michigan

Judge Rules Michigan Marriage Ban Unconstitutional; Says Defendants’ Expert “Entirely Unbelievable”

Great news to end the week: A federal judge just struck down Michigan’s ban on the marriage of same-sex couples! This was a particularly meaningful win for same-sex couples with children because the plaintiffs were two moms, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, who began their legal trek seeking adoption rights, adding marriage later. The judge, Bernard Friedman, was particularly harsh in his criticism of the defendants’ argument that children fare better with a married mom and dad.

Discredited Researcher Testifies Against Same-Sex Parents

Sociologist Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas at Austin testified this week in a federal case to determine whether same-sex couples can adopt and/or marry in Michigan. The bad news? He’s a thoroughly discredited researcher whose work was backed by money from religious conservatives. Or maybe that’s the good news.

LGBTQ Parenting Roundup

LGBT Parenting Roundup

Lots of stories here I haven’t covered elsewhere, including a few that look at ramifications of some recent federal court decisions, a couple of jurisdictions reconsidering surrogacy laws, and some nice family profiles.

Exclamation

Scientific Studies of Same-Sex Parents Have Long and Legally Tested History

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?

Study: Children from Intact Two-Mom Families Have Higher Self-esteem, Fewer Conduct Problems than Those from Intact Mom-Dad ones

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.

Tell Michigan Lawmakers Not to Deny Homes to Foster Children

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.

LGBTQ Parenting Roundup

LGBT Parenting Roundup

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 House Committee Passes Bills to Deny Children Homes

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.

LGBT Parenting Roundup

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 and Daughters Confront Homophobic Mayor

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

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