Here’s a topic ripe for discussion: A recent study by Ohio State University researchers found that couples who share childcare duties equally are more likely to experience conflict than those in which the mother does more. The study only looked at opposite-sex couples, however.
Zach Wahls, a University of Iowa student with two moms, spoke before hundreds of people yesterday at an Iowa House hearing about a bill to ban marriage for same-sex couples. The House today passed the bill, which now goes to the Senate.
I’ve written before about And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents, and Our Unexpected Families, a terrific essay collection edited by Susan Goldberg and Chloë Brushwood Rose. Susan was kind enough to inform me that she, Chloë, and several other contributors to the volume will be doing a reading in Chicago on February 17
Happy Monday, everyone! Here’s a roundup of what’s been going on in the news about LGBT parents. Schools and Education Joanne Herman asks, “Should we introduce children to the concept of transgender people?” and answers definitely “yes,” noting (among other things) a paper published in the December 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed Graduate Journal of
President Obama, in his State of the Union address, noted the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and called on college campuses that had banned military recruiters and ROTC because of the policy to allow them to return. Some LGBT advocates are saying colleges should not do so until servicemembers are protected against gender identity
Helen and I show you the connection between vampire bunnies and anti-bullying efforts. We also discuss some psychedelic kids’ movies and books we’ve been enjoying, and wonder how Disney’s Fantasia got away with being so risqué. (Topless female centaurs! In 1940! And Disney still shies away from openly gay characters, even fully clothed.) Mombian: She
The American Library Association (ALA) has published its fourth annual Rainbow Bibliography, a list of recommended children’s and young adult books with significant LGBTQ content. The list is a yet another arrow in the quiver of those looking to support LGBTQ youth and children of LGBTQ parents—and I don’t need to tell you how important that is these days.
I often get e-mail from lesbian parents seeking legal advice for various matters: protecting both parents’ rights as they embark on parenthood; wanting advice in a custody or other dispute; wondering if their county/state will allow second-parent adoptions, and the like. I am not a lawyer, so I can’t offer advice myself, but I can
(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column, hence the slightly belated posting here. But it’s still January, so I figure it’s still good.)
As 2010 gives way to 2011, let us ask: How has the year been in terms of political and legal progress for LGBT parents and our children?
The most notable parenting-specific win of the year was arguably Florida’s judicial overturning of its ban on adoption by gay men or lesbians. Mississippi, however, continues to ban same-sex couples from adopting, and Arkansas, Michigan, and Utah ban unmarried couples, which means essentially the same thing. The federal Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would have withheld federal funds from states and other entities that discriminate against gay men and lesbians in adoption or foster care placements, was introduced in March, but failed to make it out of committee.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed new federal regulations that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in its core housing programs. (My piece on this at Keen News Service. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a group of clergy who want
