Yesterday in the Detroit Free Press (and picked up in USA Today), Tresa Baldas wrote about the federal case beginning today in Michigan that will determine whether same-sex couples can marry and adopt there. She states, “now, for the first time, scientific studies on same-sex parenting will undergo legal scrutiny.” Really? The first time? REALLY?
A new study has found that adolescents with lesbian moms had higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of conduct problems compared with peers in families that have a mom and a dad. Importantly, this is the first study to compare adolescent—parent relationships and well-being in families where the parents — both lesbian and straight — were all continuously coupled. This is key to combating some of the apples-to-oranges comparisons that have plagued right-wing analyses of lesbian and gay parenting — and seems perfectly timed to help fight a federal case that starts today.
Michigan legislators on the state House Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors have passed three bills that would give taxpayer-funded adoption agencies the right to deny an adoption placement based on that agency’s moral or religious beliefs. This is an anti-LGBT bill, no doubt about it — but it is the children needing homes who will suffer the most. . Here’s what you can do to help stop these bills from going any further.
Here are a few of the stories I haven’t covered elsewhere, including good news from Michigan and some cautious moves forward in Europe.
Michigan has 14,000 children in foster care at any moment, over 5,000 of whom need homes because their biological parents’ rights have been terminated. A Michigan House committee, however, has passed two bills out of committee that would allow adoption agencies to deny an adoption placement based on the agency’s moral or religious beliefs. While agencies could use that to deny placements with many people, it’s pretty clear the main targets are LGBT people.
Here are some of the recent stories I haven’t posted about separately–covering education, being a single gay dad, fighting for adoption rights, and Mitt Romney’s opinions about lesbian and gay parents.
Lesbian moms Amy and Tina and their two daughters stood up at a meeting of the Troy, Michigan City Council, and addressed Mayor Janice Daniels about her homophobic Facebook comments in as classy a manner as I’ve ever seen. “We wanted to show up today to give you just a look at our family,” Amy said. Definitely
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech that focused on the human rights of LGBT people—a speech that some LGBT advocates are already calling a “landmark.” Supporters of anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people in Anchorage, Alaska, appear to have collected enough signatures to put the measure on the April city ballot. The U.S. Ninth Circuit
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) became a co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the anti-LGBT Defense of Marriage Act. Levin was one of the leaders in repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Michigan state Rep. Thomas McMillin (R-Rochester) introduced a bill that would eliminate LGBT people as a protected class under all local
The Michigan House voted to ban benefits for domestic partners of all public employees in the state. The bill now goes to the Senate. North Carolina’s legislature approved a ballot measure to ask voters whether to ban marriage for same-sex couples under the state constitution. It is already banned by statute. I covered the story
