The U.S. Department of Education has released regulations that will better protect LGBTQ students, sexual violence survivors, and others against discrimination in schools. Regulations addressing the inclusion of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students in school sports, however, are still pending.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signed legislation updating the state’s parentage laws to reflect the many ways families are formed today and equally protect all of the children in them, including those with LGBTQ parents. At least three other states have similar legislation pending—though many others lag behind.
A North Carolina Appeals Court has ruled that a nonbiological mother, despite sharing custody of the child she and her former partner had via IVF, does not owe child support because she is not a legal parent and did not agree in writing to provide support.
Lesbian moms. We’re judging you. At least some of us are, with Nicole Berner confirmed by the Senate Tuesday to a seat on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, joining Melissa DuBose, another lesbian mom who was confirmed last week to a U.S. District Court seat.
The Michigan legislature yesterday passed the Michigan Family Protection Act, a bill package to decriminalize contractual surrogacy and to ensure that all children born via assisted reproduction—including those with LGBTQ parents—can have equitable access to legal parentage ties from birth, including via a simple acknowledgment of parentage form.
Judge Melissa DuBose was confirmed Tuesday as a federal judge for the District of Rhode Island, making her the state’s first Black and first out LGBTQ federal judge, and marking the 100th time a Black woman was confirmed to a lifetime federal judiciary appointment. She and her partner of over 20 years have two sons.
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” law has been defanged. More than a dozen Florida parents, students, and teachers, plus LGBTQ organizations Equality Florida and Family Equality, who had challenged the law’s constitutionality, reached a settlement yesterday that removes the most harmful, anti-LGBTQ aspects of the legislation.
The city court in Padua, Italy, has affirmed that children with two moms can have their nongestational mothers on their birth certificates. The ruling defies central government officials in the city, who last fall told 27 two-mom families, raising more than 30 children, that the nongestational parent was being removed from these vital documents.
![IVF; Photo credit: DrKontogianniIVF [CC BY 2.0]](https://i0.wp.com/mombian.com/images/ivf_fuscia.jpg?fit=1024%2C538&ssl=1)
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos should be considered “children,” in a case that some fertility healthcare advocates are calling “a terrifying development,” with “devastating consequences” for people needing fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization (IVF). My spouse and I created our family via IVF, so this one’s personal to me.
![Photo credit: DrKontogianniIVF [CC BY 2.0]](https://i0.wp.com/mombian.com/images/ivf_aqua.jpg?fit=1024%2C538&ssl=1)
A federal bill introduced yesterday would make access to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) a statutory right. The bill comes in the wake of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn abortion rights, which many fear will lead to restrictions on other aspects of reproductive health care.
