Some sad news this morning from NPR: Reading Rainbow, the 26-year veteran of children’s television programming, airs its final episode today. The show has won more than two-dozen Emmys, and is the third longest-running children’s show in PBS history, after Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. The show is ending because no one will put up […]
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
(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
It’s back-to-school time for many of our children. For those of you, like me, prepping our kids and ourselves for the transition: What are you looking forward to about having your kids in school? What are you dreading (or at least not looking forward to)? If your kids are not yet in school, or you
I’ve written many times before about the excellence of the LGBT-inclusive diversity-education films by Groundspark, the organization headed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff. (Here’s my interview of Chasnoff about her latest film, Straightlaced, and an earlier one about the 10th anniversary of It’s Elementary.) Now comes the happy news that trailers for all of
(Originally published, with slight variation, as my Mombian newspaper column.) “I felt that teenagers in particular were really affected by anti-gay prejudice,” said Academy Award-winning filmmaker Debra Chasnoff, “but so much of the conversation that’s been had to date about that prejudice has been solely focused on how homophobia affects youth who are self-identified as
No, I’m not talking about Prop 8. I’m talking about the decision by the Alameda school board to adopt an LGBT-inclusive safe schools curriculum. I wrote last week about the brewing controversy in Alameda, so I’ll refer you to that post for the details. Here’s the short version: Supporters of the measure wanted to curb
I wrote the other day about an escalating situation in Alameda, California, where some conservative parents are objecting to including materials about LGBT families in the elementary school diversity curriculum. This morning, at 11:15 a.m. Eastern, 9:15 a.m. Central, 8:15 a.m. Pacific, Brad Dacus, founder and president of the conservative Pacific Justice Institute will be
Lest you think Prop 8 was the only controversial LGBT issue in California: First, the Alameda School District became the target of irate right-wing parents who learned that school officials were creating elementary school lesson plans that “talked about teasing and explained the different definitions of family.” The lessons included And Tango Makes Three, a
The recent suicides of two young boys after repeated bullying at school have made many of us, myself included, wonder what we could do. One of the ways the HRC Foundation Family Project has responded is to push up the May release of its “Introduction to Welcoming Schools” guide, “An Inclusive Approach to Addressing Family
