Family & Friends Articles

On Mother’s Day, Jay Bakker [pictured], son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, brought a group of LGBT families to worship at Lakewood Church, in Texas - the largest mega-church in the U.S. After the service, Bakker met privately with Lakewood’s pastor, Joel Osteen, to talk about faith, family, and LGBT people.

After the meeting, Bakker released the following statement:

We've got a wide range of women who visit and contribute to ProudParenting.com's network. Some like to comment on articles, some lurk - while reading as much as possible, and many women are writing blogs.

In honor of Mother's Day weekend, we are highlighting some of the women on our site. Six females who have the calling to be a parent. Each has created an insiteful and entertaining blog, and they are featured in our Editor's Picks area [upper right corner of the page].

Research indicates that lesbian and gay kids want to be married with children by the time they're in their 30's. In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, social scientists have found that many lesbian and gay youth have expectations of spending their adult life in a long-term relationship raising children.

Howard Ludwig is a straight stay-at-home dad who visited a play group hosted by The Center on Halsted. The Center provides local LGBT outreach - and started the play group for lesbian and gay parents [and their kids] three months ago.

Howard writes about his experience in the suburban Chicago news source, SouthtownStar.com.

This week Hillary Clinton told Ellen DeGeneres that she will "defend gay rights as President and eliminate inequality for same sex couples in federal law".

She shared a story about a gay male couple [who lived next door to her parents] denied hospital visitation because they weren't considered "family" under current legislation. One of the men got sick, and they were faced with a horrible situation. See the video below.

Elsewhere in the interview, Ellen and Hillary talk about the possibility of quitting the race for the Democratic presidential nomination because she's behind.

Proud Parenting member - Todduscraig - is ecstatic in his latest blog post. And rightly so. His family's adoption story started over two and a half years ago. They jumped into action as soon as the Democratically controlled Colorado legislature and governor signed-off on second parent adoption.

His blog entry begins:

We are more alike than we are different. Results of two separate university studies show that same-sex relationships are similar to those of opposite-sex couples in many ways.

ScientificBlogging.com explains:

"The stereotype that couples in same-sex relationships are not as committed as their heterosexual counterparts and are therefore not as psychologically healthy is disputed by two studies featured in the January issue of Developmental Psychology."

Psychological studies of lesbian and gay couples reveal two key factors that promote healthier relationships: (1) flexibility about gender roles, and (2) equal division of parenting and household tasks.

ProudParenting.com member - KristenB - has been blogging about her family background, which includes being raised by her lesbian mom and partner.

In her first post, she writes:

"I have great pride for my mom, who divorced my dad when I was very young. She knew she couldn't pretend to be something she wasn't and I admire her for leaving my brothers behind as she raised me. I can imagine it wasn't an easy decision."

Celine Dion gives a brief interview to the London blog Me-Me-Me.tv. She's asked what she might do if her six-year-old son, Rene Charles, turns out to be gay.

Celine responds: "I want him to be successful as a human being. I want my son to be able to talk to me. I’m with him, I wanted that son. If he’s a gay person, he’s not any less of my son, or any less happy for that."