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LGBTQ Parents - Lesbian Moms & Gay Dads

Most-watched political video of 2011: An Iowan’s plea for marriage equality

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Zach Wahls became a hero in the lives of many when his plea for marriage equality became an online phenomenon. The 18-year old U of Iowa student stood before the Iowa House of Representatives to describe growing up as the son of two women. A sturdy Eagle Scout, Wahls described a childhood similar to that of other Iowa families. His YouTube video drew 18.3 million views to become the most-watched political video of the year, according to the website’s ranking of viral political videos.

“In my 19 years not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple,” Wahls told the committee. “And you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character.” Iowa’s state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in April 2009. Many gay rights activists credited the Wahls video for helping draw attention to the issue.

[via KCRG-TV9]

VIDEO: Talking with Zach Wahls

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Below is an interview between Iowa City’s Yale Cohn and Zach Wahls, the young man who gave the impassioned and inspiring speech defending marriage equality before the Iowa House of Representatives. His speech quickly went “viral” on the internet and resulted in a flurry of national media appearances and interviews. Zach talks about what it was like growing up with two mothers, what led him to decide to go and speak before the House of Representatives, how his life has changed after being thrust into the public eye, and what other young people can do to fight for equality and speak out against intolerance.

Cynthia Nixon wants to defeat anti-equality New York Senators

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Fight Back New York knows from the December 2, 2009 marriage vote that 30 Republicans and 8 Democrats do not support marriage equality.FBNY determines where efforts will have the most impact in a race that involves an anti-equality incumbent being challenged by a pro-equality candidate.

FBNY works with partners to engage in primary, general, and special elections. While 38 senators deserve defeat because of this vote, FBNY focuses on the best opportunities to defeat our enemies. Campaigns will be targeted and intense.

WATCH:

5-20-2010
Cynthia Nixon responds to homophobic Newsweek article

Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon – out mother of two – responds to a recent Newsweek column that questioned if openly gay actors can play straight characters in film and plays. Cynthia said, “I think it’s horrible. …I just feel like it’s hard enough to encourage people to come out of the closet without it affecting their careers. I think it’s set us back ten years.”

Meanwhile, Newsweek faces calls for a boycott and demands for an apology.

“Sex and the City 2” will be in theaters throughout the summer.

WATCH:

3/11/2010
Cynthia Nixon fights to keep homophobe out of office

Award winning actress – Cynthia Nixon – is helping a political group pass marriage equality in New York state. Initially, the group hopes to keep State Sen. Hiram Monserrate [Queens] – a “no” vote in the marriage equality debate – from winning back his seat.

“I am a lifelong New Yorker yet still do not have the same rights as most of my friends and neighbors,” Nixon says in the video made by Fight Back NY, which is going after senators who were against the marriage equality bill when it came to the floor for a vote last year.

WATCH PSA:

12/7/2009
Cynthia Nixon and ‘citizen lobbying’

Prolific actress [and lesbian mom] Cynthia Nixon shares a story on HuffPost about deeply religious Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson [D], who voted ‘yes’ to marriage equality in New York. Nixon worked with the Senator through her decision-making process, and witnessed a change of heart in the lawmaker.

Cynthia writes: “She spoke about how her mother had been a deacon in their church at a time when previously only men had been deacons. And how controversial that had been. And how vehemently many people opposed her mother’s appointment. And how none of those opposed could give any explanation for why her mother becoming a deacon was wrong, just that it was. Because it was new. Because it was shocking. Because it was an idea that took people a little time to get used to. She voted yes because gay people and straight people walked through her door in droves and wrote her letters and called her on the phone. And because she is a person of conscience. And because of one more thing that she didn’t tell us in her office that day: because she has a brother who is gay. I think of Ruth Hassell-Thompson and understand that citizen lobbying is important. So is getting involved with campaigns. So is contributing money. So is talking to your neighbors, and co-workers and family. More important than ever.”

5/18/2009
Making it official: Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni are getting married!

Actress Cynthia Nixon [Sex and the City] and longtime girlfriend Christine Marinoni are engaged.

Nixon broke the good news at the gay marriage rally in New York City on Sunday. Governor David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were also at the event.

Cynthia was previously married to Danny Mozes and has two children with him. They split in 2003. Christine is a public school advocate in NYC.

Congratulations moms!

WATCH Cynthia announce the engagement:

1/2/2009
Cynthia Nixon and family at Disneyland

Our friends at Queerty have shared a great photo of our favorite Emmy-winning lesbian mom, Cynthia Nixon.

Says Queerty, “Prior to riding in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s, the onetime Sex and the City star took her partner Christine Marinoni and their kids Charlie and Samantha to the Happiest Place on Earth. It’s not news, but it’s cute and it’s nice to see Disney publicist’s distributing press about gay celeb family visits as merrily as they do straight celeb fams.”

This spring, Cynthia told reporters, “I’m in a fantastic relationship. We shop and cook and raise children. We both pitch in.”

WATCH: McDonald’s French television commercial features gay teen in love

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McDonald’s focuses on a teen crush in one of its latest French ads, and the infatuation happens to include two boys. The fast food giant’s commercial features a dad and son at the restaurant. Dad is at the counter ordering food – while his son is looking at photos of his classmates and longingly talking to someone on his cell. Viewers learn at the end of the commercial that the son attends an all-boy school.

The dialogue:

SON looking at his class picture and talking on the phone: “I was thinking about you too. I’m looking at our class picture. I miss you too. My dad’s coming, I have to hang up.”

DAD sitting down: “Is this your class picture? You look just like me at your age. Let me tell you, I was quite a ladies’ man! Too bad your class is all boys…you could get all the girls.

McDONALD’s text on black screen: “come as you are”

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Mother of four – and Iron Chef – Cat Cora brings help to Haiti

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Lesbian mother of four – Cat Cora – is helping bring relief to Haiti along with former Sen. Bob Kerrey and Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz. Cora is the founder of the relief group Chefs for Humanity [pictured], which delivers nutritional aid to those who badly need it.

Kerrey, who lost part of a leg while serving in the Vietnam War, helps provide aid at a Handicap International center that provides prosthetics for those who lost limbs in the quake. The group also visits a Partners in Health clinic that’s working to give Haitians access to health care.

According to Zap2it: “The goal of their trip was not just to parachute in and offer temporary assistance, but to help Haitians develop things like sustainable agriculture and nutritional education that can have lasting effects for months and years down the line.”

WATCH:

 

4/8/2009
BABY NEWS: Cat Cora and Jennifer Cora

‘Iron Chef America’ star Cat Cora is cooking for five after wife Jennifer Cora gave birth to their third child on Saturday, OK! Magazine reports.

The couple’s representative explains why they chose the name Thatcher Julius for their new son.

“Cat and Jennifer loved the old English name Thatcher, and Julius was Jennifer’s grandfather’s name. Both mom and baby are doing great!”

Cat is also pregnant with another boy and due in a few months.

They have two other boys, Caje and Zoran.

Cat has previously revealed that all the children have the same sperm donor.

3/11/2009
Iron Chef and wife each pregnant with a boy

Chef Cat Cora [l], star of Food Network’s Iron Chef America and Executive Chef of Bon Appetit announces she is 4-1/2 months pregnant with a boy. At 41, this is her first pregnancy and the fourth child for the Cora family. Cat and her partner, Jennifer [r], have two sons and Jennifer will deliver their third child, also a boy, in April. “Jennifer and I are thrilled to go through the wonderful experience of pregnancy together. We started the in-vitro process 5 years ago,” said Cat who is due in July. “This has been a miracle for us and we’ll now have 4 beautiful children.”

Together for nearly ten years, the Cora’s share a unique family story in which both women have carried the other’s biological child. Cat’s pregnancy is a result of in-vitro fertilization with Jennifer’s embryo. The couple’s sons, ages 5 years and 23 months, were both carried by Jennifer. She was artificially inseminated for her first pregnancy, but the second she carried to term using Cat’s embryo. In Jennifer’s current pregnancy, both women’s embryos were implanted, so the biological mother is unknown. They do not to plan to conduct DNA testing to determine the baby’s biological mother.

Each of the couple’s children was conceived through insemination or in-vitro with the same anonymous sperm donor, making the children biological brothers.

Video: Census Bureau urges same-sex couples to be counted

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With strong backing from the Census Bureau, we are hoping for maximum participation by same-sex couples in the first U.S. census that will tally those of us who say we’re married – even those without a marriage license.

For the first time, the bureau has deployed a team of professional field workers to reach-out to gays and lesbians.

The bureau unveiled its first public-service videos encouraging gay Americans to mail in their census forms.

The bureau’s willingness to count gay marriages – despite a federal law that denies legal recognition to any of them – has been hailed as a historic milestone by gay-rights leaders.

WATCH CENSUS VIDEO:

3/16/2010
Same-sex couples everywhere can report as ‘husband or wife’

How do you describe your household partner? Take our poll…

“The 2010 Census will be the first to report counts of both same-sex partners and same-sex spouses,” explains Adrienne Critcher of PACE, Louisiana’s LGBT political outreach group that’s working with U.S. Census Bureau.

“The person filling out the form [Person 1] is asked to identify how all other individuals in the household are related to him or her. Census data are based on how individuals self identify and how couples think of themselves. Same-sex couples who are married, or consider themselves to be spouses, can identify one other adult as a ‘husband or wife’. Other same-sex couples may instead decide to use the term ‘unmarried partner’. In general, people who identify as unmarried partners are in a close personal relationship but are not married or do not think of themselves as spouses. Census data are based on how individuals self identify. This includes same-sex couples who live somewhere their relationship is not recognized.”

2/17/2010
‘10,000 Couples’ hopes for accurate U.S. Census count of same-sex couples

For the first time in United States history, the U. S. Census Bureau will be counting same-sex partners and their families.

Delena Wilkerson – publisher of 10,000 Couples – states, “Visibility is a lot to ask of some same gender couples…’hate’ is still prevalent and discrimination against the LGBT community is codified.”

Dr. Gary Gates, expert demographer and Williams Institute Research Fellow, adds, “Americans have many misconceptions about the LGBT community that the Census data have allowed us to correct.”

He continues, “Although the 2010 Census does not include questions on sexual orientation or gender identity, the Census count of same-sex partners and their families provides vital information for and about the LGBT community.”

6/20/2009
White House: Census will count married same-sex couples

The AP reports that the 2010 census will include figures on the number of married gay couples in the United States.

Census officials said they plan to reverse a Bush administration policy that would have left same-sex couples off the upcoming census.

After some states sanctioned gay unions, the census bureau during the Bush administration said the marriages would not be counted. It claimed the federal Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

But the Obama administration says its interpretation of DOMA does not prohibit gathering the information. Gay marriage is now legal in six states.

3/10/2008
Gay families can be visible in 2010 Census

The U.S. Census Bureau – citing the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act – will edit responses on the 2010 census questionnaires and list same-sex couples as “unmarried partners”.

In other words, we can still be counted. The SF Gay and Lesbian Examiner recommends that same-sex couples check the “married” box on the Census form:

The Census can still glean indirect insight into the number of same-sex couples and their families from this information. If two people of the same sex identify as husband and husband or wife and wife, the census will retain that answer, but when results are released those people will be counted as unmarried partners.

The Feds say it’s too late to alter the 2010 Census form, because any changes have to be approved at least 2 years in advance by Congress. Since the Census is reported every 10 years, the next chance gay and lesbian couples and families have to be officially visible will be in 2020. And that depends on whether or not DOMA is repealed by 2018.

Video: Circle Surrogacy participates at Italy’s first seminar about parenting through surrogacy in the U.S.

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While surrogacy is illegal if done in Italy, having a child with the help of a surrogate mother in the U.S. is becoming more popular among Italian gay men. Circle Surrogacy hosted an informational seminar last Fall – about parenting options through surrogacy in the U.S. for Italian and Swiss residents.

Experienced parents and lawyers shared their knowledge with interested parents. Participants also heard directly from an American surrogate mother who gave birth to a baby for an Italian gay couple.

The program included presentations by a surrogate mother from the U.S., Italian fathers and lawyers specializing in international surrogacy and other parenting options for Italian gay men. Additional legal and practical advice was provided by John Weltman, an American gay father and also the founder of Circle Surrogacy, an agency that helps people from around the world to become parents in this manner.

WATCH VIDEOS FROM THE EVENT:



Article adapted from original press release
11/09

Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe confronts homophobia in new public service announcement

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Daniel Radcliffe’s voice will be heard in a public service announcement in support of The Trevor Project – a youth suicide prevention group supporting gay teens.

“I grew up knowing a lot of gay men and it was never something that I even thought twice about — that some men were gay and some weren’t,” the “Harry Potter” star said. “And then I went to school and (for) the first time … I came across homophobia. … I had never encountered it before. It shocked me.

“I have always hated anybody who is not tolerant of gay men or lesbians or bisexuals. Now I am in the very fortunate position where I can actually help or do something about it.”

The celebrated actor recently taped the PSA in New York City and then toured The Center for the Trevor Project.

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U.S. surrogate visits Israeli gay couple and their children

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Dawn – a surrogate mother in the United States – delivered twins for an Israeli gay couple. She recently visited the family along with her husband. The reunion was featured on Israeli TV in a story about gay men who increasingly turn to U.S. surrogacy in their quest for parenthood. Also featured in the news clip are the Israeli couple, Circle Surrogacy’s president – John Weltman – and the agency’s Israeli liaison. The report is also a unique opportunity to hear about surrogacy from the perspective of the surrogate’s husband.

Circle Surrogacy has a channel on YouTube. Check it out for an archive of surrogacy related videos, and links to similar content on other channels. Among the clips are videos from seminars in Tel Aviv, Stockholm, Paris, New York and other locations.

WATCH the Israeli news report featuring Dawn:

Video: Comedian Sarah Silverman calls out marriage discrimination on ‘The View’

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Comedian, actress, and writer – Sarah Silverman – is forceful and blunt when she talks about marriage equality.

On a recent airing of “The View”, Sarah said:

“I cannot imagine wanting to get married at this time in America. If you’re for equal rights, why would you want to get married? It’s like joining a country club that doesn’t allow Blacks or Jews. There’s no difference.”

Silverman was dating talk show host Jimmy Kimmel for some time, and now she’s seeing “Family Guy” writer and producer – Alec Sulkin.

New episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program can be seen Thursdays, 10:30PM/9:30.

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