More Than 3 Dozen LGBTQ Parents Running for Office in 2018
The number of LGBTQ candidates running for elected office this year is higher than ever, and it’s no surprise that many of them are parents. Let’s meet them and their families!
Advocating
LGBTQ People and Families at Disproportionate Risk from Cuts to Assistance Programs
The “myth of gay affluence” has long haunted the queer community, even after much debunking. LGBTQ people are in fact more likely to be in poverty than non-LGBTQ ones. Now, a new study shows that LGBTQ people are also more likely to participate in public assistance programs—and are thus at particular risk when those programs are cut.
A Threat to Our Children
Weeks after the Trump administration ostensibly changed its policies of child separation and family detention at the U.S.-Mexico border, and after a court-imposed deadline to reunite separated families, hundreds of immigrant and refugee children are still not with their parents. These policies are only some of several recent moves by the administration and by individual states that show an appalling disregard for the well-being of children.
New Video “It’s About the Kids” Shows Harm of Religious Exemption Laws
As legislation moves forward in the U.S. House that would allow adoption and foster care agencies nationwide to discriminate against LGBTQ parents and youth, among others, and 10 states already permit this, Human Rights Watch has released a new five-minute video showing why we should fight this legislation that would limit the number of loving homes for children.
LGBTQ Parenting Roundup: “It Gets Butter” Edition
This edition, we have news about the executive and mom who just became the first out queer woman to lead a Fortune 500 company (one best known for its butter), plus more news from round and about.
Getting to the Root of Things
I’m spending the week at Netroots Nation, the largest annual conference for progressives, and kicking things off with a pre-conference day of LGBTQ organizing, thanks to Netroots Connect. If you’ll be there, too, please leave a comment, or just say hi if you see me! If not, stay tuned here for updates.
Creator of Longest-Running Study on LGBTQ Families Talks About New Findings
Thirty-two years ago, Nanette Gartrell, M.D., launched a project to follow the first wave of lesbian families created through donor insemination. Now, her National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) is the longest-running study on LGBTQ-parent families, and Gartrell and her team have just released a paper about the now-grown children at 25 years old. Gartrell, a psychiatrist and Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, spoke with me about the latest results and more.
Action Alert: Call Your Senators Today About Opposing Adoption/Foster Care Discrimination Bill!
This one’s timely, folks: If you have a senator who is a Democrat, or if they are Republican Senators Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), or Rob Portman (Ohio), use the handy script here to call them today and ask them to sign on to a letter opposing the bill that would allow discrimination in adoption and foster care against LGBTQ prospective parents, LGBTQ youth in care, single or divorced parents, interfaith couples, or people of different religions.
Federal Judge Rules that Philadelphia Foster Care Agencies Can’t Discriminate Against Same-Sex Parents
Just two days after a U.S. House committee approved an amendment that would allow publicly funded foster care and adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ parents and others based on the agencies’ religious or moral beliefs, a federal court issued a decision saying that Philadelphia can require foster care agencies with city contracts to follow its LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination policies.
House Appropriations Amendment Would Allow Discrimination in Foster Care, Adoption
The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has approved an anti-LGBTQ amendment to an existing funding bill—an amendment that would allow child service agencies receiving federal funds to discriminate against otherwise qualified prospective parents based on the agency’s religious or moral beliefs. Ten states already allow such discrimination; this would enshrine it in federal law.