In 2011, a 19-year-old named Zach Wahls gave a speech to the Iowa legislature during the state’s marriage equality battles, describing his life with two moms. It went viral, catching national attention. Wahls, now a two-term Iowa state senator running for U.S. Senate, spoke with me for the speech’s 15th anniversary, looking at its impact and offering advice for parents and young people today.
When soccer stars Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis got married last week, their baby was part of the ceremony—which feels like a good excuse to post a revised version of a piece I did many years ago about how couples (particularly queer ones) who already have kids can include them in their weddings.
The turn of the year saw two weddings of soccer royalty, each offering a different look at marriage and parenthood. Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis’s baby was part of their ceremony, while Marta and Carrie Lawrence might have a baby in their future. There are lessons for all of us in their two paths.
I wrote this piece just after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized marriage equality nationwide on June 26, 2015. I want to reshare it as we approach the 10-year anniversary, as a reminder of why so many of us queer parents and our children fought for marriage—and why marriage equality alone isn’t enough.
A new storytelling project from Family Equality, To Have and To Hold, seeks to honor “the history and magic of LGBTQ+ unions” before, during, and after the historic fight for marriage equality. Here’s how you can be a part of this commemoration and celebration.
More than 40% of married same-sex couples under age 50 want children or additional children, according to a new study from UCLA’s Williams Institute—but it also found a gap between many participants’ “ideal” path to family building and their “likely” path, with the main barrier being cost.
My spouse Helen and I recently celebrated our 30th anniversary. At a time when the LGBTQ community is being attacked on all sides, this personal milestone also reminded me that despite the many challenges for LGBTQ folks right now, progress can happen and queer joy is real.
Fifteen years ago today was the first legal wedding of a same-sex couple in the United States—moms Hillary and Julie Goodridge. Now they and their daughter Annie are sharing more about their fight to marry and the stress that it caused on their relationship—stress that caused them to divorce five years later. It’s a sobering tale about the price that progress can have on activists and their families.
Marriage equality is now the law of the land—but parenting laws have yet to catch up in many places. Here are a few stories that show where they have and where they haven’t.
TED Ed, the educational branch of the organization that puts on the thought-provoking TED Talks, recently posted a five-minute video on “The History of Marriage” that is wonderfully inclusive of same-sex couples and aimed at anyone from older elementary kids to adults. I thought I couldn’t be more excited about their videos — and then I saw another, on a topic I couldn’t have guessed, that is seamlessly inclusive of a same-sex romance. I may even love this second one more.
