The Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation and is one of the key pieces of LGBT-related legislation pending this year. ENDA applies broadly across the LGBT community, and isn’t specific to those of us with children (as are, say, adoption rights), but some
Here’s a great resource for those of you with kids nearing college age. HRC has created a database of scholarships for LGBT and allied students. (Even though many straight children of LGBT parents consider themselves straight members of the LGBT community rather than “allies” per se, I assume they are eligible for many of these
Go read “Beyond the straight and narrow” by Australian lesbian mom Jaqueline Tomlins, about how she and her seven-year-old handled schoolyard teasing about their family. It’s one of the most thoughtful pieces on the topic that I’ve read—and I’ve read quite a few. (Written some myself, in fact.) Happy Monday!
Same-sex parents are used to the routine of crossing out “Mother” or “Father” on various forms and writing in whatever applies to our family. What happens, however, when this is asked on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, used by most colleges and universities to determine a student’s contribution towards the cost
Today kicks off 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 is organized by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), in partnership
Cate and Elizabeth Wirth, a lesbian couple in Vermont, were told by a Vermont district director of the Boy Scouts that they could no longer volunteer for their son’s Cub Scout troop after it became known that they are a couple. According to the Rutland Herald, Richard Stockton, Scout executive for the Green Mountain Council,
Last week, I wrote about the performance of a Tony Award-winning gay-themed musical by students at Massachusetts’ Concord-Carlisle Regional High School. Anti-LGBT group MassResistance was up in arms about a high school producing a “depraved homosexual musical” and was trying to use director Peter Atlas’ supposed friendship with Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education Kevin Jennings to
The drama group at Concord-Carlisle Regional High School in Massachusetts is performing William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning musical Falsettos this weekend. That might seem to be of only local interest, except that the play is about a man who leaves his wife for another man, and the impact of that decision on his
Many of you followed last spring’s story about the uproar by some conservatives when the Alameda, California school board decided to adopt an LGBT-inclusive safe-schools curriculum. Now comes a new ruling stating that because the diversity curriculum doesn’t constitute health education, parents cannot opt their children out of it. Finally, a glimmer of understanding that
Protect Maine Equality has responded to Stand for Marriage Maine’s Prop 8 copycat ad I posted about last week. They now have two new ads out, one that directly addresses the allegations raised by the right-wing ad. In my previous post, I cautioned the Maine equality group against responding in the same way the No
