Rosie O'Donnell's New HBO Special Shows All Kinds of Families

You won't find a cuter bunch of kids anywhere on television than you'll see tomorrow night in Rosie O'Donnell's "A Family Is a Family Is a Family" special for HBO. They come onto the screen in waves, talking about friends and love and brothers and sisters and Mommy and Daddy, all in that serious way young children have of addressing things they have learned and now want to share and explain.

Many viewers, however, will not see the greater mission of the show as scoring a blue ribbon for "cute." They will focus instead on the show's almost casual assertion that gay marriage is just like every other marriage - a covenant that creates a family unit. That part of the message is subtle, all things being relative.

Most of the special, which HBO is showing early enough so young children can watch, isn't about gay marriage, and the hot-button phrase itself is never heard. Families of same-sex couples, including O'Donnell's, get maybe five minutes, tucked in the middle of discussions and songs about the importance of families in general. But for many viewers, gay marriage will be the takeaway.

Full Story from the NY Daily News
Click here for gay marriage resources.
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New Zealand Study Looks at Difficulties Facing Gay/Lesbian Families

The authors of We're a family: A study of how lesbians and gay men are creating and maintaining family in New Zealand spoke to couples who had children by assisted reproduction, and some who were bringing children into a 'rainbow family' from a previous heterosexual relationship. "For donor families," co-researcher Nicola Surtees says, "the challenges focused on how best to achieve assisted reproduction. For instance, access to sperm was not automatic. The numbers of donors available via fertility services prepared to assist lesbian couples to conceive, as well as the numbers of men approached through social networks that were willing to help, were limited. "Approval processes and waiting lists at fertility services, coupled with lengthy searches for, and negotiation with, potential donors, were also contributing factors to delaying inseminations." Full Story from GayNZ: http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_7967.php

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources in New Zealand.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with "subscribe blog" as the subject. Or find us on Facebook - just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you'll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We're also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.