Hello! My name is Mark Milner. I am a single gay male residing in Miami Beach, FL. Most gay men who are approaching thirty and living in South Beach are interested in three things: the nightlife, their suntans and how big their pecs are. Being small framed, standing at 5’6” and appearing young for my age, you might expect nothing less from me…but nothing could be farther from the truth. I am a yoga instructor who lives a very quiet...

January 18, 2011 New York Times By SABRINA TAVERNISE JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Being gay in this Southern city was once a lonely existence. Most people kept their sexuality to themselves, and they were reminded of the dangers of being openly gay when a gay church was bombed in the 1980s. These days, there are eight churches that openly welcome gay worshipers. One even caters to couples with children. The changes may seem surprising for a city where...

 Lambda Legal, January 14, 2011 Five-year-old son raised by two fathers still without accurate birth certificate. (New Orleans, January 14, 2011) – The full 16-member U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, regarding the New York adoption of a Louisiana-born baby boy by a same-sex couple. Lambda Legal represents Oren Adar and Mickey Smith in their case against Louisiana State Registrar Darlene...

Wednesday, January 12, 2011 – Beyond Gay and Straight Marriage – Nancy Polikoff The most horrific part of last month’s North Carolina Boseman v. Jarrell opinion against second-parent adoption was that it said the court that granted the adoption lacked “subject matter jurisdiction,” which means that the order was void, along with all second-parent adoption orders, the moment it was granted. That wiped out every second-parent...

Beyond Gay and Straight Marriage – Nancy Polikoff – January 11, 2011 I wrote extensively about the dreadful New York Court of Appeals decision last year that refused to recognize parentage of a nonbio mom based on the couple’s creation of a two-parent family. That court did, however, find that Debra H. was the parent of the child born to Janice R. because the couple was in a Vermont civil union when the child was born. The fact that...

Boston, Massachusetts January 7, 2011 — In an unprecedented decision, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that two gay men could be recognized as legal parents on the birth certificate of their twins born through surrogacy. This is the first time in U.S. history that a state high court has acknowledged the parentage of two men while stating the relevant statute “confer(s) parental status on an intended parent who is a party to a valid gestational...

Mombian – January 4, 2011 I’m still recovering from the holidays, so let’s be different and start with some celebrity news before diving into politics: Celebrity News Elton John and his partner David Furnish are now proud parents. “Elton John and David Furnish became first-time fathers on Christmas after welcoming a baby boy via a surrogate,” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Just once, though, I want to see a newspaper headline...

Mombian.com – January 1 2011 (Happy 2011 to all! I’ll be back on a regular posting schedule next week. In the meantime, here’s a piece that was originally published as my Mombian newspaper column. Feel free to add your own resolutions in the comments.) The end of November through early January is one big party in our multi-celebration family, with Thanksgiving leading to Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, and my spouse’s birthday...