The second season of The L Word: Generation Q is off to a flying start, which means it’s once again time for my regular recaps about parenting storylines in the show, which I’ve been doing since the original series! This week are questions about donors and DNA, work-life balance, and risky acts in the school drop-off lane.
Being a world-class athlete is hard. Being a parent at the same time is even harder. Yet of the 11 queer parents I know of who were competing in the Tokyo Olympics, six medaled (one twice!) and four came away with gold. That’s better than average odds, which I’d like to think means that being an LGBTQ parent increases your chances of getting an Olympic medal. (Well, maybe not—but read on for some fun if dubious statistics and a lot of appreciation for these athletes.)
Today is Gay Uncles Day, so here are some books by, for, and about gay (and other queer) uncles to help you celebrate these special people any day of the year!
President Joe Biden has recently nominated Charlotte Sweeney, a Colorado employee rights attorney, to the federal judiciary, and reappointed Sharon Kleinbaum, a New York rabbi, to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Both are also lesbian moms.
There have been so many queer-inclusive picture books out this year that I’ve gotten a little behind on the middle grade ones! Let’s remedy that with a look at five new ones worth a read!
Much previous research on queer parents and our children has focused on intact queer families (mostly with gay male or lesbian parents) formed through adoption or assisted reproduction, including surrogacy. Less attention has been paid to queer families formed when one or both parents had children from a previous relationship of any kind, or had started their family as a single parent before partnering. A new book on queer stepfamilies helps to remedy that.
Gonzo, the blue alien character in Disney Junior’s Muppet Babies reboot, is gender creative! An episode last week showed him donning a princess dress, with his friends offering unconditional acceptance.
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.
It’s time for the Tokyo Olympics! As a fan and athlete, I will watch any event at any time—but I’ll be keeping a special eye on the queer parent athletes (and athletes with queer parents). Balancing parenting and high-level training, not to mention possible queerphobias—it’s a lot to handle, and they deserve our respect and admiration.
Massachusetts, which led the nation in marriage equality, has fallen behind in protecting the children of LGBTQ parents. It is now the only New England state that has not comprehensively reformed its parentage laws to protect children regardless of the circumstances of their birth or the gender or marital status of their parents. The Massachusetts Parentage Act (MPA), a bill now in the Legislature, could change that.
