Never underestimate the power of protest. After public outrage and an imminent investigation by the state Division of Human Rights, a Long Island library board reversed its decision to remove Pride displays from its children’s sections. Displays will now stay up through at least July 15.
A public library board in New York has voted “to remove all Pride Displays, in addition to removing all books of the same subject on display, from all Children’s sections.” The president of the board, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, opposed the action.
A few news items on queer parents that I haven’t covered elsewhere!
A new law is now in effect in the state of New York that not only legalizes gestational surrogacy but also simplifies and strengthens the legal recognition of nonbiological parents and single parents in families formed through assisted reproduction. Easy forms? No home study? Yes, please!
In a year like no other, LGBTQ families, like all others, struggled with the physical, mental, and economic challenges of the pandemic. And with children of LGBTQ parents much more likely to live in poverty than those with non-LGBTQ parents, the pandemic may have hit many LGBTQ families, like those of other marginalized groups, particularly hard. Pandemic aside, there were many political and legal challenges—and a few victories—directly related to LGBTQ parents and our children in the U.S. this year. Here are the highlights, good and bad.
Marriage equality has been the law nationwide since 2015, but married and unmarried LGBTQ couples who use third-party assisted reproductive technologies (ART) still face significant obstacles in most states to securing ironclad legal parentage for both parents. Progress in a few states, most recently in New England, may point the way forward.
“Noxious”; “heartless and dumb”; “discriminatory and repugnant to our values”—these are just a few of the words that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo used to describe the Trump Administration’s proposed rule that would allow taxpayer-funded foster care and adoption agencies, along with other healthcare entities, to discriminate against LGBTQ people and others. Cuomo pledged to fight the rule and to continue supporting LGBTQ people in New York who want to become parents or care for children in need.
It’s been a disappointing few days for legislation that would have helped LGBTQ families, as bills that would have more effectively protected families formed through assisted reproduction failed in both New York and Rhode Island.
New York State, where the Stonewall Riots accelerated the LGBTQ rights movement, is in many ways one of the most LGBTQ-friendly states around. Yet the state’s laws do not yet effectively protect families created through assisted reproductive technologies. That could change very soon.
