Samsung isn’t the only company to be portraying same-sex parents in its ads lately. AT&T this month released an ad touting the idea that “just OK is not OK” in either babysitters or wireless networks—and the parents dealing with the babysitter in question just happen to be two dads.
People and families come in many forms, as any LGBTQ person can attest. Now, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) is using that concept to improve upon its already LGBTQ-inclusive employee benefits. The FORTUNE 100 company, which has approximately 7,500 employees around the country, is rolling out new benefits around leave, gender affirmation, family creation, and more that empower all employees and demonstrate a deep understanding of LGBTQ people’s lives.
During tonight’s Academy Awards, Samsung aired a commercial that includes two women, one of whom is pregnant, lying in bed viewing an ultrasound on their phone. Watch it here.
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled yesterday that the 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. But the ruling does not change a State Department policy that will allow continued discrimination against same-sex couples and their children.
It’s time for another roundup! Here’s what’s happening that I haven’t yet covered during this shortest of months.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) yesterday signed a bill expanding the state’s paid family leave law in a number of ways—notably, by expanding the definition of “family” under the law to include chosen families and by expanding the definition of “parent” to include foster parents and those who become parents via gestational surrogacy.
France’s National Assembly has passed legislation that will require schools to use “Parent 1” and “Parent 2” on all school forms, instead of “Mother” and “Father,” in order to recognize the variety of families today.
Sharon Mattes, known as Sharon Bottoms when she fought to overcome anti-LGBTQ bias in a legal battle for custody of her son in the 1990s—a headline case for queer parents—has died at age 48.
President Trump last week told attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast that adoption agencies can discriminate against LGBTQ people or others and still be able to get federal funding. A plan to make that happen is already in motion—but there’s action you can take against it.
Army Captain Jennifer Peace will be a guest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at tonight’s State of the Union address. Capt. Peace, an active-duty officer who was profiled in the documentary Transmilitary, is also the parent of three children whom she is raising with her spouse Deborah. Â
