This Sunday, May 5, marks the second annual International Family Equality Day, when LGBTQ family organizations from around the world will join forces to raise the visibility of our families. Over 40 cities around the world will be hosting events, including ones in the US, Europe, Canada, Japan, and Australia. Find out if there’s one near you!
Today is the 20th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), so it’s the perfect time to remind folks that FMLA allows people to take time off to care for a child (biological or adoptive) who is legally the child of a same-sex partner—that is, even if you are not on the child’s birth certificate or haven’t done a second-parent adoption. Here’s the story of two lesbian moms who used FMLA leave, despite having to be extra prepared to explain matters to their employer.
Twenty years ago, on February 5, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, allowing eligible employees to take time off to care for new children (biological or adopted) or family members with medical problems. The FMLA even allows employees to take time for a new child even if you are not the legal parent—but does not cover same-sex spouses or partners. The Family Equality Council is therefore collecting stories, good and bad, about how LGBT people have used—or been denied—FMLA. They want yours! Here’s how to submit your story.
Tired of the the Republicans’ anti-LGBT and anti-women platform? The Family Equality Council (FEC) has an alternative. The organization yesterday released its Family Platform, calling for “the full inclusion of all families, including families headed by LGBT people and same-sex couples, in the life of our nation.”
For your viewing pleasure today, please enjoy this slideshow of beautiful LGBT families (and tasty s’mores) at the Family Equality Council’s annual Family Week in Provincetown. (And by “beautiful,” I mean “beautiful because they’re having fun and being themselves.”)
(The following is a guest post from Meg, who works on the Children’s TYLENOL® brand team at McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. In this post, she writes about her thoughts on the brand’s support of LGBT families and what it means to her as a lesbian.)
My wife and I just bought our first home together, nestled in Cherry Hill, NJ. It’s been a lengthy process moving in, with its ups and downs, a ton of boxes, and weeks of unpacking, but every moment has been worth it. For both of us, it is such a monumental point in our lives. And now we’ve reached the stage in our journey where we’re considering starting a family.
(The following is a guest post from Brent Wright, father of two and Director of Programs at Family Equality Council, a nonprofit organization that connects, supports, and represents the one million parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in this country and the two million children they are raising.)
I truly believe that we are all the sum part of all our childhood experiences. Every backyard BBQ and schoolyard tussle—every campout under the stars and timeout in the principal’s office—every childhood friendship and teenaged broken heart.
Tomorrow, July 28, marks the start of Family Week, the annual event in Provincetown, Mass. hosted by the Family Equality Council for LGBT families and our children. I won’t be there in person this year, alas, but in honor of the event, I’ll be bringing you two special guest posts next week.
Thanks to the leadership of the Family Equality Council, federal employees may now extend medical coverage to children who are legally those of their same-sex domestic partner. Domestic partnership requires a simple declaration; it is not necessary to live where there is a formal DP registry or other formal relationship recognition.
A new report details the inequalities children of LGBT parents face under state laws—laws that govern much related to family life, including parentage orders, fostering, adoption, donor insemination, surrogacy, custody, and inheritance.
