What a year. It’s tempting, in a year-end wrap-up, to put a big bow on what we put a ring on and call it a day. While marriage brought us many advances, however, it also highlighted other issues that we still need to tackle in order to bring full equality and inclusion to LGBTQ parents and our children.
Did 2014 bring LGBTQ parents and our children closer to equality? Most visibly, it was the year that marriage equality spread to most of the U.S.—a great thing for many families, but certainly not all that happened.
This past year has been full of events—positive and negative — that have impacted the struggle for equality of LGBT parents and our children. Here are some highlights.
(Originally published as my Mombian newspaper column, hence the slightly belated posting here. But it’s still January, so I figure it’s still good.)
As 2010 gives way to 2011, let us ask: How has the year been in terms of political and legal progress for LGBT parents and our children?
The most notable parenting-specific win of the year was arguably Florida’s judicial overturning of its ban on adoption by gay men or lesbians. Mississippi, however, continues to ban same-sex couples from adopting, and Arkansas, Michigan, and Utah ban unmarried couples, which means essentially the same thing. The federal Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would have withheld federal funds from states and other entities that discriminate against gay men and lesbians in adoption or foster care placements, was introduced in March, but failed to make it out of committee.
(I originally wrote this as my end-of-year newspaper column a few weeks ago. The Jenkins-Miller case has seen some action since that time. The rest, I hope, is a good look back before we move forward.) “Whether children are raised by two parents, a single parent, grandparents, a same-sex couple, or a guardian, families encourage
Who were the LGBT parents who made headlines this year in mainstream or LGBT news? Here are my top individuals or couples, in alphabetic (not rank) order. Please make your own additions in the comments—I realize I’m heavy on lesbian moms and light in other parts of the community (and on non-U.S. names).
Every TV news show and newspaper is publishing retrospective best-of lists for 2008. I gave in to the trend myself. Your turn, now. What were your favorite moments or events—personal, political, or otherwise—from the past year? (Leave a link if you’ve already posted on your own blog.)
Who were the LGBT parents who made headlines this year in mainstream or LGBT news? Here are my top individuals or couples, in alphabetic (not rank) order. (This started as a top-ten list, but outgrew that appellation by a bit. Consider it a holiday bonus.)
Originally published in Bay Windows, December 20, 2007 (online); December 27, 2007 (print). Was 2007 a good year for LGBT parents and our children? Politically, it was a mixed bag. Here are some highlights. In Massachusetts, we stopped marriage equality from going to the ballot. New Hampshire and Oregon approved relationship-recognition measures to give same-sex
