(I wrote this back in February for 365gay.com, but it seemed timely to repost it here (with slight updates) in light of the Army National Guard’s recent dismissal of West Point graduate and Arabic linguist Lt. Dan Choi under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (He was on the Rachel Maddow Show last week.) Although the timetable […]
What a week to be taking time away from blogging. I’m breaking my self-imposed absence, however, to pop in and say, “Go, Maine!” Governor John E. Baldacci today signed marriage equality into law. In the governor’s news release, he said, “In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions. I
I wrote this back in November for 365gay.com, but never crossposted. A recent article in the Bangor Daily News, by Diane Schetky, clinical professor of psychiatry at the Maine Medical Center, reminded me about it. Schetky makes the same point that I did, which is that children are not necessarily harmed by growing up without
Many of you may have heard that openly lesbian Johanna Sigurdardottir was picked by Iceland’s Social Democratic Alliance Party to be the country’s next prime minister. The news gets even better, though: Johanna Sigurdardottir and her spouse Jonina Leosdottir, an author and playwright, have two adult sons (via Sigurdardottir’s previous marriage), making Sigurdardottir not only the
I wrote a letter to President-elect Obama with some thoughts about his upcoming presidency from my perspective as a lesbian mom. I can’t speak for all of us, but I hope some of my ideas find resonance. The letter also ran as my column in 365gay.com last week. I can’t crosspost it yet, but since
So hot off the presses, it’s still smoking . . . . This just in via Lambda Legal. A federal court judge has ordered the Louisiana State Registrar to recognize an out-of-state adoption by two gay dads, and issue a birth certificate recognizing both as parents. “This sends a strong message to state officials across
Nothing like a woman about to have a baby to spur people into action. New York State officials have been pondering the many ways they need to carry out Gov. David Paterson’s directive that state agencies respect out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples. New York residents Carolyn Trzeciak and Nina Sheldon Trzeciak, who married in Canada
The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission has completed its final report. It found that the state’s civil union law “invites and encourages harm to same-sex couples and their children” and cites “overwhelming evidence” the civil union law will never provide equality with the passage of time. The entire 79-page report is quite a read.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman today declared Florida’s 30-year-old ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians unconstitutional, saying, “It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person’s ability to parent.” ‘Bout time they realized that. State lawyers have already said they will challenge the decision. At the moment, however, it
(Originally published by Bay Windows, November 13, 2008.) Many are blaming the passage of California’s Prop 8 on black voters, 73 percent of whom supported the measure. People have, however, mostly ignored another group that voted in a significant majority for Prop 8: parents. Sixty-four percent of voters with children under 18 voted for it,
