(Originally published in Bay Windows, August 6, 2009.) It is August now, and for many parents, that means the all-too-swift descent towards back-to-school time. It seems apt, then, to take another look at the ongoing issue of including discussion of LGBT families in classrooms. Many ultra-conservatives warn that our schools are being invaded by nefarious […]
Let’s start with a funny: Wanda Sykes is experiencing the . . . plumbing issues . . . that many of us encounter with our male infants. (Via Queerty.) School issues: School officials in Ramona, California, told sixth-grader Natalie Jones that she couldn’t share her independent study project in class like the other students. The
Another 11-year-old boy, Jaheem Herrera, has hanged himself after enduring repeated bullying. (The horrible news comes via Will at Pam’s.) There is some reporting that he was bullied with anti-LGBT taunts, among others. Just last week, after the suicide of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, I asked “How many more children must die before we as a
Tragedy: GLSEN reports, “An 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hung himself Monday [April 6] after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother’s weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. This is at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying this year.”
The news came fast and furious this week: The good: A Kentucky bill to ban unmarried couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents is effectively dead after not being called for a floor vote this session. Good news. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that the antigay Arizona-based Adoption Profiles, LLC and Adoption Media,
Today marks the start of No Name-Calling Week, “an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.” The event was created five years ago by GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight
365gay.com has just posted a long piece of mine on new research about how parents’ reactions to their LGBT children can have long-term effects on their children’s health and well being. Seems obvious—and you may even have seen the news a few days ago when the first paper on this work came out. I’ve gone
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) has just launched Cultivating Respect, a program to address anti-LGBT sentiment in the nation’s schools. The program includes “training seminars for local parents and allies, empowering PFLAG supporters at the local level to work directly with their community leaders and school administrators to protect LGBT students.”
Because the financial bailout isn’t the only thing happening this week: Ten-year-old Kira Findling of Sebastopol, California, wrote “Please Let My Moms Be Married,” a moving plea to vote no on Prop. 8, for the Press Democrat newspaper. A new report by the nonpartisan Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York concludes that gay
