My last name is the same as that of the famous reindeer. I also have red hair—which meant I was the target of quite a number of “Rudolph the Red-Haired Person” jabs when I was a kid. It wasn’t bullying, but it was annoying, until I learned to embrace the difference and just lord it […]
How do we help our parents as they age? For adults with non-LGBT parents, there are plenty of resources on how to help parents through the various legal, financial, and emotional issues of growing old. Search the Web or your favorite online bookstore for “aging parents,” and you’ll be swamped with results.
For adults who wish to help their LGBT parents, however, the resources are far fewer. And while many of the issues older LGBT and non-LGBT people face are the same, some are not.
Here are five “Don’ts” and five “Do’s” that I’ve developed to help potential allies when they first encounter LGBT families.
Tina Fakhrid-Deen writes at The Root of the struggles both she and her lesbian mother have faced and how they have helped each other through them. She offers this wonderful advice: Our job as mothers is to provide shoulders for our children to stand on and pray that they grow wings to outsoar us. The
The end of November through early January is one big party in our multi-celebration family, with Thanksgiving leading to Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, and my spouse’s birthday in quick succession. In between finding room for our son’s new Lego sets and making sure the cats don’t eat the tinsel off the tree or knock over the menorah, however, I like to think about resolutions for the coming year. Here are 11 for 2011 that I offer as suggestions for other parents as well—some generic, some with an LGBT twist.
Back-to-school time is upon us once again. We LGBT parents with kids in school are busy buying pencils and notebooks, rulers and knapsacks. We’re not that different from any others.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of participating in Fem 2.0’s “Work/Life in Our Communities Blog Radio Series” as part of a panel on “Work/Life and LGBT Families: Reimagining Policy for ALL Families in the 21st Century.” The radio series is part of their larger 2010 Wake Up! Campaign, which also includes
Sometimes people write to me with questions about parenting. I make no claim, however, to be an expert in all aspects of this grand adventure. I figure that collective wisdom has something to recommend it, though, and so I offer this one to you, readers, for your input. Tonight, our 2 1/2 year old, adopted
(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
Reader Laurie left a comment on the open thread earlier this week, and I wanted to bump it up to a full post so more people would see it. She raises a question many of us ask: I have a friend who is struggling with what to tell her 3 year old about not having
