After a 2022 that brought a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation, reproductive rights setbacks, and other challenges for LGBTQ families, where should we focus our efforts to make progress in 2023? Several leading experts shared their thoughts with me.
Drag queen storytimes are under attack from politicians and white supremacists. Drag queen and children’s book author Lil Miss Hot Mess has been a target, but also a leading voice opposing this onslaught. She thinks kids and drag have a natural rapport.
This was going to be a very different column. Then 19 children and two adults were shot and killed by a gunman at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Anti-LGBTQ groups have been trying to push the idea that anti-LGBTQ, and particularly anti-transgender, legislation is about protecting children and preserving parents’ rights. As a queer parent, I know that’s a load of bunk. For the Trans Week of Visibility and Action, therefore, here are some actions we can all take to counter the many legislative
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has passed the state Senate and will almost certainly be signed into law. Bills are moving forward in Idaho and Alabama that would make providing gender-affirming care to minors a felony. And these are only three of a growing number of states that have passed or are trying to pass such repressive laws. How can we address this onslaught against LGBTQ children and youth?
A bill that just passed its final legislative committee hearing in Florida and now heads to the floor could soon squash all discussion of LGBTQ identities in schools—but Florida is not the only state pushing for such legislation. The attempt to remove content and discussion about LGBTQ and other marginalized identities from classrooms is a nationwide epidemic that must be stopped.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has told the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate parents of transgender children who give them access to doctor-prescribed, gender-affirming medical care—which he calls “child abuse.” This abhorrent act ignores legitimate science on the matter and will in fact endanger children’s lives and well-being.
It’s time for another roundup of LGBTQ parenting news I haven’t covered elsewhere, with stories on family creation, politics, censorship—and penguins!
Rounding it up again with various tidbits I haven’t covered elsewhere—including one about a Nebraska judge concerned that letting two women adopt would turn the court into an “imagination station”!
The LGBTQ community has lost a light this week. Monica Roberts, a groundbreaking transgender journalist and blogger, died in Houston at age 58. She started her blog, TransGriot, shortly after I began this one. I had the honor of meeting her at several conferences, and was always struck by her strength, knowledge, and commitment to lifting up trans youth.
