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Strollerderby
Zac with his brothers and two dads.
Zac had been shuffled from one foster home to the next after his mother was arrested and lost custody of her children. He lived in 12 foster homes in three years. When he was 11, the social worker assigned to his case finally found him a permanent placement … in a family with two dads. As Zac put it, “It didn’t matter to me. I told them, ‘Well, I never had a dad, now I get to have two!’”
Zac admits that adjusting to life with his dads, Arturo and Dave, or as he calls them, Dad and Dadio, was rough at first, and that they stuck by him even after he maxed out their credit cards without permission. In a Christmas letter to his family, he wrote, “If I could only ask for anything for Christmas I would only ask for my family.” Continue reading »
Actor, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka vacationing with their twins.
It’s a belief I’ve vocalized in the past when discussing gay marriage with friends: generally speaking, gays make better parents than heteros. The only reason I’ve come to this conclusion is that gay couples usually have to work really hard to have children. They can’t just pop ‘em out as easy as we heteros usually can. So, much like adopted parents, it seems that gay couples are generally really sure they want kids before having them.
Again, that’s generally speaking.
So that doesn’t necessarily mean all gays and lesbians will be amazing parents but, you know, actually wanting children is a pretty good place to start. So many hetero couples squeeze kids out just because nature has made it easier for them to get knocked up or society dictates getting married and having kids is what you’re supposed to do.
Still, I acknowledge this theory of mine is still just a generalization. But, generalization or no, a new study confirms my speculation. As Yahoo News reports, “in some ways gay parents may bring talents to the table that straight parents don’t.” Continue reading »
The hilarious Myq Kaplan. Photo by Mindy Tucker.
My friend Myq Kaplan is one of the funniest guys on the stand-up scene today. You may recognize him from Last Comic Standing and his own Comedy Central Presents special. I find his work especially remarkable because the intelligence level of his writing is nearly unparalleled, and yet his jokes remain totally accesible and extremely enjoyable. I guarantee you’ll belly laugh throughout this video of his recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, in which he talks about school bullying, gay couples having children and sharks in haystacks. Enjoy! Continue reading »
Congratulations to all the New Yorkers who got married yesterday, especially those who had been waiting such a long time to do it. I teared up at photos of couples who’ve spent the past fifty years together finally getting their marriage licenses. It was a great day for New York.
As incredible as the day was for gay and lesbian couples who are finally able to tie the knot in New York, it was also a huge day for another group of people: their kids.
Many of the queer couples getting hitched in New York this weekend are moms and dads. How will their newly married status change their lives?
Owner Karen Paperno says yes.
In one small Brooklyn neighborhood, a quaint baby shop caters to the various growing families that inhabit the progressive Park Slope neighborhood. Boing Boing, a store that sells assorted nursing and baby gadgets is also is offering a 10 percent discount to lesbian moms, and some say it’s unfair.
Owner Karen Paperno who opened the store fifteen years ago, says she has every right to offer this discount since it is her store and she also has a good reason behind it.
She says it her way of honoring her neighborhood which has a large proportion of gay and lesbian parents and she also cites that women get paid incredibly less than men.
Single mamas are still seen as "bad for society"
It’s a week of good news for gay teens. First, there’s Kurt and Blaine’s kiss. Now we have news that gay families are becoming, well, normal. Gay parents are finding more acceptance than ever, in their home communities and our broader culture. The teens growing up today will, one hopes, live in an ever more tolerant society.
A new Pew study shows that the majority of Americans now think gay families are at least OK, and many think they add something valuable to society.
Not so single mamas. Only a third of Americans are accepting of family situations involving a single mom. That hasn’t changed much in the decades since Dan Quayle tore into fictional TV character Murphy Brown for being a single mom. Why are we so stubbornly judgmental about women raising their children alone?
Two dads, no mom
What do endangered species and same-sex couples have in common? Last week, scientists reported findings in the journal Biology of Reproduction that could have implications for both down the line — creating a baby with genetic information from two dads and no mom.
The study, led by scientists at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, produced mouse babies using genetic material from two male mice, eliminating the mouse mom DNA. The babies even grew up normally and went on to mate themselves and produce healthy babies. Here’s how it worked, and what it could mean for the future of reproductive biology: Continue reading »
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