My spouse Helen and I recently returned from a trip to Iceland with Olivia Travel, a company catering to LGBTQ women. Our previous trip with them was when our son was six months old. He’s now in his second year of college. I’ve therefore been reflecting on lessons about family and parenting that I’ve learned from each of those voyages.
A few items from round and about—but check out the bonus deal after the jump. Schools and Youth Amanda, an incoming freshman at “a tiny high school in a tiny town in Massachusetts,” writes a letter about being the daughter of two moms and committing to creating change at her school and in her community.
Let’s start the week with a roundup. Politics and Law Iceland’s Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and her partner, Jonina Leosdottir, transformed their civil union into a marriage Sunday as the country’s marriage equality law went into effect. Sigurdardottir has two grown sons from a previous marriage. A Wisconsin appeals court ruled that a woman seeking
The State Department announced it will now allow transgender people to receive a passport reflecting their new legal gender without requiring gender reassignment surgery. Certification from an attending medical physician that the person has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition is sufficient. The State Department also issued a proclamation in honor of LGBT Pride
Two French gay dads are having difficulties bringing home their twins, born through a surrogate in India. France does not allow surrogacy, and the French consulate is refusing to transfer the twins’ names to the French birth registry, a necessary step before they can obtain passports. A gay Israeli couple had similar problems last month.
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
Johanna Sigurdardottir, the prime minister of Iceland and a lesbian mom, was just named to Forbes annual list of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women. She comes in at number 75, which seems quite respectable, considering she only became prime minister this year. Sigurdardottir and her spouse, author and playwright Jonina Leosdottir, have two adult
Helen and I share viewer feedback on how Icelandic same-sex couples name their kids, and how to survive a trip to Disney World (including where to find hard-to-get Kim Possible merchandise). We also bring you updates on several celebrity lesbian moms with new babies, new wives, and new high-profile careers. Mombian: She Got me Pregnant,
This week’s vlog is brought to you by the letter “I” as Helen and I discuss marriage in Iowa and the lesbian mom now governing Iceland. How does the Icelandic patronymic system work when a child has two moms? Moving to avian matters, we highlight a pair of female swans who have cared for eggs
President Obama has appointed Alison J. Nathan, who is openly lesbian, as his associate counsel. Nathan was recently the Fritz Alexander Fellow at New York University School of Law and a visiting assistant professor at Fordham Law School. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Nathan was the national voter protection senior advisor to the Obama campaign
