Memorial Day: Remembering the Fallen
This Memorial Day, may we spare a thought for all those who have given their lives in service to our country, including service members who were LGBTQ.
Advocating
A Day of Wins: Equality Act Passes House; Taiwan Approves Same-Sex Marriage (but Not Full Adoption Rights)
Not only does today mark the 15th anniversary of the landmark decision that first brought marriage equality to a U.S. state, and the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, but it will now also be known as the day a comprehensive, federal LGBTQ civil rights bill first passed a chamber of the U.S. Congress and the day that Taiwan legalized marriage for same-sex couples—the first country in Asia to do so. Progress to celebrate—but there is further to go, as the Equality Act faces a tougher battle in the Senate, and same-sex couples in Taiwan still will not have equal adoption rights.
Massachusetts Moms Who Were First to Marry Talk About the Trauma
Fifteen years ago today was the first legal wedding of a same-sex couple in the United States—moms Hillary and Julie Goodridge. Now they and their daughter Annie are sharing more about their fight to marry and the stress that it caused on their relationship—stress that caused them to divorce five years later. It’s a sobering tale about the price that progress can have on activists and their families.
Enfamil Ad Features Two-Dad Family
A new ad for Enfamil baby formula features “Zanna Lu’s Dads,” Michael and Tony.
President’s Foster Care Month Proclamation Is a Study in Hypocrisy
I knew President Trump’s National Foster Care Proclamation this year would omit mention of LGBTQ families, in contrast to President Obama’s. I reached a new level of anger at the administration, however, when the proclamation called for “kinship care’ whenever possible—as his administration works to let foster care agencies turn away prospective parents—even kin—if they are LGBTQ.
State Department Wants to Take U.S. Citizenship from One Two-Year-Old Twin with Two Dads
The U.S. State Department seems to be having a contest with the Department of Health and Human Services over which can be more awful to the LGBTQ community. A February federal court decision had ruled that the two-year-old son of two married men, one a U.S. citizen and one an Israeli citizen, must be recognized as a U.S. citizen like his twin brother. The State Department now wants to overturn that ruling.
LGBTQ Parenting Roundup: An Apple for the Teacher Edition
Here’s what’s happening that I haven’t covered elsewhere, including progress—and protests—in LGBTQ-inclusive education, mixed results in Tennessee, and more same-sex penguin moms!
HHS Rule Allows Religious Discrimination in Health Care
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finalized a new rule that will allow health care workers to refuse to provide or assist in providing medical services if doing so violates their religious or moral beliefs. In other words, it will allow them to discriminate widely—putting LGBTQ people and our families, among others, at risk.
Appeals Court: Yes, Foster Agencies that Turn Away Same-Sex Couples But Take Public Funds Are Discriminating
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that Philadelphia can require foster care agencies that have city contracts to adhere to the city’s nondiscrimination laws. The ruling comes in a case in which one agency tried to claim its religious beliefs allowed it to refuse service to same-sex prospective parents—while still taking public funds.
HHS Proposes Eliminating Data Collection on Sexual Orientation of Foster and Adoptive Youth, Parents
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said this week that it wants to abandon the collection of foster care and adoption data that would have helped to more effectively serve LGBTQ youth.