Strollerderby : gay families

Morning News: D.C.'s Lovin' Gay Families

Madeline Holler — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:00:00 GMT

The walls of intolerance appear to finally be crumbling. It even seems like states -- and non-states -- are scrambling to show gay families the love.

On the same day that Vermont became the fourth state to recognize gay marriage, the Washington, D.C. Council voted to do the same. The Council's vote is the first step in passing a big fat gay marriage bill, which is just really exciting (and shhhhh, don't tell the Mormons!). All of this comes a week after Iowa (Iowa!) approved gay marriage. Man, when Iowa says gay marriage ain't no thing, doesn't that make California slap it's forehead once or twice?

Oh, oh, and as if recognizing gay marriage wasn't enough (and it's not, actually), those crazy Obamas invited a bunch of gay families to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll. They've set aside tickets just for gay and lesbian families as a part of their effort to "reach out." Of course, with all this support and recognition of gay and lesbian families, the whole my-two-moms thing is going to lose some of its cool. Huh. Progress.

Speaking of losing one's cool, a couple of Gisele Bundchen's body guards apparently fired shots at photographers during Bundchen and Tom Brady's wedding. Costa Rican police are investigating.

Think Tom Brady had to give Bundchen a gift just to get her to sleep with him? We ask, because the Telegraph is reporting on a new study that says chimps will have sex for gifts and of course, we mean logically!, it follows that women put out for trinkets wrapped in pretty boxes. Oh, female primates. We're so simple!

We can also detect body odor better than men. Were just sniffing out biological information, the story goes (and also looking for a cute new purse!).

In bad economy news, the Juilliard School's program for poor students has been drastically slashed. While 50 students will return for a second year in the fall, the school won't be holding auditions for a new incoming group. The program was held up as a national model and is suffering the fate of so many arts programs.

The death toll from Monday's earthquake in Italy just keeps going up. The latest number is 228 -- many are young children.

Bloomin' Weird Name for Naked Chef's 3rd Girl

Quest for Sons in One-Child China Fuels Abductions

Photo: MSNBC.com

Jon Stewart Slam Dunks the Argument for Gay Marriage

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:42:00 GMT

There are few things more satisfying than watching someone make a clear ethical and logical argument for something you believe in, particularly when that argument is being broadcast to living rooms around America--and is being made to Mike Huckabee.

Just one of the many reasons this video made me love Jon Stewart even more than I thought possible: "I would argue," he says, "that a loving gay family with a financially secure background beats the hell out of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline anyday." That is really just the tip of the iceberg of his eloquence.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Photo: sueschaub.com

HRC Launches All Children -- All Families Campaign

Shannon LC Cate — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:30:00 GMT

In the wake of Arkansas's ban on gay foster and adoptive parenting and Miami-Dade's ruling against Florida's similar ban, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) launches a new adoption "awareness" campaign to increase opportunities for children who need them to find permanent homes by expanding opportunities for glbt people to foster and adopt.

As an adoptive mom who puts myself into the public view as such, I am sometimes approached by would-be adoptive parents (not necessarily queer ones) who want to know how to vet an adoption agency's ethics. One tip I offer is to find out how open the agency is to working with queer prospective parents. Whether you are a single lesbian or a heterosexual couple legally married for ten years, it's just a good sign when an adoption agency welcomes both sorts of parents equally.

Why?

Because it's an indication that the agency is more concerned about finding a family for babies than it is to procuring babies for a certain type of "customer." Opening adoption to any and all qualified parents is a child-centered attitude towards adoption and that is the only ethical attitude, in my opinion. For me, opening adoption to glbt parents is not about anyone's right to parent. It is about every child's right to a family.

Ethica, an organization dedicated to increasing ethics in child placements agrees with me and has a statement to that effect on its website. The jury has been in on this for a while in fact, numerous professional organizations have endorsed glbt parenting for years.

The HRC has some helpful documents at their site including guidelines to adoption agencies for making themselves more welcoming to glbt parents, a short list of agencies officially participating in the campaign (not an exhaustive list of glbt-friendly agencies), letters of support for the campaign from interested organizations and other great tools.

Of course nothing can be done for the children deprived of permanent families by draconian laws like the one recently passed in Arkansas. But the more we advocate for children who need homes, the more the ethical bankruptcy of such laws will become apparent.

Image: Donita Jacobson Photography

Prop. 8 Protests Spawn Hope and Great Photos

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:22:00 GMT

Yesterday, thousands gathered in 300 cities across the United States to protest the passage of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California. The protests were a poignant and powerful reminder that no civil right is easily won.

Equality for gay families will be an uphill battle--all of the 30 states that have voted on gay marriage have banned it--but the impressive organization and high turnout of yesterday's peaceful protests demonstrate that the gay rights movement has the momentum to fight for as long as it takes.

Jezebel has posted a slideshow of photos of the protests submitted by readers across the country. I'm unable to post individual selections from the slideshow (aptly titled "Love Not Hate"), but, as you can tell from this one highlight on the right, it's worth browsing the whole thing, especially if you're feeling discouraged about the election's decidedly anti-gay rights outcome.

One of the photos shows a young woman carrying a sign that says, "Jesus Says Relax." I'd like to add to that my favorite Jon Stewart quote. Speaking of gay marriage a few years back, he said, "I really don't see what the big deal is--unless, of course, they're going to make it mandatory."

Photo: Jezebel

John McCain Doesn't "Believe In" Gay Parents

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:16:00 GMT

One would think that John McCain would be the most likely candidate to understand the importance of making unwanted babies into wanted ones, since he and his wife have an adopted daughter. But his support of adoption only goes as far as his ideology—or his political interests—will allow. He recently stated, “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don't believe in gay adoption.”

I’m so glad that writer Terrence Heath, who recently adopted a baby with his husband, thoroughly took McCain to task so I don’t have to. In an elegant essay on Huffington Post, Heath points to the arguments raised in the California Supreme Court decision to allow same-sex marriage, including the assertion that adoptive parents are just as “adept” at raising children as biological parents—and to argue that gay parents shouldn’t adopt is a slippery slope to being anti-adoption. Heath includes stats from numerous studies showing that gay parents are just as likely as straight parents to raise healthy, happy kids.

Lastly, Heath points to the tragedy of three-year-old Turner Jordan Nelson, whose father killed him by throwing him over a bridge in the midst of a nasty custody battle. According to the thinking of the anti-gay parent faction (including McCain), this father is a “real" parent because he is a straight man who “created” his son through vaginal intercourse, while Heath and his husband, a loving couple committed to always doing what's best for their child, are not.

Fortunately for unwanted babies everywhere, parents like Heath exist whether McCain believes in them or not.

Photo: aglp.org

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/07/03/mrs-and-mrs-degeneres-and-a-male-perspective-on-the-name-game.aspx