LGBTQ Parenting Roundup
The parenting news keeps coming! Here are some stories I haven’t covered separately. This edition is full of international news (and a few U.S. items), so read on and catch up with what’s happening around the world.
censorship
LGBTQIA+ Titles Dominate Top 10 Most Challenged Books List in Year of Record Censorship Attempts
A memoir about growing up nonbinary and asexual has once again topped the American Library Association’s annual list of the most challenged books—and new data shows that in a year of record censorship attempts, the “vast majority” targeted books with LGBTQIA+ and/or BIPOC characters.
Florida Expands “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” to All Grades
The Florida Board of Education has agreed to expand the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” law to all K-12 grades.
Florida Rep. Seeks to Expand “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” Law
A Florida legislator has introduced a bill that would expand the state’s “Don’t Say Gay/LGBTQ” law to completely ban instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity from pre-K through eighth grade classrooms and ban the use of pronouns and names aligned with transgender and nonbinary students’ gender identities in schools.
Most-Banned Picture Books in Schools Have LGBTQ and/or People of Color Protagonists
The most-banned picture books in schools during the 2021-22 academic year feature LGBTQ and/or people of color protagonists, according to a new list from PEN America. That’s sadly unsurprising. Let’s look a little more closely at what we can learn from this, however.
More Than Half of LGBTQ+ Parents Surveyed Considered Leaving Florida Because of “Don’t Say Gay” Bill
More than half of the LGBTQ+ parents surveyed considered leaving Florida because of its so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, according to a new study, and the vast majority—nearly 90 percent—are worried about its effect on their children and family.
LGBTQ Parenting Roundup: Year-End Edition
One last roundup before 2022 winds to a close! Here are some of the stories of LGBTQ parents and our kids that I haven’t covered already.
“Exceptionally Challenging”: A 2022 Year in Review for LGBTQ Families
What were the major advances—and setbacks—for LGBTQ families in 2022? I asked several leading experts to share their thoughts, and all agreed there had been many obstacles—but also reasons for hope.
Reclaiming the Narrative: Think of the Children
Like many in the LGBTQ community, I am still grieving over those murdered at Club Q in Colorado Springs last month. I am also thinking about how much anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has created a climate in which such violence can germinate, and how much a purported concern over children’s well-being has played into that rhetoric. We need to reclaim the narrative of what it means to think of the children.
“Banned Together” Auction Is Raising Funds to Send LGBTQ-Inclusive Books to Schools
Non-profit Pride and Less Prejudice, which has donated over 7,500 LGBTQ-inclusive picture books to elementary school classrooms in the U.S. and Canada since its founding in 2019, is holding a virtual auction through this weekend so they can send 800 more. Check out some of the amazing offerings!