It’s been hard to miss the many news articles in the last 24 hours about President Trump revoking the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Here are some places, however, where you can more deeply explore the personal stories of those affected by DACA to better understand what its end will mean.
President Trump has, as expected, revoked the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, putting at risk nearly 800,000 immigrant youth and their families. As the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of immigrants myself, I see this as one more shameful act of the Trump administration.
Like most of the LGBTQ community and our friends today, I’m furious at President Trump’s policy-via-tweet ban on transgender people serving in the military. I’m also worried about the children of currently serving trans people, who may soon see their family incomes plummet or disappear if their parent(s) are kicked out of the service.
Several court cases involving same-sex parents could be helped by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling—but the cases also underscore the obstacles we are still facing and suggest some needed actions for all of us to take.
In a major win for LGBTQ families, the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday overturned an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling and said both parents in a same-sex couple have the right to be on their children’s birth certificates.
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that a nonbiological mother is not entitled to be seen as a parent, even though she was married to the biological mother, they planned the child together, and both of their names were on the child’s birth certificate. It also said that the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling in Obergefell has nothing to do with parenting statutes.
The governor of Texas has added his state to the list of those that allow child placement agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ, Jewish, Muslim, single, divorced, or other prospective parents based on the agency’s “sincerely held religious beliefs.” This will serve to limit the number of homes available to children in need. The new law will also permit LGBTQ youth to be sent to widely discredited “conversion therapy” and allow agencies to refuse to refer people to medically appropriate reproductive health services.
A court in Mississippi has not only said a nonbiological mother has no parental rights over the child she helped to plan for, support, and raise with her ex-spouse, but that their anonymous sperm donor does. The mom, however, is fighting back.
For the fifth Congress in a row, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act has been introduced in an attempt to ensure that no child in need of a home is denied one because of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Texas legislature has advanced two bills that will cause harm to children living in the state. One keeps transgender students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity; the other allows religion-based discrimination in adoption and foster care.
