There are only 50 days until the election! Mail-in voting has started or is about to start in some states, and in-person early voting will begin shortly. In advance of one of the most consequential elections in our history, here’s what LGBTQ parents and others should be doing now.
Wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden, widely considered “the fastest woman in the world,” brought her Paralympic medal count to 22 in this year’s games, making her the most-decorated U.S. track and field athlete in either the Paralympics or Olympics. She was also raised by two moms!
Today’s two new LGBTQ-inclusive middle-grade novels are each very different, but both have themes of challenging injustice: In one, a group of students creatively fight a book ban at their school; in the other, a nonbinary and a disabled protagonist duo have a sword-swinging fantasy adventure to save their realm.
Awful news seems to dominate lately: A school shooting in Georgia. A trans teen severely beaten in Massachusetts. Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills. Violence and war around the world. An uncertain election. Add to this the varied challenges each of us encounters in our daily lives. How do we resist being overwhelmed?
This edition of the roundup covers progress in Minnesota, a step backwards in Louisiana, news from China, Denmark, and Italy, thoughtful pieces from a nonbinary and a trans parent, plus a few more items about LGBTQ parents that I haven’t covered separately!
Did you know that the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field co-captain was raised by two moms? And that there are at least five queer parent Paralympians also competing in Paris this week? Let’s meet them!
A picture book and an early reader bring us delightful new stories with nonbinary protagonists. One is a deliberate celebration of queer identities, while in the other, the character’s nonbinary identity is completely incidental to the tale. Readers should value both approaches!
Sphen, a gentoo penguin who rose to worldwide fame with his same-sex mate Magic after they incubated eggs and raised two chicks together, died this month at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium. When Magic saw Sphen’s body, “He immediately started singing, which was beautifully reciprocated by the colony,” the aquarium said.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, all queer parents, spoke at the Democratic National Convention last night and reminded us that politics is personal—and joy is powerful.
The next volume in one of my favorite middle grade series is out today, about a large, chaotic family that happens to have many queer people in it! But large, queer-inclusive families actually star in a number of great books, including several series, so I’m rounding them up for you!
