fmla

Wanted: Your Family and Medical Leave Stories

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.

LGBT Parenting Year in Review 2011

(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column, hence the slightly belated posting here. But it’s still January, so I figure it’s still good.)

As 2010 gives way to 2011, let us ask: How has the year been in terms of political and legal progress for LGBT parents and our children?

The most notable parenting-specific win of the year was arguably Florida’s judicial overturning of its ban on adoption by gay men or lesbians. Mississippi, however, continues to ban same-sex couples from adopting, and Arkansas, Michigan, and Utah ban unmarried couples, which means essentially the same thing. The federal Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would have withheld federal funds from states and other entities that discriminate against gay men and lesbians in adoption or foster care placements, was introduced in March, but failed to make it out of committee.

Weekly Political Roundup

The U.S. Labor Department clarified that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives an employee who assumes the role of caring for a child the parental right to family leave—regardless of the legal or biological relationship. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke at a State Department event commemorating Pride Month, and equated LGBT rights

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Politics and Law The Labor Department will expand its interpretation of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to allow non-legal, non-biological parents to take leave to care for the legal children of a same-sex partner. Labor won’t officially announce the news until Wednesday, so stay tuned for further details. The AP reported that the

Weekly Political Roundup

Mostly good news this week, huzzah! First, one that didn’t make it into this week’s LGBT Parenting Roundup, but which is excellent news for LGBT families: Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) reintroduced the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) into the U.S. House, adding important updates that would provide paid leave for all workers to care

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