LGBTQ Parenting Roundup
A mixed bag of news this time, with a few big wins, one legislative loss, and two library battles, among other news.
Advocating
Lesbian Couple Sues HHS After Being Blocked from Fostering Refugee Child
When spouses Fatma Marouf and Bryn Esplin wanted to become foster parents for a refugee child, they were told by the child services agency that they could not apply because their family structure did not “mirror the Holy Family.” Now, they’re suing the agency’s parent organization, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and the funder of its program to place refugee children, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Another School Shooting: Our Country Is Failing Its Children
As parents in the United States, we see our children off to school each day not knowing if they will be educated or be shot. Yesterday saw the 18th school shooting in 2018 alone. There have been 290 since 2013. When a country cares more about allowing its citizens access to firearms—including high-capacity, military-style weapons—than protecting its children, it has failed its children.
Fighting for Children Against Religious Exemption Laws
As a growing number of states allow child welfare agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ prospective foster and adoptive parents and LGBTQ youth in care, a new campaign is fighting back—but it needs our help and our stories.
“Leaving” Queer Families Behind
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) turned 25 this week, but LGBTQ parents are less likely than others to have access to paid leave, a recent article reminds us.
Meet Olympic Snowboarder and Lesbian Mom Cheryl Maas
The Winter Olympics start this Thursday, and—proving once again that queer parents can do anything—there’s a queer parent competing: Dutch snowboarder and three-time Olympian Cheryl Maas. Read on to learn more about her.
New PFLAG Head Brings Experience As Queer Parent and Professional
Both as a daughter and a parent, the new executive director of PFLAG, Dr. Jaime Grant, understands the organization’s mission of uniting families, allies, and people who are LGBTQ. “I’m a queer mom of a queer kid and my Irish family exiled me,” she said in an interview. This treatment by her family led to an accelerating drug addiction. Grant, who was named head of PFLAG last September, is now 28 years sober and solo parenting her son, 19, who identifies as bisexual, and co-parenting her daughter, 10. “I can see the difference in a person’s life between family acceptance and family rejection,” she said. “I just know what it means.”
LGBTQ Parenting Roundup: Groundhog Edition
Posting was light here this week, since I dropped a very lengthy piece on LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books and wanted to give you all time to read it. The world moves on, however, so here are a few of the stories in the headlines.
See You at Creating Change
I’m very excited to be heading off this week to be with 4000 or so queer folks at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change conference in Washington, D.C.—the 30th anniversary of the event. If you’ll be there, too, please leave a comment!
Same-Sex Parents Sue U.S. State Department for Denying Their Children Citizenship
Two pairs of bi-national same-sex parents are suing the U.S. State Department for refusing to recognize their valid marriages and denying their children their rightful citizenship at birth. See them tell their stories in two short videos.