Regardless of gender identity, marital status, celebrity or accomplishments, no one should be forced to choose from narrow titles that exclude how they wish to be respectfully addressed. After the recent death of prominent anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, some headlines referred to her first and foremost as “Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife.” During her lifetime, Ms. Madikizela-Mandela rejected […]
It might seem frivolous to those who feel right at home being called “mom” or “dad,” but many queer parents agonize over what their children will call them. At my partner’s choir concert, my daughter is disruptive. She wants to sing; she wants to dance; she wants to be held by her dad. The choir […]
Families that don’t fit the traditional definitions should be able to manage an introduction without it feeling like a Three Stooges episode. The new millennium has been transformative for LGBTQ couples in many ways. When I came out as a lesbian in the mid-90s, I believed that I was destined to live life on the fringes. […]
The rising prevalence of “partner” outside of the LGBTQ community says to me that the Gay Agenda is working: Queer people and our relationships are, indeed, redefining traditional marriage. The first time I remember meeting a straight person who used the word “partner” was in college. My literature professor junior year was a woman with […]
For those of us lucky enough to have the engaged kind, the ever-present kind, sometimes the step-parent label, so wrapped in stereotype and qualification, doesn’t quite fit. I am turning 27 next week and my Facebook feed is predictably overflowing with engagement rings, bridal white, and blurry sonograms. While some friends prepare to take on […]
Gaining legal standing does not mean we now need to accept conventions that don’t work for us. When I first met Valerie 15 years ago, it was love at first sight. Or, really, email at first sight. We met through an online dating service and spent the first month of our courtship writing one another […]
