Creating "truth" through reciprocal citation practices dates back before the internet and cable news

A lengthy segment on The Rachel Maddow Show (I am a huge fan) last Thursday focused on the creation of "truth" through simply repeating falsehoods espoused by others and using those other sources as evidence of the facts asserted. Naturally, Fox News and the internet play large roles in the story.The segment made me think of a phenomenon first identified by the sociologist Judith Stacey in a 1994

Wyoming Supreme Court recognizes unmarried partners property rights

Jerald Hofstad and Cathryn Christie lived together from 1996 to 2007, with some breaks. They had two children and also raised five children from Jerald's previous relationship. Their case wound up in the Wyoming courts over a dispute concerning the size of Cathryn's share of the home they owned together. The home was purchased in 2005, using the proceeds from the sale of a home Jerald owned in

What married same-sex couples owe to hippie communes

I'm guessing most married same-sex couples think they have little in common with the hippie communes of the 1960's and 70's. Free-loving hippies challenged the fabric of American society, including the nuclear family, while most married same-sex couples, or at least the organizations that speak for them, are busy presenting gay marriage as anything but a threat to heterosexual family life.Well,

New FMLA regs clarify what was already the law so let's not claim this is a dramatic shift

When the Obama administration issues its regulations on taking leave to care for a partner's child under the Family and Medical Leave Act, it will simply be reiterating what is already the law. It makes me a tad crazy that the new regulations suggest they are a change. While I believe that employers might have acted in violation of the law in the past (as the story of one couple in this New

How same-sex couples fill out the 2010 census form -- is it really asking how we think of our relationships?

If thinking of yourself as married to your partner turned you into husband and husband or wife and wife, then we wouldn't need a marriage equality movement, right? So imagine my puzzlement to find gay organizations instructing us to fill out the 2010 census based on how we think of our relationships. The Williams Institute, to whom I turn for all things demographic about gay men and lesbians,

Several witnesses will urge DC to retain domestic partnerships

Hearings on the bill to grant marriage equality in the District of Columbia begin today. So many people signed up to testify that the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, chaired by Councilmember Phil Mendelson, has already announced that it will hear the first 100 today and the remaining ones next Monday.I am number 49 on the list and so I will be testifying today. Naturally, I support

Defining family for purposes of family caregiving leave

Thanks to Nan Hunter for alerting me to the proposed regulations implementing my favorite family leave policy: the one that allows federal government employees to use their sick leave to care for "any individual related by blood or affinity whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship." I've had numerous posts on this topic. I love the current policy

A "beyond marriage" perspective on the anniversary of Stonewall

Lisa Duggan, an original drafter of the "beyond marriage" vision statement, has a piece in the Nation and appears on today's Democracy Now. In her Democracy Now interview, she is especially eloquent about who the movement for marriage equality leaves out and how thinking more broadly about family and relationship recognition can benefit more LGBT people and be a basis for building real alliances

SEIU resolution values all families

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been reading my book, Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families under the LawHere is the full text of Resolution # 109 Adopted at the 2008 SEIU ConventionValuing All FamiliesMembers of SEIU work hard every day to provide for their families and build for them a better future. Our members’ love of and commitment to their families

More on Colorado's designated beneficiary law

Last week I wrote about the new Colorado law that allows any two unmarried adults to become "designated beneficiaries" and thus gain what essentially amounts to next-of-kin status. I love this law!But it's still not a statute that matches the purpose of various laws to the families/relationships that the law should encompass. Here's what I mean. It's perfect that the law allows designation of

The extraordinary new Colorado law

When a legislature blinks on same-sex marriage, we hear about it in the news everywhere. But the law signed by Colorado's governor last week has garnered little attention, and it has some transformative possibilities that deserve lots and lots of attention. (Thanks to Bilerico's Alex Blaze for highlighting it -- but not a single comment to his post.) Colorado now has a simple form, with a menu of

2 Mums and a Dad...and the law in Australia

I've been in Australia for more than a month now, on a Fulbright Specialist grant, teaching, lecturing, conferring, etc at two universities -- University of Technology Sydney and University of Melbourne. Of all my duties here, one of the most fun was my participation today on a panel after a screening of the film 2 Mums and a Dad. Australian filmmaker Miranda Wills followed a lesbian couple and

Something's Up in Colorado

Thanks to my colleague, Tony Varona, for alerting me to new legislation introduced in Colorado allowing two unmarried people to designate each other as entitled to make medical decisions, inherit, sue for wrongful death, and more, through use of a simple form.I discussed an earlier Colorado effort along these lines in my book. The previous proposal, however, was not open to unmarried

What makes a parent?

This is one of the most common questions that arises when same-sex couples have children. Seattle University law professor Julie Shapiro blogs almost exclusively on this topic. The significance of a genetic connection to the child is a constant theme.So I was fascinated by last week's LA Times story about the Kincaid project, which involved DNA testing of 147 people named Kincaid. Two brothers

A Conflict of Interest for Hillary Clinton? Isn't Marriage the Wrong Dividing Line?

Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearing contained many references to potential conflicts of interest posed by her job as Secretary of State in the face of fundraising by her husband -- our former president -- for his foundation. I've followed the controversy (which might be too large of word to use in this instance), and it makes me wonder.Isn't it time to stop thinking of conflicts of interest

BLACK JACK, MISSOURI DOES IT AGAIN

Thanks to the Alternatives to Marriage Project for bringing to my attention that Black Jack, Missouri is once again trying to keep an unmarried heterosexual couple raising children from living in the town. Go to the ATMP website and sign their petition.

LAWS FOR LGBT FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN

Tomorrow is “Blogging for LGBT Families Day.” Here’s my contribution:The worst news recently for LGBT families was the decision of Maryland’s highest court that eviscerated the family of Janice and Margaret and their daughter, Maya. You see, only Janice legally adopted Maya. After the couple split up, Janice argued she was Maya’s only parent. The lower courts gave Margaret visitation rights as a

HOW WRONG CAN A COURT BE??

Very wrong, if it's the highest court in Maryland and they are considering same-sex couples raising children. Today the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that, after the end of an 18 year relationship that included raising a five year old child together, the mom whose name was on the child's adoption decree could exclude the mom whose name wasn't on the decree from the child's life. The court said

DC PASSES PAID SICK LEAVE...INCLUDING LEAVE TO CARE FOR SICK FAMILY MEMBERS

On Tuesday, the District of Columbia became the second city (after San Francisco) to require employers to give employees paid sick leave. Some last minute exemptions weakened the bill, which you can learn more about from the D.C. Employment Justice Center. Last summer, I testified before the D.C. City Council urging that the leave be available to care for a broad definition of "family members."