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.
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“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!
Renewing the Fight Against Book Banning
This week marks Banned Books Week, the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual celebration of the freedom to read—but this year feels more like a call to action than a celebration. Book bans and other attempts at censorship, largely targeting the LGBTQ and other marginalized communities, are raging across the country. Here’s what’s happening, how others are fighting back, and how you can help.
The LGBTQ-Inclusive Picture Books That Are Being Targeted for Bans
It’s Banned Books Week, during a year that has seen record numbers of bans and challenges. Let’s kick things off by looking at some of the picture books that have been targeted recently for being LGBTQ inclusive.
5 Services Offering Free, LGBTQ-Inclusive Books to Schools
Amidst a wave of book bans and challenges around the country, five—yes, five!—services are actually providing free, LGBTQ-inclusive books to schools and educators. Here’s how to request them.
“Unsuitable” Warnings on Books Are Really About Erasing Identities
A Florida school district has put labels on over 100 books warning that some people feel they are “unsuitable for students.” They include a book that depicts same-sex parents caring for their babies, picture books about transgender and gender creative children, and the real-life story of a same-sex penguin pair. What’s next? Warning labels on LGBTQ students and those with LGBTQ parents?
The New Yorker Looks at the Past, Present, and Future of LGBTQ Children’s Books
“What Should a Queer Children’s Book Do?” asks Jessica Winter today in the New Yorker. It’s a good question, which she carefully explores through the history of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books and the ongoing attacks on them. The piece echoes much of what I’ve said about the genre over the years. Here are a few additional thoughts and further readings, if the topic intrigues you.
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Law Already Harming Children
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law (which really impacts the entire LGBTQ community) goes into effect today—but it has already had a chilling impact on LGBTQ students, families, and on supportive teachers in the state.