Straight Parent, Gay Kid
A Stranger’s Death Impacts My Life
Jeanne Manford and I are ConnectedThere are people in your life, past, present, and future who have a major impact on the way you turn out. Maybe it was your fourth grade teacher, like Mrs. Campbell, who had a kind word for you even when you couldn’t get the hang of long division, but who…
2012 in Sound bites
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly First, The Bad and The Ugly 2012 had some horrific moments: October’s Superstorm Sandy devastated, with biblical proportions, the Eastern Seaboard, from New York to Ohio. In December, a lone gunman annihilated elementary school children in Newtown, Connecticut. This followed the July “Batman” killings by another single “disturbed”…
“Don’t Ask For Whom The Bells Toll. They Do Not Toll For Thee!”
The Salvation Army Embeds Everywhere I bought furniture for my first apartment at The Salvation Army on the west side of Manhattan. When I moved out, I was eternally grateful to the organization; they not only took all my clutter, but came to my door and picked it up. And gave me a tax deduction!…
“There’s No Place Like Home For The Holidays.” Or Is There?
Home for the Holidays. Ah! Tried-and-true traditions you can count on: church on Christmas eve, Mom’s turkey with giblet gravy, Aunt Elsie’s mulled cider, and Dad’s rants about gay marriage. Some Tips for a Smoother, More Peaceful Holiday Don’t · To keep the peace in your parents’ house, don’t push your agenda on…
I Am Grateful for More Than The Norman Rockwell Scene
“With Heart, And Hands, And Voices… Whose Wondrous Things Have Done…” In two days, I will preside over my great grandfather’s dining table laden with pumpkins, gravy-stained linen, and all those good carbs as I share it with my children and my husband’s siblings (well, two out of three). We will bless the food, thank…
Slouching Towards Universal Gay Marriage
Prior to Election night 2012, gay marriage had been defeated every time it has been on a ballot in the U.S. In Maine, voters in 2009 overturned a law passed by the state legislature that permitted it. Thirty-two states followed suit and voted it down. The six states that allowed gay marriage were decided by…
Guest Post on Cyberbullying by Jessica Simmons
Today’s guest post is by Jessica Simmons, a graduate student and Yale University research assistant. Jessica is a board member of Connecticut’s GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network) that promotes safety in schools. She runs the website: http://MyKindnessCounts.com, a platform for youth to share experiences about bullying, and more importantly, positive actions, resulting from…
Celebrate National Coming Out Day on October 11, 2012
What is NCOD? October 11, 2012 is National Coming Out Day, celebrated in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (the latter on October 12th). The purpose of this day is to promote government and public awareness of gay, bisexual, lesbian, transsexual (GBLT) rights and to celebrate homosexuality. On this…
“The New Normal” Isn’t That New
The story line of “The New Normal“ would probably not have been written before this year: a gay wealthy couple are paying $35,000 to have a surrogate mother have their baby. Created by an out writer and a lesbian mom who had success with “Glee,”(popular with both straights and gays alike), “The New Normal” aired…