You Really Ought to Give Iowa a Try

Great news from the heartland! Iowa has become the third state in the union to legalize gay marriage.

"The Legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification."

This is poetry to my ears.

Park Slope Moms

I'm about to move to >cringe< Park Slope. It's a neighborhood known for its precious moms -- women who used fertility treatments to home birth the twins, Ava and Dash, who are treated like royalty. The joke (or not) is that these babies are spoonfed organic smashed potatoes with rosemary and pomegranate, unless they're not in the mood, and then they watch Baby Einstein videos while being massaged with lavendar oil.

I used to think that was a terribly unfair, terribly misogynistic take on Brookln motherhood. After all, I'm moving in. And I have my own princess I want to take to the park. But it's all fun and games until you're neighbors.

We're doing renovations in our apartment, and our co-op neighbor has a young child. Apparently, he's quite sickly: any sound wakes him up, any dust gives him nosebleeds. As you can imagine, it's difficult to renovate an apartment without making sound or dust. We're doing our best, but it's not good enough -- to satisfy her, we've had to hire a lead expert and a dust and air expert, and respond to numerous passive-aggressive emails about his "naptime".

So when do we call it? When do gear up for a fight? We want to have a good experience in our new apartment, but right now we're terrified of making a peep, and we haven't even moved in yet. Ah, moving in. Sounds like heaven. (Gulp.)

For the Sake of the Kids

MSNBC.com has reported that four national mental health organizations have reached the same conclusion many of us have held for years, if not decades:

"Research has shown children of same-sex couples are as likely as children of heterosexual parents to flourish," and "research shows same-sex parents are just as likely to provide healthy and supportive environments for children."

Meaning: Let same-sex couples get legally married -- for the sake of the kids.

Now, the context here is that Vermont is considering whether to replace its civil union statute with legal marriage for gay couples. And there's no real study on the benefits of marriage vs. civil unions. But the "clinicians said children of gay couples still endure ridicule and emotional harm from societal elements because the government does not allow their parents equal treatment under the law." So I think it's clear that the scientists are weighing in with a strong recommendation.

Hat tip to Hannah Tennant-Moore at Babble.com
Photo credit: flickr.com, sfPhotocraft

Lilly's Day!

Obama signed his first bill into law today. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, rejected by our last administration, relaxes the statute of limitations on workers’ rights to sue in pay discrimination. Ms. Ledbetter found out at the end of her career at Goodyear that she had been consistently paid less than male employees in the same and even lesser positions. The Supreme Court (love them!) determined the statue of limitations in this case ended 180 days after her first paycheck -- the incident of discrimination. Apparently, she should have discovered this pay disparity in the first six months of her new job. (By the way, do you know if you make more or less than the person sitting in the cubicle next to you?)

I'm seriously swooning over Obama. And it's a good reminder to all of us: You can clip coupons, you can find cheaper gas, you can go without dinner at a restaurant. But voting is free, and a little political action can really change your bottom line.