LGBTQ Parenting Roundup
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!
minnesota
LGBT Parenting Roundup: “We’re Not Superhuman” Edition
A miscellany of LGBT parenting news, from the personal to the political, that I haven’t covered elsewhere.
12 Ways to Include Your Children in Your Wedding
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 Bakes Cakes for Minnesota Same-Sex Weddings
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 Proves 13 Is Lucky
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.
Colorado Passes Civil Unions Bill; Lesbian Moms Again in Spotlight
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.
Daughter of Lesbian Moms Speaks Out Against Minnesota Amendment
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.
Weekly Political Roundup
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
Organizing for Safe Schools in Minnesota
I posted a blurb in my last LGBT Parenting Roundup about the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota, which agreed to pay a $25,000 settlement to the family of a high school junior after two teachers harassed the boy in the classroom about his perceived sexual orientation. I received the e-mail below from a local mother
LGBT Parenting Roundup
Shirley Tan, the lesbian mom in California who was on the verge of being deported and separated from her partner and twin sons by immigration officials, has been given a two-week reprieve. Congressional sponsors reintroduced the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, which states that federally funded sex education programs in the nation’s public schools