Tag Archives: Children of lesbian parents

ILD: Lesbian Couple Talk About Being Out and Same-Sex Parents in Russia

After a Russian grocery chain apologized for featuring gay parents in an ad, two lesbian parents told Meduza what it’s like to live in a country where their very portrayal qualifies as offensive.

In late June, the Russian grocery store chain VkusVill put out an advertisement featuring a lesbian couple as part of its “Recipes for Family Happiness” campaign. The ad set off an avalanche of homophobic comments and threats against the company, and VkusVill soon announced it would delete the ad, calling it “a mistake that occurred as a result of some individual employees’ unprofessionalism.” This sparked another wave of criticism on social media, as people accused the chain of cowardice and hypocrisy. Throughout the debate, however, there’s been almost no mention of the difficulties same-sex couples in Russia actually face. To learn more about what life is like for same-sex parented families in Russia, Meduza spoke to Yana and Yaroslava, two women in a loving relationship who are now raising a child together.

Continue Reading: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/07/17/third-class-citizens (Source)

Read about the VkusVill advert here: https://listening2lesbians.com/2021/07/09/russia-lesbian-family-in-removed-ad-faces-death-threats-as-supermarket-apologises-for-including-them/

U.S: Child Expelled From School Over Mother’s Lesbian Relationship

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

A same-sex couple is trying to use the Paycheck Protection Program to sue a Christian school that kicked out their daughter.

The school says the five-year-old girl can’t start kindergarten there because she has two mothers.

Normally, a private religious institution doesn’t have to comply with anti-discrimination laws.

However, attorneys for Sara Evans and Brittney Hudson argue that the school has to accept those laws because it accepted federal funding.

“These are emergency federal dollars that have come through to private entities that are used to getting away with discrimination like this,” said their attorney, Leslie Briggs. “They only do so because they are private entities that aren’t beholden to federal rules. If you take that federal money, that all changes.”

Continue reading: https://local12.com/news/nation-world/child-expelled-from-school-over-same-sex-parents (source)

U.S: Discipline Sought for Judge who Denied Lesbian Adoption

Ernie Chambers has filed a complaint with Nebraska Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Heavican urging that Dixon County Judge Douglas Luebe be disciplined for “discriminatory dismissal of the adoption petition of a married same-sex couple qualified by law to adopt a minor child.”

“Angry-outrage is an accurate two-word summation of my reaction to discriminatory mistreatment of vulnerable human beings by those wielding power on behalf of the state and ‘the people’ in the role of a judge,” the former Omaha state senator wrote Heavican.

Luebe ruled against allowing the couple to adopt a child, arguing that the “plain ordinary language” of relevant statutes does not allow “a wife and a wife” to adopt.

The Supreme Court subsequently rejected that reasoning, ruling that state adoption laws clearly allow a same-sex married couple to adopt a child.

Kelly Hoagland and Maria Salas Valdez, the married couple, ultimately received approval from Dixon County Judge Edward Matney for the petition allowing them to adopt Yasmin, a 3-year-old.

Continue Reading: https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/chambers-seeks-discipline-of-judge-who-denied-same-sex-adoption/article_be49d1cd-040e-55d2-8c71-f6c55201377f.html (source)

Germany: post war experiences of lesbian mothers

The experiences of lesbian mothers in West Germany in the post-war period is the subject of a research report that was presented in Mainz today. With the help of contemporary witnesses, the historian Kirsten Plötz examined the forms of repression faced by mothers who who eventually divorced and loved woman. “From the 1950s until well into the 90s, it was common practice to take children away from mothers if they had lesbian relationships,” said Plötz.

The research project of the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin with the Federal Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation follows a first study that was presented in 2017 under the title “Persecution and Discrimination of Homosexuality in Rhineland-Palatinate”.
(Translated)

Das Schicksal lesbischer Mütter in Westdeutschland in der Nachkriegszeit ist Thema eines Forschungsberichts, der heute in Mainz vorgestellt wird. Mit Hilfe von Zeitzeuginnen untersuchte die Historikerin Kirsten Plötz die Formen der Repression, denen Mütter ausgesetzt waren, die eine Frau liebten und sich schließlich scheiden ließen. «Von den 1950er Jahren bis weit in die 90er Jahre hinein war es übliche Praxis, Müttern die Kinder zu entziehen, wenn sie lesbische Beziehungen hatten», sagte Plötz.

Das Forschungsprojekt des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte München-Berlin mit der Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld folgt einer ersten Studie, die 2017 unter dem Titel «Verfolgung und Diskriminierung von Homosexualität in Rheinland-Pfalz» vorgelegt wurde.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.welt.de/regionales/rheinland-pfalz-saarland/article224330874/Historikerin-stellt-Studie-ueber-lesbische-Muetter-vor.html (Source)

The research project website: Lesbian mothers and custody

Mexico: violent father granted sole custody of daughter because mother is lesbian

L2L Mexico

Anayansi has not seen her daughter for five years, after divorcing her ex-husband to marry Martha. Despite serious allegations that the girl is being raped by the father, the justice system in Sinaloa and the institutions that watch over the family and women’s rights have ignored the evidence.

According to Anayansi, the authorities’ justification for not giving her custody of her daughter is because “being a lesbian, she sets a bad example for the minor.”

Martha and Anayansi were married in Guadalajara when same-sex marriage was made legal there.

Anayansi says that almost six years ago when she separated from her ex-husband, the divorce process began and with it the unexpected child custody outcome.

When all this started, it was a big deal in my family and in the courts. They said that I was a tomboy and the judge, although she did not put the reason for her decision in writing in the judgement, practically said that I was a bad mother and for that I was not going to be able to see my daughter. When I personally went to ask for the reason that my daughter was going to live with her father, she concluded by saying that it was because of who I was: my sexual orientation.
(Translated)

Anayansi tiene cinco años sin ver a su hija, tras divorciarse de su ex marido para casarse con Martha. Pese a que existen señalamientos graves de que la niña es violentada por el padre, la justicia en Sinaloa y las instituciones que velan por la familia y derechos de las mujeres, han ignorado las pruebas.

Según Anayansi, la justificación de las autoridades para no darle la custodia de su hija es porque “al ser lesbiana da un mal ejemplo a la menor”.

Martha y Anayansi se casaron en Guadalajara ya que en esa entidad sí es legal el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo.

Anayansi cuenta que hace casi seis años se separó de su ex marido, se inició el proceso de divorcio y con ello la incógnita de para quien sería la custodia de la niña.

Cuando todo esto empezó se hizo un zafarrancho en mi familia y en los juzgados, decían que yo era una marimacha y la juez, aunque no dejó por escrito en la sentencia en qué basó su dictamen, prácticamente dijo que yo era una mala mamá y por eso no iba a poder ver a la niña. Cuando fui personalmente a ver el porqué de esta decisión de que se quedara la niña con su papá, ella remató diciendo que era por cómo yo era: mi orientación sexual.
(Original)

Continue reading: https://www.elsoldesinaloa.com.mx/local/por-ser-lesbiana-la-justicia-discrimina-a-anayansi-5334426.html (source)

A third of UK lesbian mothers experience homophobia from other parents

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One in three lesbian mothers in Britain has experienced homophobia from other parents, while the same proportion have children who have been bullied for having two mums, according to a rare study of LGBT+ women published on Monday.

The online survey by research firm Kantar of more than 1400 LGBT+ women – one of the largest of its kind – found 37% of lesbian mothers suffered discrimination from other parents, while the same number’s children were victimised.

The study offers a rare look at the plight of lesbian mothers in the country, where reported homophobic hate crimes rose 25% in England and Wales in the year to March 2019 and three-fold since same-sex marriage was legalised in 2013.

Continue reading: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-lgbt-education-trfn/third-of-uk-lesbian-mothers-experience-homophobia-from-other-parents-idUSKBN2220YW (source)

U.S: Teacher forbids student with lesbian mothers from speaking in favour of same-sex marriage

teacher

A married lesbian couple in Michigan say their daughter’s teacher banned her from writing a speech about marriage equality for fear that it might “offend somebody in the class.”

The school district is investigating the incident.

Angela McDermitt-Jackson and Chris Jackson married in 2015 and are raising Destiny McDermitt, their 17-year-old daughter who is a junior at Hill McCloy High School in Montrose, Michigan.

Destiny’s teacher assigned her class a “Take a Stand Speech” in which students were told to speak in favor of or against a social issue important to them. Having two mothers, Destiny said she wanted to speak in support of same-sex marriage.

Destiny and other classmates claim that the teacher forbade her topic over worries it might offend other students. When Destiny asked whether the teacher could inquire if the topic offended her fellow classmates, the teacher declined her request.

The teacher also reportedly said she didn’t want to read or grade such a paper.

“No, we’re not going to do that,” the teacher reportedly said in front of the class. “I don’t want to hear about it, I don’t want to read about it, and I’m the one who has to grade it.”

Destiny was so upset that she contacted her mother Angela while still present in the class. Later, Destiny wrote a letter complaining to school officials. Destiny has since been moved into a different class.

“[It] offended me because I have two moms [who] are married and I really thought it was inappropriate,” McDermitt wrote. Her mothers, aunt, grandmother, grandfather, niece, and younger sister all support her.

Continue reading: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020
/02/teacher-forbids-student-lesbian-moms-speaking-favor-sex-marriage/
(source)

Germany: Lesbophobia persists even in hip Berlin

L2L Germany

Lesbians have two vulnerable characteristics: they are women and they are homosexual. They are therefore disregarded by people for two reasons. This double vulnerability is there, no matter where in Europe, in the world she moves with and belongs to the family.

The police arrive within minutes, the boys are highly motivated to grab the guy. They ask Anna in the patrol car and comb through the streets of Moabit. Unfortunately, in vain.

Afterwards, we ask ourselves: why did not the other people at the bus stop help? There are three buses and the Ringbahn at this station, there were at least 15 people. No one asked if we were okay, nobody took pictures, nobody called the police. Nothing.

The BVG wants to make the video recordings of our bus available, but then accidentally pulls out the wrong pictures. The relevant recordings will be deleted according to the privacy policy. The preliminary investigation against the unknown man is finally stopped.

The offence is assault. Nowhere is it mentioned that we are lesbian, although we have said it, although it is clear that we are the child’s parents. Nevertheless, it is not recorded that it was a homophobic offence.
(Translated)

Lesben haben zwei verwundbare Eigenschaften: Sie sind Frauen und sie sind homosexuell. Sie werden also aus zwei Gründen von Menschen missachtet. Diese doppelte Verwundbarkeit ist da, egal wo in Europa, auf der Welt, sie zieht mit und gehört quasi zur Familie.

Die Polizei ist binnen Minuten vor Ort, die Jungs sind hochmotiviert, den Typen zu schnappen. Sie bitten Anna in den Streifenwagen und durchkämmen die Straßen von Moabit. Leider vergeblich.

Hinterher fragen wir uns: Warum haben die anderen Leute an der Bushaltestelle nicht geholfen? Es fahren drei Busse und die Ringbahn an dieser Station, da waren mindestens 15 Leute. Keiner hat sich erkundigt, ob es uns gut geht, keiner hat Fotos gemacht, keiner hat die Polizei gerufen. Nichts.

Die BVG will die Videoaufnahmen von unserem Bus zur Verfügung stellen, zieht dann aber aus Versehen die falschen Bilder raus. Die relevanten Aufnahmen werden gemäß Datenschutz gelöscht. Das Ermittlungsverfahren gegen unbekannt wird schließlich eingestellt.

Die Straftat lautet Körperverletzung. Dass wir lesbisch sind, wird nirgends erwähnt, obwohl wir es gesagt haben, obwohl klar ist, dass wir die Eltern des Kindes sind. Trotzdem wird nicht aufgenommen, dass es eine homophobe Straftat war.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://taz.de/Lesbenfeindlicher-Uebergriff/!5607418/ (Source)

Spain: I will kill you bolleras – Lesbian family attacked

Spain

“I will kill you, bolleras” [d*kes]
Two lesbian mothers were quietly with one of their three children, 4 years old, on a terrace in Barcelona, ​​just two days after having held a Pride dedicated to homoparental families, when a drunk man came and attacked them in front of the child.
The Guàrdia Urbana intercepted the man, JMLL.M. (his initials), who now faces charges of threats, light mistreatment and a criminal offence against fundamental rights or hatred. The man approached and touched the child (we do not know why) and, obviously, one of the mothers told him what he did to which the man answered with insults.
(Translated)

“Os mataré, bolleras”
Dos madres lesbianas estaban tranquilamente con uno de sus tres hijos, de 4 años, en una terraza de Barcelona, tan solo dos días después de haber celebrado un Pride dedicado a las familias homoparentales, cuando llegó un hombre borracho y las atacó delante del pequeño.
J.M.LL.M. son las siglas del hombre que la Guardia Urbana interceptó y que ahora se enfrenta a presuntos delitos de amenazas, maltrato leve y un tipo penal contra los derechos fundamentales u odio. El hombre se acercó y tocó al niño (no sabemos por qué) y, obviamente, una de las madres le dijo que qué hacía a lo que el tipo contestó con insultos.
(Original)

Continue reading at: http://www.mirales.es/os-matare-bolleras-agresion-a-dos-lesbianas-en-barcelona-dos-dias-despues-del-pride/ (Source)

U.S: Lesbian Parents Of Toddler With Cancer Receive Lesbophobic Message

Tiffany and Albree Shaffer with their children (via Facebook)

The parents of a one-year-old girl diagnosed with advanced cancer were shocked to receive a hateful message on social media from a stranger.

“My prayers for Callie. I was going to donate $7600.00 to her fund, but I found out her parents are lesbian. I’ve chosen to donate to St. Jude due to that fact. Sorry. I’ll still pray for her though, but maybe it’s God’s way of getting your attention that she needs a mommy and a daddy, not two mommies.”

Continue reading: https://instinctmagazine.com/
post/parents-of-toddler-with-cancer-receive-hateful-message/
(source)

Callie’s GoFundMe Page:  https://au.gofundme.com/
TinyButMighty17

China: Lesbian families struggle under patriarchal legal framework

winky

Same-sex marriage is neither legal nor widely accepted in Chinese culture. Even though Shenzhen is seen as a liberal part of China, Xiao Chen and Winky face plenty of intolerance.
They want to send Phoebe and Sarah to day care, but they haven’t been able to obtain a “hukou” — household registration certificate — for the twins. The certificate, widely seen as outdated, determines a child’s access to education, healthcare and social benefits.
Without hukou, Phoebe and Sarah don’t legally exist in China.

 

In Memoriam: Lesbian Murder Victims (March 2019 Update)

Lesbians in Memoriam

We honour the following sisters:
  • Brenda Lorena Alvarado Montoya (2019) – Tegucigalpa, Honduras
  • Thuthukile Mabasa (2018) – Capetown, South Africa
  • Nicole Saavedra (2016) – Valparaiso, Brazil
  • Sidney Loofe (2017) – Nebraska, USA
  • Anne Mikaelly (2018) – Brasilia, Brazil
  • Unathi Bixa (2017) – Capetown, South Africa
  • Charlene Ranstrom and Brenda Warner (1988) – Nashua, New Hampshire
  • Cassie Hayes (2018) – Southport, Mercyside, England
  • Marielle Franco (2018) – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Elke W. and Beate N. (2016) – Gersthofen-Hirblingen, Germany
  • Anisha and Joey van Niekerk (2017) – Magaliesberg, South Africa
  • Kaladaa Crowell (and her 11 year-old daughter, Kyra Inglett) (2017) – West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
  • Noxolo Xakeka (2018) – Lwandle, South Africa
  • Kerrice Lewis (2018) – Washington, D.C., USA
  • Shanta Myers and Brandi Mells (and Shanta’s two children, Shanise Myers and Jeremiah Myers) (2017)  – Troy, New York, USA
  • Josanne Maria Almeida da Silva and Ana Paula da Silva Pereira (2017) – Manaus, Brazil
  • Quezia Kassya (2017) – San Paulo, Brazil
  • Georgann Lee Smith (2009) – Sarasota, Florida, USA
  • Ana Flávia Leitão (2017) – Cataguases, Brazil
  • Irani Ribeiro de Medeiros (2017) – Várzea Grande (Mato Grosso), Brazil.
  • Felicia Dormans (2017) – Mount Holly, New Jersey, USA.
  • Lyndsey Vaux (2016) – Wigan, United Kingdom

Continue reading at: http://inmemoriamlesbian.blogspot.com/

Perpignan, France: Lesbian barred from accompanying toddler in Emergency Department files complaint

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A lesbian couple went to the police of Perpignan on Sunday afternoon after a nurse barred access to the pediatric Emergency Department to one of them, who is not the biological mother of their 3 year old son, but has parental authority.

Continue reading at: https://sivtimes.com/a-lesbian-mother-forbidden-to-accompany-his-3-year-old-son-to-the-emergency-room/15076/ (Source)

U.K: Lesbian couple sent hateful letter telling them to move

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Vikki Parkey, 36, and her wife Stephanie, 29, were left shocked after the anonymous note posted through their letter box stated they should move from their Hull home to “a more appropriate area of the city”.

The letter, which was anonymously addressed to Vikki’s property, read:

“We, the residents, are not happy with same-sex couples living our area.
Especially not when bringing up a child.
It is immoral and wrong.

We suggest you move to a more appropriate area of the city.”

Continue reading at: https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/same-sex-couple-sent-hateful-2573400 (source)

U.S: Lesbian married parents aren’t treated the same, legally, as straight couples

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Half of married gay women in Minnesota are forced to adopt their own children under Minnesota law.
That inequity — man-woman married couples don’t have this hurdle — is a paradox, since same-sex married couples are supposed to have the same rights in the state. In 2013, same-sex marriage became legal.
The legal inequity is the result of other laws — with gender-specific language — that were never changed when same-sex marriage was legalized. Outside of gay-rights advocates and the affected parents themselves, the situation appears to have received little public attention, until now.

Continue reading at: https://www.twincities.com/2019/01/29/
marriage-equality-lesbian-married-parents-actually-arent-treated-the-same-legally-as-straight-couples-will-it-change/
(source)

Cameroon: Estranged dad seizes kids from lesbian mother

cameroon

The long-absent father of two young daughters recently took them away from their lesbian mother after threatening to send her to prison for her sexual orientation.

Continue reading at: https://76crimes.com/2019/01/04/estranged-dad-seizes-kids-from-lesbian-mother-in-cameroon/ (source)

U.S: Lesbian couple says martial arts teacher discriminated against them, kicked son out of class

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An Albuquerque woman says her son’s martial arts teacher kicked him out of class after finding out she’s a married lesbian.
“He said, ‘We’re a monastery. We worship God here. That goes against what God teaches.’ And then he looked at my son, addressed him by name and told him, ‘What your mother is doing is wrong,’” she said.

Continue reading at:  http://krqe.com/2018/02/23/lesbian-couple-says-martial-arts-teacher-discriminated-against-them-kicked-son-out-of-class/ (Source)

U.S: ‘Presumption of Legitimacy’ Applied to Lesbian Parents by Upstate Appeals Court

An appeals panel reversed a Chemung County family court judge’s 2015 ruling that denied the lesbian couple’s motion to dismiss a paternity petition from a sperm donor father to their child.

Continue reading at: https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/sites/newyorklawjournal/
2018/01/25/presumption-of-legitimacy-applied-to-lesbian-parents-by-upstate-appeals-court/
(Source)

Lesbian couple sues for son’s US citizenship

A same-sex couple is suing the US government alleging discrimination because one of their children was not granted American citizenship.

Continue reading at:  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42781501  (Source)

Ireland: Donegal lesbian IVF mum is denied Irish passport for her son as 1956 law states she’s not the little tot’s mother

Holly, left, and Katie with newborn Griffin

Little Griffin was then born in August after the newlywed couple’s third IVF attempt was successful.

But only Holly, 31, was marked as his mum on the birth cert — with Katie, 34, from Gweedore, Co Donegal, put as a generic “parent”.

However, Irish laws from 1956 define a parent as only a child’s “mother” or “father” and the Passport Office refused Katie’s application for 11-week-old Griffin.

Continue reading at: https://www.thesun.ie/news/1770531/donegal-lesbian-ivf-mum-is-denied-irish-passport-for-her-son-as-1956-law-states-shes-not-the-little-tots-mother/ (Source)