Minnie Bruce Pratt, an acclaimed poet, essayist, and activist who wrote, among other things, about losing custody of her children when she came out as a lesbian, died on July 4 of an aggressive brain tumor at age 76.
Dr. Cheri A. Pies, whose 1985 book, Considering Parenthood: A Workbook for Lesbians, helped innumerable queer women become parents during the “gayby boom” of the 1980s, died from cancer on July 4 at the age of 73. If you don’t know her name yet, you should; in many ways, all of us queer parents who came after have benefited from her work, whether we know it or not.
Dr. Susan Love, one of the world’s foremost breast cancer researchers and a visionary leader in breast cancer advocacy, died at age 75 on July 2, 2023. In 1993, Love and her partner (later wife) were also the first same-sex parents in Massachusetts to both be named legal parents of their child, a case later cited in support of the state’s landmark marriage equality ruling.
Another school shooting. Children and adults dead. The epidemic of gun violence continues. Here again are some resources on talking with children about shootings, something no parent should need, but that too many of us sadly do.
Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old transgender girl in the U.K., was murdered last Saturday. Her death should remind us of the dire need to protect trans youth and all trans lives.
As the LGBTQ community collectively reels from and responds to the mass shooting in a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub yesterday, I want to offer a few resources for those of us whose children may have fears or questions about the tragedy.
It is not coincidental that shortly after September 11, 2001, my spouse and I began to talk seriously about having a child. Reposting my 9/11 story today, as I often do on this date.
Actor Anne Heche has died at age 53 after injuries from a car crash. She was also a mother, and so we queer parents mourn one of our own.
Transgender activist Gloria Allen (Mama Gloria), who founded and ran a charm school for homeless trans youth and was the subject of the award-winning documentary “Mama Gloria” and the critically acclaimed play “Charm,” has died at the age of 76.
(Content warning for extreme violence.) A woman and her partner were killed in Norfolk, Virginia, last week, as they sought to defend one woman’s 19-year-old daughter from her boyfriend. One other woman was killed and two others, including the pregnant daughter, were injured.
