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A Mother’s Day Card to all LGBT parents
On Mother’s Day mornings, my son, Jesse, leads the way in bringing me breakfast in bed with flowers. He got the idea on his own three years ago at the age of seven. “You do everything their mothers do,” he explained at the time. “This is your day, too.” So with that, I would like to send you an open Mother’s Day Card for all LGBT parents, including gay, bisexual, and transgender dads. I offer this up as a Father’s Day Card for all lesbian, bisexual, and transgender moms, as well…
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A gay dad’s challenge to ‘anti-gay rhetoric hoop shooter, Mike Huckabee’
I have a confession to make. As much as I loathe clichés and generalizations, there is one that I live up to with incredible gusto. I typify the gay guy who doesn’t do sports. Not even a little bit. From the pains of never getting picked for teams in PE to the days of racking up huge Trivial Pursuit momentum only to be demolished by the final Orange pie question (for those too young for the original Trivial Pursuit, that was the “sports” category), I am the ultimate sports nerd…
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My lovely transgender friend, struggling to survive in Nigeria
I have a lovely friend. She is a transgender woman who lives in Nigeria. Her dream, at present denied her, is to be a professional dancer and actress. In her heart and in her spirit, she is both. As I think about her, I imagine the words and music from the song “Mirror and the Music” from the show A Chorus Line encompassing her as she goes to sleep each night…
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What happens when a son tells his gay dad, ‘I want to become a Boy Scout’?
I really don’t know why I can’t seem to see these things coming. I blog about them. I write about prejudices, I have argued with countless anti-gay people, and I have diligently parented to the best of my ability. And yet, these situations emerge and again, I am caught like the proverbial deer in the headlights, unsure which path to take, and positive that all choices lead to certain destruction…
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Did you hear the one about the homophobes who wanted to adopt out their lesbian daughter?
Jokes are supposed to be funny. They always start with a set up and then build to a crescendo where the plot twists and the listener bursts out laughing. Last week a “joke” went viral, but no one was left laughing. The “joke” was an article titled, “Parents put 16-year-old daughter up for adoption after learning she is gay.” … The piece was written as humor…satire… but none of the 72,000 who shared it took it that way. They believed it to be real. Who could blame them?
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A gay dad sounds off about the anti-gay Easter dad and his ‘preacher’ son
My 10-year-old son Jesse had big plans Easter morning. His desire to rise early was not to go searching for the Easter basket the mystical bunny was likely to have left him, it was to make French toast as a surprise for me, his dad. That special pleasing Dad bond is an important one for many young boys. Jesse was not alone in that objective. Three thousand miles away, another boy, Nolan Cranford was preparing to please his dad. Unlike my son, Nolan’ endeavors did not involve syrup and buttery niceness. The way to his dad’ heart was to shout at exiting Church goers and condemn them to hell…
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A gay dad, Republican fathers and four big questions for Rob Portman
I relate to the Portman family on many levels. Like Will Portman, I am also the son of a staunch Republican dad to whom I came out. My dad is older than Rob Portman. He adheres very much to the viewpoints of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Rob Portman presumably knows all those people personally. Like the Portmans, we too had our political theory versus family integrity moment…
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A gay dad’s open letter to Pope Francis
As a gay dad, and a professional, I thought it would be fitting to do what one should, as a matter of courtesy, when someone gets a new job. You send a note of congratulations. So, on behalf of my family, including my two 10-year old sons, I am doing just that. Our note includes a suggested five point plan based on the principles that I have used with my sons, and that they have found effective…
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A gay dad’s bittersweet, belated Valentine to Meg Whitman
Last week was extraordinary. The issue of same sex marriage was discussed more intelligently than ever before. In depth thought and information, including an outstanding synopsis by the American Sociological Association, appeared as amici briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. One of these was from 278 employers and organizations arguing from a pro-business perspective. These industry leaders stated that for them to “attract the best employees and colleagues” they must “offer robust workplace benefits and a workplace ethos of transparent fairness.”
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5 reasons why a Supreme Court ruling for marriage equality could benefit the GOP
One thing that I have learned as a parent to two 10-year-old boys — sometimes while a child sometimes says he wants one thing, he secretly may be hoping that he doesn’t get it. Their voices quiver as they ask for it, while their eyes say “get me out of this mess, Daddy!” That is kind of what is happening these days with the GOP and the Supreme Court and their former favorite wedge issue, the denial of marriage equality to LGBTQ people…