating
DeVos’ Department of Education Says Transgender Students Not Protected; Must Be Treated According to Biological Sex
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made sure she struck one more time at LGBTQ youth as she stepped down last week, with her department issuing a memo saying that “gender identity” was not protected under laws that ban discrimination on the basis of sex, and that schools are within their rights to misgender transgender students and force them to participate in programs and use facilities based on their biological sex.
Trump’s HHS Finalizes Rule Allowing Discrimination in Foster Care, Adoption, and Other Social Services
Not letting a little thing like insurrection stop them, the Trump administration on Thursday finalized a rule that will allow foster care and adoption agencies, along with other public health and social service organizations receiving taxpayer funds, to discriminate against LGBTQ people and others.
Thoughts on an Insurrection
“This is not normal,” I tell my son. At 17, he’s old enough to understand that logically, even if he barely remembers a time when our president wasn’t an egomaniacal, violence-enabling, reality-show host. Even though our leadership will change for the better on January 20th, though, I worry as he heads towards adulthood in a country still deeply divided. Can we adults give him, and all young people and children, the country they need to grow into happy, healthy adults? Will the ideals of freedom and equality for all ever be more than distant visions?
2020 LGBTQ Parenting Year in Review
In a year like no other, LGBTQ families, like all others, struggled with the physical, mental, and economic challenges of the pandemic. And with children of LGBTQ parents much more likely to live in poverty than those with non-LGBTQ parents, the pandemic may have hit many LGBTQ families, like those of other marginalized groups, particularly hard. Pandemic aside, there were many political and legal challenges—and a few victories—directly related to LGBTQ parents and our children in the U.S. this year. Here are the highlights, good and bad.
Hungary Bans Same-Sex Couples and Most Single People from Adopting
In the latest of a series of anti-LGBTQ moves, Hungary’s parliament has changed its constitution to ban same-sex couples and most single people from adopting children.
LGBTQ Parenting Roundup: International Edition
Even as the year winds down, there’s still plenty of news about LGBTQ parents and our families. Here’s a roundup of some recent stories from around the world that I haven’t yet covered.
U.S. Supreme Court Refuses Case Challenging Right of Same-Sex Parents to Both Be Recognized as Legal Parents
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take a case in which Indiana was trying to deny the right of married nonbiological mothers in same-sex couples to be recognized as legal parents by being put on their children’s birth certificates. An appeals court had ruled in January that both mothers must be allowed on the birth certificates; because the Supreme Court has refused to take the case, that decision stands.
How Big Could the Impact Be if Child Service Agencies Are Allowed to Discriminate?
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case that could let taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care agencies around the country use their religious beliefs as a reason to discriminate against LGBTQ people and others. New research from the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) shows the widespread impact that could have on children in care.
The Queer-Inclusive Hanukkah Picture Book You May Have Missed (and Why We Need More LGBTQ Holiday Picture Books)
Hanukkah starts tonight, but LGBTQ parents will have to look long and hard to find even a glimpse of a family like theirs in a picture book about the holiday. One book slipped under my radar until recently, and while it still only offers a brief glance, it’s just about all we’ve got.