My family and I took a last-minute vacation to Disney World last week. We had been planning to go later in the year, but got a good end-of-summer deal and decided to go for it. I make it a habit not to blog about vacations while actually on them—to me, it’s like putting up a […]
Politics and Law Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) introduced the Student Nondiscrimination Act, a companion to a House bill by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO). It would prohibit discrimination on the basis of real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in any program or activity receiving federal funds. “Discrimination” would include harassment. Already, some are saying
In the same month that the American Library Association came out with its annual list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books, two Florida moms have stepped up their campaign to have libraries put a “Warning: Mature Content” label on any young adult books that refer to illegal acts or contain “inappropriate” content and to segregate
President Obama issued a memo directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure that same-sex partners have the same visitation rights as other immediate family members. HHS should “Initiate appropriate rulemaking . . . to ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors.” The
First, something not specific to parenting but that affects LGBT families with and without children: The Bilerico Project and many other blogs are holding a blogswarm today asking readers to contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi at 202-225-4965 and request that she move the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to a floor vote. Further details are here. One
U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill to amend the Fair Housing Act to ban housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The commissioners of Kissimmee, Florida voted to allow city employees to cover their unmarried domestic partners under the city’s health and dental insurance plan. The Oklahoma state Senate approved an
Watching the Oscars tonight? Here’s some filmmaking news that will have you seething: Florida lawmakers are considering an incentive package to attract film and entertainment jobs to the state. Productions with “nontraditional family values,” however, would be ineligible. State Rep. Stephen Precourt (R-Orlando), who introduced the bill, said that films depicting gay families should not
Books and Media Since books form an important part of the parenting experience for many of us (and many of us were voracious readers before we became parents), go check out the Lambda Literary Foundation’s brand-new Web site, chock-full of goodness about books for adults and kids. Life & Style magazine’s latest cover headline asks,
Let us first take a moment to remember Lawrence King, the eighth grader who was shot and killed two years ago today by another student whom he asked to be his Valentine. Politics and Law The Florida Department of Children and Families agreed to provide state Medicaid insurance, subsidized college tuition, and other benefits to
Sometimes, in our efforts to correct one instance of intolerance, we forget others. Two weeks ago, a Miami-Dade judge declared Florida’s anti-gay adoption law unconstitutional and allowed Vanessa Alenier to adopt the one-year-old she and her partner Melanie Leon have been fostering. The ultra-conservative Orlando’s Florida Family Policy Council (FPC) sent out an alert to
