The past two years have seen many great books about starting and raising families as an LGBTQ person, as well as books for all parents wanting to raise children with an understanding of LGBTQ identities. Each offers something different, though, so here’s my guide to help you find what’s right for you.
Pete Buttigieg, secretary of transportation and gay dad, spoke to ABC Audio’s podcast Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson about starting his family, what parenthood is like for him, responding to criticism about his family, and more! Have a listen!
Two new memoirs offer differing looks at queer families. In one, the author reflects on the coming out not only of her and her two siblings (as lesbian, bi, and trans, respectively), but of their dad as gay. In another, the author shares her story of navigating infertility, miscarriage, breast cancer, separation, and adoption.
Four recent books (two just out today!) are here to guide LGBTQ prospective parents of all genders and sexual identities (and their health care professionals) on the start of their parenting journeys.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed a bill last week permitting religiously based discrimination in adoption and foster care, his third recent anti-LGBTQ law. At the end of March, he also signed two laws targeting transgender youth.
The state of Michigan must continue contracting with child service agencies that discriminate against same-sex couples, according to the settlement this week of a long-running case whose outcome rested on a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The state’s Children’s Services Agency nevertheless reaffirmed its commitment to supporting LGBTQ people who want to foster or adopt or are already doing so.
A husband and wife in Tennessee are suing the state, saying that a state-funded foster care and adoption program turned them away because they are Jewish. To the best of my knowledge, neither is queer, so why am I writing about this on a queer website? Because discrimination in foster care and adoption is a very queer issue, and there is federal legislation pending that could end it for everyone, queer and otherwise.
November is National Adoption Month, so here’s a revised list of resources for LGBTQ people who are just starting to consider or plan for adoption.
A humorous but pointed new video from Family Equality shows two dads answering their child’s question of “Where do babies come from?” by discussing lawyers, home studies, and bias against queer families. It reminds us that the path to parenthood for LGBTQ people is still full of obstacles and inequalities. Watch it here, just in time for Parents’ Day this Sunday, July 25.
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia in favor of a faith-based foster care agency that refused to contract with same-sex parents. While this is not the win we might have wanted, it is a narrow loss that one LGBTQ legal expert is still calling “a huge victory.”
