Gay marriage is illegal in North Carolina, and in May residents will vote on whether or not there should be a constitutional amendment banning it.

In light of the news of the suicide of 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer, who killed himself Sunday as a result of gay bullying in school, I thought I’d highlight a piece that’s gone viral over the last week by North Carolina Dad Eric Shepherd, who writes “observations from the intersection of religion, science, politics, and culture” at his blog def shepherd.  In a post titled, “Why A Heterosexual, Married, North Carolinian Father Of Three Cares About LGBT Equality,” Shepherd lays out exactly that: his case for the passage of gay marriage rights in his state.

He writes, “I’ve had people ask why I am so vocal about the issue of LGBT equality. Why is a heterosexual, married father so concerned with what gay people can or can’t do? I don’t have a dog in this fight, do I? I find those kinds of questions to be puzzling (and telling), as if we should value the rights of one group of humans over any other group, or only be concerned with the welfare of a group to which we belong.”  Then he quotes Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel as saying, “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”  The emphasis here is mine, since I want to point out that Anderson Cooper’s guests said the same thing about the use of neutral language and its inability to fight gay bullying in schools. Continue reading »

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Brett Bowden on the field in younger days

It’s important to teach kids that rules must be obeyed, right? But that they can never be broken, or even bent? Ever, never? What’s that teaching them?

Brett Bowden has played on the Hobbton High School football team in North Carolina for the past two years. He suited up for every game and was a fixture on the sidelines, cheering on his team and even scoring an official touchdown in one game despite the fact that he rarely played. Oh, and he has Down Syndrome, too.

This month he learned he won’t be able to play football this season — his senior year — because he’s too old. He recently turned 19, an age which the North Carolina High School Athletic Association has deemed too old for participation in high school sports.

Continue reading »

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The army wife who was asked to leave a military housing office when she began nursing her daughter has received a much needed apology.

Jess Lanham was waiting with her 8-month-old daughter at the military housing office on the Fort Bragg army base when the girl got hungry, as babies tend to do. While filling out paperwork in a private office, Lanham covered herself, unbuttoned her top and discreetly let the girl latch on. Continue reading »

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Zahra Baker's stepmother, Elisa Baker, with her "jailhouse letters."

The body of missing Australian girl Zahra Baker has been positively identified just a few days before what would have been her 11th birthday, ABC News reports.  Hickory, North Carolina Police Chief Tom Adkins announced during a press conference today that officials “have recovered enough physical evidence to believe (they) have found Zahra.”

The Baker family, comprised of Zahra, her father Adam and her stepmother Elisa, had been living in Caldwell County, N.C., where the disabled girl’s body was found.  According to ABC, “Zahra’s birth mother, Emily Dietrich, flew from her home in Wagga Wagga, Australia, on Thursday ahead of the announcement.”  (Dietrich relinquished custody of Zahra when she was a baby.)  Police say ”the remains were consistent with the child,” according to medical examiners on site.

Although Zahra was sadly not found alive, there is some relief at least that her remains have been recovered.  The next step, of course, is to determine who killed this poor girl.  Adkins said, “This case isn’t over and we won’t rest until we have all the information we need to bring the people to justice who hurt Zahra.”  If the jailhouse letters written by Elisa Baker are to be believed, Adam Baker, who is not currently in jail, may have had a hand in his daughter’s gruesome demise. Continue reading »

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In case you haven’t heard, a little restaurant on the Carolina shore is making waves in parenting circles all across the country.  The Olde Salty restaurant in Carolina Beach, NC put a sign in its window (pictured) that reads, “Screaming Children Will NOT Be Tolerated.”  However, given the sea-faring name of the establishment, I can only assume crusty old one-legged pirates and weary, stinky fisherman are more than welcome.  Last night on AC360, Anderson Cooper joked, “I’m wary of any restaurant named old-y,”  but many families are taking this whole thing quite seriously.  Continue reading »

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An unemployed mother in Winston-Salem, N.C., was told she had to stop breastfeeding her baby while waiting to meet with a jobs counselor. After all, it was office policy that nursing moms take their nastiness to a private room, if available, or … outside.

When an office receptionist informed Elizabeth Abbott, mother of four, that the nursing baby was making others in the office — the men in the office — uncomfortable and that she needed to stop or leave.  Continue reading »

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Marriage is not a perfect institution, what with all the shared space, divergent tastes and difficulty balancing life as an individual with life as the member of a unit.

Sometimes you make it work, sometimes you go out and sleep with a videographer, father a child, make a sex-tape and make plans for life after your wife dies — while said wife is still alive. Sometimes you promise Dave Matthews to the wrong person!

And when that happens, sometimes you split up. Legally separate, as it were. Like John and Elizabeth Edwards apparently (finally?) have. Continue reading »

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