Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) has signed legislation updating the state’s parentage laws to reflect the many ways families are formed today and equally protect all of the children in them, including those with LGBTQ parents. At least three other states have similar legislation pending—though many others lag behind.
Catch up on a few of the stories about LGBTQ parents and our families that I haven’t covered already, including family profiles, information on paid leave for chosen families, and why no one should mess with lesbian mom and Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig.
Let’s end the week with a roundup of a few things I haven’t covered yet—family stories, some political bits, and school-related news!
A miscellany of LGBT parenting news, from the personal to the political, that I haven’t covered elsewhere.
Congratulations to all of the same-sex couples in Minnesota and Rhode Island who may choose to marry starting today. And on ABC Family’s The Fosters, fictional moms-of-five Stef and Lena are getting married on this coming Monday’s episode. I thought I’d mark the happy occasions by posting a revised version of a column I did several years ago, about planning a wedding if you already have kids.
Betty Crocker sits right up there with television’s June Cleaver as one of the icons of homemaking. How delightful, then, that General Mills, which owns the Betty Crocker brand, will be donating cakes to the first three same-sex couples to marry in Minnesota when it becomes legal to do so this Thursday — and that the brand is taking other steps to include same-sex couples in its marketing.
Minnesota will today become the 12th state to legalize marriage for same-sex couples—the 13th if one counts the District of Columbia—after the state Senate voted yesterday (May 13, 2013) to pass a marriage equality bill. Lucky 13.
The Colorado House followed the state Senate yesterday in passing a civil unions bill, which the governor has said he will sign. An AP photo of lesbian moms Fran and Anna Simon tops the CBS News report on the occasion; and a photo of the Simons and their son is part of this gallery at HuffPo.
Maya Wiener Berkowitz and her brother grew up in Minnesota with their two moms. Now, she is speaking out against a ballot measure in Minnesota that would make marriage for same-sex couples like her moms unconstitutional.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) says he will keep transgender rights in the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) even though some say that will kill the bill. House lawmakers are considering passing a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell this year that wouldn’t go into effect until later. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, chair of the Senate
