janice langbehn

Janice Langbehn Reflects on Washington Marriages, Her Own Activism

In 2007, Janice Langbehn and her three children were denied access to her dying partner and the children’s other mother, Lisa Pond—a tragedy that helped motivate President Obama to revise hospital visitation rules to allow same-sex partners. She also lives in Washington State—and in a new blog post, “My Missteps,” reflects on the state’s new marriage equality law and her own path to activism.

What may surprise readers is her concern that she didn’t do enough soon enough for our community—striking words from the woman who in 2011 received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor.

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Politics and Law  The U.S. Supreme Court denied Lambda Legal’s petition to have them hear the case of a two gay dads seeking a new birth certificate for their adopted son. The boy was born in Louisiana but adopted in New York, and the men wanted a birth certificate listing them both as parents—not least

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.

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

LGBT Parent Newsmakers of the Year

Who were the LGBT parents who made headlines this year in mainstream or LGBT news? Here are my top individuals or couples, in alphabetic (not rank) order. Please make your own additions in the comments—I realize I’m heavy on lesbian moms and light in other parts of the community (and on non-U.S. names).

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Here’s a quick roundup before everyone takes off for the holiday: Politics and Law Nancy Polikoff offers her expert analysis of the decision this week in the Jenkins-Miller custody case I mentioned Saturday. Nancy has read through the ruling (she’s a lawyer, and has access to this sort of thing before us mere mortals), and

Three Stories of Hope

Three stories too good to wait for another full roundup: Inspiration Two gay dads whose son is a ballet dancer? It sounds like an uninformed cliché, but Ontario dad Rob Gibson says of 11-year-old James, “We didn’t even push him in dance.” Apparently, teachers and family friends noticed the boy’s sense of rhythm, and encouraged

“She Got Me Pregnant:” Episode 86

Helen and I discuss the perfect baby present for Mary Cheney and Heather Poe’s second child. We then show off Helen’s Halloween fabric engineering skills, proving that with lesbians, it’s sometimes hard to tell who’s the more domestic one. On another seasonal note, we take a retro look at It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Injustice for Florida Family

I’m spitting nails over this one: A U.S. District Court in Florida rejected a lawsuit by a lesbian mom who had been kept apart from her partner who lay dying in a Florida hospital. The couple’s three children were kept from her as well. In February 2007, Janice Langbehn and Lisa Pond boarded an R

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