Posts Tagged ‘lesbian’

There’ll Be No Coming Out In My House

Monday, June 2nd, 2014

A ClosetIf you’re a parent, you’ve undoubtedly heard plenty of stories of kids coming out to their parents that they are gay or lesbian.  Some of them have been amusing, others endearing, and some, unfortunately, have been heartbreaking.  Parents have responded with humour, with understanding, and with fear and loathing.  Some parents have gone so far as to disown their children and kick them out of the house.  That won’t happen in my house, but I’ll tell you that there also won’t be any “coming out” either.

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San Francisco History — The Project

Monday, June 3rd, 2013

Sara in her pride shirt and mouse earsA few weeks ago, my daughter came home with a list of topics and an assignment to do some sort of project about something related to San Francisco history.  She had been instructed to pick one that her parents knew about so she could get help with it.  I scanned the list of possible subjects and spotted The Gay Rights Movement.  That was a no-brainer.  I grew up in San Francisco and remember the assassination of Harvey Milk as if it were yesterday.  I spent a lot of time — for a straight kid with straight parents — in the Castro because it was close to where I had rehearsals and not too far from the Opera House.  It was a neat place to hang out on the way home.  So, it seemed obvious which topic would be best.  After all, what do I know about cable cars?

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Marriage Equality Is Not Acceptable

Monday, June 3rd, 2013

Photo: Mensatic/Morguefile.comIn 2004, newly elected mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom threw away his political future when he directed the county clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to all couples, regardless of their genders.  This kicked the fight for marriage equality into high gear and here we are, almost ten years later, and we are well on our way to universal marriage equality in this country.  And that’s not acceptable.  Or, rather, it’s not enough.

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Florida Boys Get New Parents

Thursday, January 20th, 2011

It shouldn’t be news, actually.  Foster kids get adopted all the time.  Not as often as we’d all like, certainly, but it does happen.  So why would anyone care that Martin Gill adopted his two foster children?  Gill was the boys’ foster parent for 6 years before the adoption became final on Wednesday.  But it’s not so much the adoption itself that’s noteworthy but the route Gill took to get there.  You see, Martin Gill is gay and, until recently, Florida was the only state in the nation with a law on the books that barred homosexuals from adopting.  That is no longer the case, thanks to Gill and the ACLU.

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Couple’s Niece and Nephew Are Also Grandkids

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Here’s something you don’t see every day — a British couple has discovered that not only are they aunt and uncle but that they are also the grandparents of the same children.  Lynn and Charles Lowden learned that Lynn’s sister’s children were actually her own son’s offspring.  Now, before you start calling Jerry Springer, it’s not as bad as it might sound at first.

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Adoption Not Final In North Carolina

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Imagine adopting a child and being that child’s parent for nearly a decade and then being told, oops, you’re not the parent after all.  Now imagine that the reason for this is that the child’s birth mother, with whom you were raising the child, didn’t give up her parental rights.  That’s the ruling handed down by the North Carolina Supreme Court on Monday.  Apparently, if an unmarried man wants to be a father to his partner’s child but isn’t the biological father, the mother has to give up her parental rights.

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Zero Percent Abuse

Friday, November 12th, 2010

For years, hateful bigots have tried to associate gays and lesbians with pedophilia, claiming that gay and lesbian couples cannot possibly be allowed to be parents because it wouldn’t be safe for the children.  It looks like these folks are going to have to find a new boogeyman, based on the results of a new report.

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Suspended for a T-Shirt

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

The junior high and high school years are a time when kids are figuring out who they are and who they will become.  It’s important that we support them in that endeavor and make sure they know they are loved and accepted no matter what path they choose for themselves.  It’s also important that their school — teachers, administrators, and fellow students — take an active role in that support.  That’s why it’s especially heinous when a school does something like what happened in the Fort Smith School District in Arkansas.

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Student Teacher Fired For Hanging Out With Guys

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Teachers teach their students a lot more than just the three Rs of reading, writing, and ‘rithmatic.  They teach kids to have confidence and to try new things.  They get kids to strive for excellence and accept loss gracefully.  Teachers teach kids how to interact with others, both by telling them directly and by setting an example.  In short, teachers teach kids about the real world.  Except, perhaps, in Beaverton, Oregon where the real world apparently must be cleaned up and sanitized before telling the precious little snowflakes about it.

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The Changing Face of Childhood Riddles

Tuesday, September 28th, 2010

Let’s face it — children love riddles.  No matter how corny or silly — in fact, perhaps, the sillier, the better — they can’t seem to get enough.  And they don’t have to be new, either.  Consider these classics:

A plane crashes exactly on the border of the United States and Canada.  In which country would the survivors be buried?

A man sees an acquaintance standing on a corner with a dog.  He asks the friend if his dog bites; the friend says no but when the man tries to pet the dog, he gets bitten.  Still, the acquaintance told the truth — how is that possible?

A boy and his father were involved in a terrible automobile accident.  The father was killed instantly and the boy was rushed to the hospital and brought into the operating room where the head surgeon was waiting.  The doctor took one look at the child and declared “I cannot operate on this boy for he is my son!”  How can that be?

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