Family Pride Announces Youth Activist Will be Honored During Family Week

Coalition and COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) have announced that Sol Kelley-Jones will be honored for her contributions to LGBT families during Family Pride's 10th annual Family Week in Provincetown, Mass., July 30-August 6.

Kelley-Jones will receive the fifth annual Fisher Davenport Award for Outstanding Contributions to Our Families, named in honor of Family Week founders Tim Fisher and Scott Davenport and presented by Family Pride and COLAGE. Read Article»

Estrogen gene helps explain some infertility

Study involving mice may help women avoid treatments unlikely to help
Reuters

WASHINGTON - Fertility drugs may not help certain women if they lack a certain estrogen-related gene, scientists studying mice suggested on Wednesday.

Mice genetically engineered to lack the gene did not ovulate in response to fertility drugs, the researchers found.

If the same is true in women, it could help explain some forms of infertility and also help steer women away from treatments unlikely to help them. Read Article »

Estrogen gene helps explain some infertility-study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fertility drugs may not help certain women if they lack a certain estrogen-related gene, scientists studying mice suggested on Wednesday.

Mice genetically engineered to lack the gene did not ovulate in response to fertility drugs, the researchers found.

If the same is true in women, it could help explain some forms of infertility and also help steer women away from treatments unlikely to help them.

The gene is called estrogen reseptor beta, the team of National Institutes of Health researchers report in the August issue of Endocrinology.

Postpartum Depression, Post-adoption Depression, and Medications

First of all, postpartum depression DOES exist, as does post-adoption depression. Although self-help measures of vitamins and/or exercise may help, medication can be vital, even life-saving, in alleviating symptoms. According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, postpartum depression is caused by the rapid drop in a woman’s hormone levels following childbirth. Although new adoptive mothers do not experience physical changes in their hormone levels, post-adoption depression is just as real. Suspected causes of post-adoption depression include fatigue and/or feeling overwhelmed....

Baby still in the middle of a surrogacy battle

This month a little boy known as Anthony, born in Utah through a surrogacy agreement, reached his first birthday.

Yet who will ultimately raise him - a biological parent, a relative, or a Salt Lake City couple hoping to adopt - may still be in question.

Third District Judge Bruce Lubeck ruled late last month that he can't terminate the parental rights of either of Anthony's biological parents, which would have allowed the couple who has raised him since he was 3 months old to adopt him. Yet the judge has said the boy will continue to live with the couple.

Midwives

Congratulations, you're pregnant! Let the decision-making begin. Choosing a health care provider to care for you and your baby during your pregnancy is one of the biggest decisions you'll be making. In the United States, women's choices have traditionally been limited to an obstetrician or a knowledgeable family doctor. For some women with low-risk, uncomplicated pregnancies, midwives offer an excellent alternative.

Decreased blood flow and oxygen to an infant's developing brain during pregnancy, birth and early development is linked to premature birth and can lead to brain tissue loss, seizures and mobility impairments such as cerebral palsy.

Uniting GLBT American Families

Steve Boullianne and Olivier De Wulf have been together for a dozen years, first in Belgium and then in San Francisco. They adopted Reece and Laurent at six months and six weeks of age respectively. But the laws of the two countries are threatening to tear apart this happy nuclear family.

De Wulf can only obtain a two-year visa to live in the U.S. and the periodic threat of deportation looms over their heads. Belgium recognizes gay marriages, so the couple could live there, but it does not recognize their adoption and hence their children.

In A Family Way: Saving kids from homophobia

I find that every time I answer a research questionnaire on gay parenting I am asked how I deal with the homophobia my kids face. There is a not-so-subtle assumption that my children will experience homophobia and I would like to not-so-subtly challenge that assumption.

I mean, of course my children will experience some homophobia. The world is, after all, full of homophobia, or, more to the point, heterosexism. Images of men and women marrying and having babies and living in marital war zones is the stuff that media, in all its forms, is built on. Young children growing in LGBT-headed homes still pretend that Barbie and G.I. Joe marry each other. Heterosexism is ubiquitous, inhaled with each breath, a societal osmosis, that is difficult to combat without a massive cultural paradigm shift (item number one of the official Gay Agenda).