The U.S. State Department seems to be having a contest with the Department of Health and Human Services over which can be more awful to the LGBTQ community. A February federal court decision had ruled that the two-year-old son of two married men, one a U.S. citizen and one an Israeli citizen, must be recognized as a U.S. citizen like his twin brother. The State Department now wants to overturn that ruling.
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled yesterday that the son of two married men, one a U.S. citizen and one an Israeli citizen, must be recognized as a U.S. citizen like his twin brother. But the ruling does not change a State Department policy that will allow continued discrimination against same-sex couples and their children.
Miss the Twitter party on travel for LGBT families a few weeks ago? It was an hour of non-stop stories and ideas — so much so that one of the hashtags was trending for some time. The Residence Inn team has recapped it on Facebook; Traveling Mom has culled some of the many responses to each question; and The Advocate has recapped it as well. Check them out for ideas to make your next trip a great one!
Less than a week after news broke that the State Department would be changing U.S. passport applications and Consular Record of Birth Abroad (CRBA) forms to say “Parent” and “Parent” rather than the gender-specific “Mother” and “Father,” the department has modified its decision. The Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday that the forms would instead say “Mother
On December 22, the State Department announced that they would be changing the U.S. passport application to say “Parent” and “Parent” rather than “Mother” and “Father.” Many of you may have played a part in making this happen: After running into the Mother/Father problem while completing a passport application for my son back in July, I
For many of us, becoming moms means barely having time to get the laundry done, much less help establish a grassroots LGBT organization in a foreign country, assist them in passing a LGBT-inclusive national antidiscrimination law, and set up “a vibrant and active” LGBT community where none existed.
That’s exactly what Mindy R. Michels and Melissa E. Schraibman did, however, and the U.S. State Department has honored them for it.
I applied for a new passport for our seven-year-old son the other day, but was stumped by the lines asking for “Father’s Name” and “Mother’s Name.” Yes, I’m used to this on forms—medical forms, school forms, etc.—as I’m sure many of you are, but since a passport is such a key piece of identity (and
The State Department announced it will now allow transgender people to receive a passport reflecting their new legal gender without requiring gender reassignment surgery. Certification from an attending medical physician that the person has undergone appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition is sufficient. The State Department also issued a proclamation in honor of LGBT Pride
