Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen announced during a student graduation ceremony that he is legally disowning his 19-year-old adopted daughter, who is a lesbian, so she cannot claim any inheritance.

“My adopted daughter now has a wife,” he said. “I’m quite disappointed.”

Yet don’t get the wrong idea — the prime minister does not believe in discrimination against gays and lesbians: “Most of them are good people and are not doing alcohol, drugs or racing vehicles.”

Go figure.

More from Reuters and the UK’s Pink News.

Listen Up: Professor Kim recommends Farai Chideya’s interview on NPR with actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist and organizer of the benefit show Divas Simply Singing.

Women and Science: “During a Congressional hearing focused on the recruitment and retention of female faculty members in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields Wednesday, witnesses discussed how the federal government can combat the underrepresentation of women through targeted grants and incentives — and even the creation of a new quasi-governmental agency that would expand the enforcement of Title IX, the landmark 1972 gender equity law, to better encompass academic practices,” reports Inside Higher Ed.

Plus: Female Science Professor, a blog by a professor at a research university, offers an inside look at her life and job.

Harassment Unchecked at Army Hotel: “For active and retired military members and their families, the U.S. Army-owned Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu is a place to relax in a tropical paradise at affordable rates,” writes Kari Lydersen in In These Times. “For hotel parking manager and veteran John “Jack” Lloyd, it appears to be a place to touch and proposition female workers, mostly Filipina — according to complaints filed with the military’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office and testimony from several workers.”

When Writing the Personal was Revolutionary: “By writing honestly about the ways in which women struggle with gender roles, motherhood, and sexuality, she threw open the doors to a more complex understanding of social interactions, and validated women’s experiences as key to political transformation,” Phoebe Connelly writes in this American Prospect essay on author Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

J.K. Rowling Outs Dumbledore: “Harry Potter” phenom author J.K. Rowling, responding to a question from a child about master wizard Dumbledore’s love life, made the big reveal: “I always saw Dumbledore as gay.” Interesting comments over at KnowThyNeighbor.org.

So Not Pretty in Pink: Cheers for U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), for taking on women’s magazines for running Camel No. 9 cigarettes ads — the pink version of Joe Camel aimed at female smokers.

“In June, 40 of my congressional colleagues joined me in writing to the publishers of 11 leading women’s magazines: Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, InStyle, Interview Magazine, Lucky, Marie Claire, Soap Opera Digest, Us Weekly, Vogue and W. We asked them to stop accepting misleading advertisements for deadly cigarettes, particularly for Camel No. 9,” Capps writes in the Washington Post. “Not one of the magazines bothered to formally respond. We wrote again on Aug. 1. Seven of the 11 magazines responded, but none has committed to dropping the ads.”

National Coming Out Day: Oct. 11 was the day, and Pam Spaulding has a great post about it, with video.

Plus: The New York Times last week looked at the prejudices elder gays and lesbians face, particularly those living at long-term care facilities where little thought may have been given to sensitivity training. Also see the accompanying audio and photos of Fred and Emile, and there’s a good list of related reports and demographic information.

Pink That: Lucinda Marshall at Feminist Peace Network put together a list of some of “the most crass, opportunistic list of supposedly cure-supporting crap I’ve ever seen.” And there’s more where those came from.

Being Anita Hill: “Back then, she was either a charlatan or a heroine, depending which side you took in the epic, gut-wrenching showdown that was the Clarence Thomas confirmation battle,” writes the AP’s Jocelyn Noveck. “Sixteen years later, Anita Hill can be found on a tranquil New England college campus, sifting through thousands of documents to try to answer this question: Have things gotten any better in our nation’s workplaces?”

An Emphasis on Homework: Interested in perfecting your housekeeping skills and learning how to defer to your husband in all matters? Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, offers an academic homemaking program — open only to women — that includes “lectures on laundering stubborn stains and a lab in baking chocolate-chip cookies,” reports the L.A. Times.

Linking Stress to Disease: A commentary in the Oct. 10 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association explores whether psychological stress increases the risk of disease. “The evidence from studies of depression and heart disease is most convincing. The HIV/AIDS data are a little weaker. The evidence for stress playing a role in cancer isn’t all that good, even though there is supporting evidence from studies of animals,” said lead author Sheldon Cohen.

“Perfecting” Ann Coulter: Gloria Feldt, writing at Huffington Post, shares the inspiration for her new list: “Full disclosure: I am mentioned 10 times — more than even Jane Fonda or Betty Friedan — by the anti-feminist Kate O’Beirne in her book, Women Who Make the World Worse: and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports. From my perspective, this means I must be doing something right. With those credentials as well as being an aficionada of Keith Olberman’s nightly ‘Worst Person in the World’ shtick, I recently decided to start my own list of the Stupidest Women in America (SWIAA ™).”

Vaginal Cosmetic Surgery: Self magazine takes a close look at vaginal surgeries. One 21-year-old dipped into her student loan money to pay for a labiaplasty that cost $5,000 — and left her “deformed” and in unbearable pain. The reconstructive surgery cost an additional $8,700.

Are Annual Check-Ups a Thing of the Past? According to medical organizations like the the American College of Physicians and other professional groups, it’s no longer recommended. “That’s because there is scant scientific evidence showing that yearly checkups help prevent disease, death or disability for adults with no symptoms. Many tests and procedures performed during the visits have questionable value, experts say,” reports the Chicago Tribune.

According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which does not endorse yearly physicals, “interventions that help patients change health-impairing habits or that spotlight emerging illnesses for which reliable and effective treatments exist” do make a real difference. Some examples, according to the Trib, are “Pap smears, mammograms, cholesterol tests, blood-pressure checks, and counseling to stop smoking, lose weight, get more exercise and eat a healthier diet.”

UK Promotes Water Births: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, a UK health watchdog group, issued guidelines stating that all expectant mothers should be offered water births. From The Guardian:

“There is a perception that water is just nice,” said Dr Julia Sanders, a consultant midwife and member of the group which drew up the guidance. “But it is the most effective form of pain relief barring an epidural in labour. I would like to see more women using water and fewer women using the types of pain relief that are less effective.”

Nice also said clinical intervention should not be offered or advised when labour was progressing normally and the woman and baby were well. Once a woman was in established labour, she should receive supportive one-to-one care.

The guidance is expected to mean longer labours for some but could also mean fewer medical interventions, which can result in more painful and complicated labours.

Black Women and Maternal Health: Molly M. Ginty, writing at Women’s eNews, covers the findings of five reports released by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies on black maternal health and racial inequities:

The center’s 19-member Courage to Love: Infant Mortality Commission — funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and partnering with the UCLA School of Public Affairs and the University of Michigan’s NIH Roadmap Disparities Center — says the health problems of black women and black infants stem not just from inadequate medical care but from stress, racism, poverty and other social pressures.

Released during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference from Sept. 26 to 29, the reports also coincide with a meeting organized by the Joint Center and the Washington-based Black Women’s Agenda for 250 representatives of black women’s organizations in Washington, D.C. Attendees will discuss the reports and preview “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?” an upcoming PBS television series that explores race and health.

In the five reports — one on breastfeeding, one on nutrition, two on infant mortality and one summarizing the others — commission members address the possible reasons for black women’s negative birth outcomes.

Continue reading Ginty’s story here.

For Starters, Try Talking to Women: Laura L. Mays Hoopes, a writer and molecular biology professor at Pomona College, offers 10 suggestions aimed at men who want to help retain women working in the sciences. The Scientist magazine published the suggestions online last week, ahead of publication in the magazine’s January issue, to spark a discussion of gender bias in science. Suggestions and comments are encouraged.

Using a Breast Pump from the Start: Chicago Tribune health columnist Julie Deardorff writes about skipping breastfeeding directly and going straight to using a breast pump. Predictably, debate follows. Earlier entries on breastfeeding, including a history of La Leche League International, are here.

Plus: “Facebook is getting an online scolding after the social networking site deleted pictures of nursing babies it considered “obscene content” and closed the account of at least one Canadian mom,” reports the Toronto Star. (via Aetiology, which has lots more good links and analysis.)

Condom Accusations Spark Anger: The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique, Maputo Archbishop Francisco Chimoio, angered AIDS activists last week after telling the BBC he believes some European-made condoms and some anti-retroviral drugs have been deliberately infected with HIV “in order to finish quickly the African people.”

According to the BBC, it is estimated that 16.2 percent of Mozambique’s 19 million inhabitants are HIV positive. The Catholic Church’s official doctrines oppose condoms.

Plus: Broadsheet did a wrap-up Friday of other condom-related news …

Rural Mothers Have Higher Employment Rate: A new study by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire shows that rural mothers with children under age 6 have higher employment rates than their urban counterparts, but have higher poverty rates, lower wages, and lower family income.

The Happiness Gap: Is there a growing “happiness gap” between men and women? Researchers seem to think so, reports The New York Times.

What’s Missing on TV: “Your chances of seeing a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender character on the broadcast networks in prime time this new TV season are about the same as your chances of seeing a talking fish or caveman,” writes Washington Post TV critic Lisa de Moraes.

The latest “Where We Are on TV” report, created by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, found that there are only seven regular LGBT television characters this season, out of 650 regular lead or supporting characters, featured in just five scripted programs.

“On the new prime-time schedules, LGBT characters represent just 1.1 percent of those 650 characters,” adds de Moreas. “In real life, based on U.S. Census projections, LGBT marketing companies estimate 15.3 million adults identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, which would be about 6.8 percent of the population.”

Salon’s Michael Scherer has a very funny (and informative!) write-up on last night’s Democratic presidential debate — a shorthand version of what you missed while watching “Bionic Woman.”

Here’s my favorite part:

57 minutes. A question goes to all of the candidates. Would it be appropriate for a schoolteacher to read a story about a gay couple to their children in second grade? “Yes, absolutely,” says Edwards. “What I want is I want my children to understand everything about the difficulties that gay and lesbian couples are faced with every day.” Obama agrees. So does Clinton.

62 minutes. Another commercial break. Hopefully no children in second grade are watching. This time MSNBC shows an advertisement for Cialis, a pill that promises an erection at any point between 30 minutes and 36 hours after consumption. Sometimes erections may last for four hours or cause temporary loss of vision.

Heh.

Lethal Injections Offer Legal Shield, But Doctors Debate Safety: “In response to the Supreme Court decision upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, many abortion providers in Boston and around the country have adopted a defensive tactic. To avoid any chance of partially delivering a live fetus, they are injecting fetuses with lethal drugs before procedures,” writes Carey Goldberg at the Boston Globe. “That clinical shift in late-term abortions goes deeply against the grain, some doctors say: It poses a slight risk to the woman and offers her no medical benefit.”

Another side-effect of the decision is the impact on medical education. Dr. Mark Nichols, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University, told the Boston Globe there is great concern among faculty and staff that anyone watching a late-term abortion could potentially misinterpret the procedure and file a criminal complaint. Medical and nursing students, therefore, are no longer invited to watch. The federal ban, writes Goldberg, “is broadly written, does not specify an age for the fetus, and carries a two-year prison sentence.”

Plus: Read Adam Liptak’s column (TimesSelect) about a South Dakota law that quite simply puts the government’s words in a doctor’s mouth. “South Dakota’s solution — to mandate a set of disclosures — stops short of Justice Kennedy’s, which was to uphold a ban on an abortion procedure on the apparent theory that women cannot sort things out for themselves even with full information,” writes Liptak. “But there is, according to the federal courts that have so far blocked the South Dakota law, a constitutional flaw in how the state seeks to go about informing women of its views. The problem with the law, the courts said, is that it would hijack the doctor-patient relationship.”

The Gay Presidential Debate: E.J. Graff has the scoop on how the answers provided by the Democratic presidential candidates who attended the LOGO/Human Rights Campaign debate went over with viewers at the predominantly gay Club Cafe in Boston.

Reproductive Health Pop Culture Sampler: RH Reality Check has put together another good collection of posts, this time looking at the treatment of reproductive health in books, television and film. Check out Andi Zeisler’s reflection on “The Book of Phoebe,” a young adult novel by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith; Joanna Lipper shares the story of how she made a documentary about teenage moms; and Andrea Lynch offers praise for “Sex and the City” and lists the “Top Ten Movies that Deal Honestly with Abortion, Unintended Pregnancy, Sex Ed, and Related Issues.”

Editorial on the Failure of Abstinence Ed: “Congress has spent $1.5 billion in the last 10 years on programs that deliver a single message: Abstain from sex until you marry. That’s a good message for young people about how to stay healthy and safe. Taken alone, though, it doesn’t appear to be a terribly effective message,” begins this Chicago Tribune editorial.

Mo’Nique’s Real Appeal: “Now, after making her way from loud-mouthed, often profane stand-up comedian who embraced the subjects of sex and her size to playing Nikki Parker on the UPN show “The Parkers” from 1999 to 2004, Mo’Nique Imes Hicks presides over a small but growing empire,” reports The New York Times. “Like Oprah Winfrey, Mo’Nique positions herself as an Everywoman, trying to inspire women through her example. She believes fat women need to exercise and stay healthy (as she does), implores black women to embrace psychotherapy as needed (as she did) and asks those moaning about their weight to figure out what is going on in their heads so they can take control of their lives (as she has).”

The Numbers Aren’t Great, But It’s Progress: “According to preliminary figures, 87 women are entering a freshman class of 206 students in September. That 37% share is Caltech’s highest since it began admitting undergraduate women in 1970, when pioneering females comprised 14% of the entering class. (Female doctoral candidates first arrived in the 1950s.),” according to the L.A. Times. Also read Samhita’s post on a Computer World article about the experiences of four successful women in the IT profession.

Growth of Prostitution in China: “No longer limited to well-known bars or a growing number of karaoke parlors, prostitutes are everywhere in China today, branching out onto college campuses, moving into private residential compounds and approaching customers on mobile phone networks,” reports the Washington Post. “There was no open prostitution 25 years ago,” said Jing Jun, a sociology and AIDS policy professor at Tsinghua University. “Among government officials, Chinese social scientists, health professionals, they are coming around to see that prostitution is not fundamentally connected to a lack of values but a lack of jobs, choices, opportunities and education.”

Abortion Legalized in Portugal: Until last month, abortion was not only illegal in Portugal, but women who had abortions could be criminally prosecuted, along with their doctors. Now abortion is available without restriction up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, but women may still have trouble finding someone to perform the procedure, reports the L.A. Times. “Even with the law, numerous doctors are refusing to perform the procedure and are declaring themselves ‘conscientious objectors.’ Several public hospitals said they would not be able to offer abortions, despite the legal obligation to do so, because they lacked the doctors or necessary equipment.”

Legislature Defeats Amendment Defining Marriage as Between a Man and a Woman: “The Legislature, in a vote as swift as it was historic, reaffirmed the state’s first-in-the-nation same-sex marriage ruling yesterday, unequivocally protecting the rights of gays and lesbians to wed in Massachusetts until at least 2012,” reports the Boston Globe. “In Massachusetts today, the freedom to marry is secure,” Gov. Deval Patrick said after the vote.

The Boston Globe has lots of coverage, including reactions from politicians, advocacy organizations and religious groups.

Identifying Symptoms of the “Silent Killer”: The Gynecological Cancer Foundation, the Society of Gynecologist Oncologists and the American Cancer Society have released a consensus statement that identifies a set of symptoms for early stage ovarian cancer. The tricky part is that the symptoms — bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency) — can often be confused with far less dangerous ailments.

“The majority of the time this won’t be ovarian cancer, but it’s just something that should be considered,” Dr. Barbara Goff, the director of gynecologic oncology at the University of Washington in Seattle and an author of several studies that helped identify the relevant symptoms, told The New York Times.

She emphasized that relatively new and persistent problems were the most important ones. So, the transient bloating that often accompanies menstrual periods would not qualify, nor would a lifelong history of indigestion.

Dr. Goff also acknowledged that the urinary problems on the list were classic symptoms of bladder infections, which is common in women. But it still makes sense to consult a doctor, she said, because bladder infections should be treated. Urinary trouble that persists despite treatment is a particular cause for concern, she said.

Goff was also interviewed on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Rachel at Women’s Health News has a great post about the new advice and the rate at which women are often told the problem is “all in their heads.”

Democrats Not Down for the Fight?: “On Wednesday, May 16, advocates were optimistic that legislation requiring emergency contraception to be stocked on all military bases would pass in the House,” writes Beccah Golubock Watson at In These Times. “But then, something mysterious happened.”

Weekend Arts Update: “Martin Puchner, a theater professor at Columbia University, said that more than 100 plays, beginning in the 17th century, have featured Socrates as a character. But Target Margin’s latest offering, he said, may well be the first one in which a young African-American woman plays the part,” reports The New York Times.

A Cinderella Story: Here’s a Rags to Riches tale that isn’t just for the story books — Laura Sillerman provides a feminist analysis of the first filly to win the Belmont Stakes since 1905.

Happy Father’s Day: “While a father may not be entitled to take the same pride in his sperm as he does in his kids, it’s fair to celebrate the single-minded cellular commas that helped give those children their start,” writes Natalie Angier, who writes clinically (and humorously) about the cells that make dad dad.

Meanwhile, Canadian Institutes of Health Research experts are exploring “the biological forces that forge the father-child bond” — specifically that “dads-to-be have showed higher levels of estrogen and prolactin and lower levels of testosterone than non-expectant men.” And Peggy Drexler writes at Women’s eNews about the evolution of father-daughter relationships.

Plus, Broadsheet points to a conservative blogger’s hilarious take on a study by a Yale researcher that found male congressmen who have daughters are more likely to vote in favor of legislation concerning women’s issues than those without daughters. The study was covered by USA Today.

The Sicko Truth: And, for your viewing pleasure … here’s Michael Moore on “Oprah.” (The “Oprah” video was pulled from YouTube; I’ve switched it with Moore’s interview on “Nightline.”) Moore’s new film, “Sicko,” a critique of the U.S. healthcare system, is due out June 29. Read more here. And here’s part two of the video below.

Something else to do this week — go help Feminist Law Professors pick a theme song. Yes, a theme song. Because everybody’s doing it.

While you’re there, also check out this post about media coverage of presidential candidate Fred Thompson and his spouse (wonderfully titled, “Politics As Usual: He’s A ‘Stud’ While She “Works The Pole”); guest blogger C.J. Pascoe on California legislation that prohibits discrimination in schools based on perceived or actual sexual or gender identities (Pascoe is author of the new book “Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School“); and this excerpt that points to an interesting article, “The New ‘Fetal Protection’: The Wrong Answer to the Crisis of Inadequate Health Care for Women and Children,” by Linda Christine Fentman of Pace University Law School. It was published lat year in Denver University Law Review.

The Kid’s All Right — But Those Grandparents …: Writing about the birth of Samuel David Cheney, the son of Mary Cheney and Heather Poe, Robert-Jay Green, executive director of the Rockway Institute, a national center for LGBT research and public policy, looks at recent studies that show children of lesbian and gay parents are just as emotionally well-adjusted as children who grow up within a traditional mom-and-dad family structure.

No comment, however, on the dysfunctional and maladjusted White House PR machine, which left both mommies out of the official new-baby photograph, instead releasing a photo of the grandparents — Dick and Liz Cheney — with the infant. Props to Eugene Robinson at the Washington Post who wrote, “I can’t bring myself to wield Mary Cheney’s newborn son as a weapon in the culture wars, but it’s tempting.”

Website Pays for Breast Implants: Well, not the website exactly, although that’s the title of this NBC story — the payments actually come from men who can go through women’s online profiles and choose who to donate to. “It works similar to any other social networking Web site like Facebook or Myspace. A guy signs up and a girl signs up they each create their own profile. They got their own bio. They got photos and basically you start trying to meet people on the Web site,” Jason Grunstra, founder of MyFreeImpants.com, said. After-photos are optional. Eck.

Plus: Bigger is not better.

Liberating Iraqi Women: Andrea Lynch at RH Reality Check has a great post on an article penned by “veteran feminist Lt. Col. Oliver North,” who argues that “if Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi were really interested in promoting women’s rights, she would be vigorously promoting the U.S. occupation of Iraq, since ‘the principal protectors of Muslim women today [are] the Armed Forces of the United States.’”

North asserts: “Thanks to young Americans wearing flak jackets and helmets, hundreds of schools have been built for Muslim girls, millions of women have the right to vote, scores of female health care clinics have been opened, and hundreds of thousands of women now work, have their own bank accounts, use cell-phones — even serve in elected office.” But this New York Times story paints a less-rosy picture.

Good News, Bad News: Ann at Feministing neatly sums up the House’s attitude toward family planning programs and abstinence-only education.

Ethnic Plastic Surgery: Describing Washington’s Cultura Medical Spa, which bills itself as “a place where it’s appropriate to treat people based on the color of their skin,” Sandra G. Boodman of the Washington Post writes: “Two-thirds of the center’s patients are nonwhite, many of them black women who in increasing numbers are seeking such procedures as nose jobs and laser hair removal that until recently were largely the province of well-heeled white women. Many of these patients, doctors say, are also seeking treatments that seek to enhance — not obscure — their racial or ethnic characteristics.”

Show Us the Money: Susan E. Reed argues in a New York Times op-ed that “Congress should pass legislation mandating that all workplaces create this kind of transparency by requiring companies to post salaries. It makes sense, especially in light of the court’s decision last week requiring employees to file pay discrimination complaints under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act within 180 days of the last pay adjustment.”

The 5-4 decision came in a case involving a female supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Ala., who was paid less than any of her male colleagues but didn’t learn about the difference until late in her almost 20-year career.

Life as a Feminist: The Asbury Park Press recently profiled former area resident Mary Vasiliades, a 76-year-old novelist, playwright and former journalist who is featured in Barbara’s Love’s “Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975.” Vasiliades was part of a group of women who sneaked onto the Statue of Liberty on Aug. 10, 1970 and unfurled a banner that read, “Women of the World Unite.”

Love said of Vasiliades: “She organized groups and events all over New York City so it was impossible not to know her. She was everywhere. Mary fit the same criteria that all women needed to be mentioned in the book: She was a change-maker. She did things that affected the landscape of the country for women and girls.”

“Feminists Who Changed America” chronicles the achievements of more than 2,000 feminist pioneers, including many of the original founders of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective.

Woman Sues eHarmony for Discrimination: “A Northern California woman sued the online dating service eHarmony on Thursday, alleging it discriminates against gays, lesbians and bisexuals,” according to the AP. “The lawsuit claims that by only offering to find a compatible match for men seeking women or women seeking men, the company was violating state law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”

Sexual Harassment Training: Sexual harassment training does not invite lawsuits, according to a study by Caren M. Goldberg, a management professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business. “Some organizations have avoided implementing sexual harassment training programs for fear that providing it might increase lawsuits from otherwise unaware victims,” Goldberg said. “But if an employer is sued, proof that sexual harassment training was offered may be one the best defenses. This study indicates that the presumed downside is much ado about nothing.”

Study Finds Less Radiation Effective on Breast Cancer: “Less radiation may be just as good as the standard dose in treating women with early breast cancer, according to a study presented Sunday in Chicago at the world’s biggest cancer meeting,” writes Judy Peres in the Chicago Tribune. “The British study, the biggest to look at the question, found that fewer, larger doses of radiation were as effective at preventing recurrence and did not cause any more side effects. If the results are borne out by similar ongoing studies in the U.S., they could offer a welcome alternative to many American women who now must take six to seven weeks out of their lives to undergo post-surgical radiation.”

Other research presented at the 43rd Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting:

- According to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, breast cancer survival rates for black women have not improved and the difference in life expectancy between white and black women continues to widen.

- According to researchers at Loyola University Health System, a 21-gene test of a patient’s breast cancer tumor — known as the The Oncotype DX™ Recurrence Score — may change doctor and patient treatment decisions, including the need for chemotherapy.

The latest issue of The Mothers Movement Online asks the question, “Do men mother?”

In notes from the editor, Judith Stadtman Tucker writes:

While robust social research confirms that fathers can be excellent and affectionate caregivers, caregiving men still bear the burden of having their performance compared to the specter of the ideal mother, whose mythic capacity for domestic omnipotence and self-denial is tied to gender in complicated ways. Real world mothers bear the brunt of this as well, of course — among our favorite complaints, pressures to conform to unrealistic standards of maternal perfection top the list — but at least we don’t have the cultural construct of masculinity to contend with.

In this excellent essay, Jeremy Adam Smith, who blogs about the politics of parenting at Daddy Dialectic (a really neat site) and who has a new book coming out titled “Twenty-First-Century Dad,” begins by describing his experience at the local playground in 2005 with his infant son. Attempts to form a manly play group with other dads failed as not enough kids showed up each week for it to be considered a real playgroup.

“And so I plucked up my courage and I set about finding mothers who could join us,” writes Smith, continuing:

Dads were scarce on the playground, but in truth I wasn’t alone. Generation X dads spend twice as much time with children than did their Baby Boomer fathers. The result is a huge generation gap (though, ironically, it was previous generations of fathers who pioneered more developmental and caregiving roles). When Kerry Daly of the University of Guelph interviewed thirty-two young Canadian fathers in the early 1990s, he found that many dads rejected their own fathers as role models. “In light of the perception that parenthood had changed so dramatically from the previous generation,” Daly finds “a tendency to search for specific instances of good fathering behavior among one’s peers.”

At the same time, however, “the men in this study viewed their mothers and wives as providing some of the more practical and tangible guidance for how to provide care for children.” One father tells Daly: “I think my mom for the most part did a better job of getting me ready to be a father. When the child came home, there was more input from my mother in helping me out on how to handle things; where my father was pleased for me, you know, ‘it’s your child,’ and that’s what I got from my dad.”

Daly’s findings are not isolated. In 2006, Trent W. Maurer and Joseph H. Pleck studied the connections between parenting identity, the feedback parents receive from others about their identity and behavior, and behavior by interviewing 47 fathers, whose average age was 38, and 56 mothers, average age 36. “The more involved fathers perceive other fathers to be,” they conclude, “the more they attempt to model the level of that involvement (and the more models they have).” Maurer and Pleck suggest that such peer influence is one of the most decisive variable influencing fathers’ caregiving behavior — perhaps just as important as their wives’ expectations.

Are men who take care of children mothering, or are they merely pushing the frontier of fatherhood into new territory?

It’s not an idle question, for it goes right to the heart of the relationship between gendered identity and gendered behavior. Those who seek to expand the definition of “fathering” to include caregiving tend to emphasize male distinctiveness, like supposedly male qualities of rough physical play, risk-taking, and careless housecleaning. Another group tries to extend the definition of “mothering” to include men, which severs the mothering role from biology and sets up “mother” as a role into which either a man or a woman can step.

Go read the rest. And, stealing from the editor’s notes, here’s a look at some of the other essays featured in this issue:

In the Commentary section, Erica Etelson spells out how Democrats can reclaim the family values agenda by supporting progressive work-life policy, and Jean Kazez explains why Linda Hirshman is wrong about relieving the tax burden on secondary earner wives.

In Books, Carolyn McConnell reviews Ann Fessler’s “The Girls Who Went Away,” which is based on the author’s interviews with women who surrendered children for adoption in the decades before Roe v. Wade. Deborah Siegel reviews Pamela Stone’s “Opting Out?: Why Women Really Quit Their Careers and Head Home,” which relays the findings of Stone’s in-depth study of 54 high-achieving mothers who left the paid workforce.

Tucker adds that “‘Opting Out?’ is by far the most important book on women, work and family to be published this year, and is an absolute must-read for activists and advocates.”

How’s that for a recommendation?

Just a couple of days after we pointed to a New York Times story on the small-but-growing number of homeless shelters for gay youths, the Chicago Tribune has a story about a 27-year-old lesbian who alleges she was denied an available bed at a homeless shelter based on her sexual orientation.

Michelle Wang has filed complaints with city and state officials. A lawsuit is also expected.

Rev. Bud Ogle, a Presbyterian pastor who co-founded the Christian ministry that runs the New Life shelter in the North Howard Street area, told the Trib it was an inadvertent clerical error, not intentional discrimination. From the Tribune:

Ogle, who described himself as a lifelong ACLU member, said the shelter’s program manager had committed the last two beds to a family but failed to note that in a bed-count record. Relying on that record, another staffer thought the two beds were still available — until the manager alerted her otherwise in the midst of the interview of Wang. A short time later, the city was incorrectly told there were two beds open by a staffer still relying on the inaccurate bed count record, Ogle said.

But Ogle conceded he was relying on the word of the staffers and didn’t know for sure what happened.

“Some of our staff are less comfortable with homosexual, gay and lesbian folks than others are,” he said in an interview Friday outside his Good News Partners Ministry office at 1600 W. Jonquil Terrace. “Our policy as a ministry is to welcome every single person as a child of God.”

A recent report found an epidemic homeless problem among young lesbians and gays and cited incidents of anti-homosexual harassment at homeless shelters around the country. The study — issued in January by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition for the Homeless — said one Michigan facility required that gay and lesbian youths wear orange jumpsuits to set them apart from others. Many lesbians and gays conceal their sexual orientation from homeless shelters to avoid “potential misunderstanding, abuse and rejection,” the study said.

Newsweek has published an issue about the mystery of gender and the new visibility of transgender America. Here’s the cover story, with links to related content. It’s a rather comprehensive package that overall seems to have been handled well.

I particularly enjoyed the interview with L.A. Times sports columnist Christine Daniels, a terrific writer. Her last column as Mike Penner, in which she discussed her life as a transsexual sportswriter, drew so much support that the L.A. Times invited her to blog about the transition. You can read more at Woman in Progress.

Of course, things didn’t go so well for former city manager Steve Stanton, who was fired in February from his post as city manager of Largo, Fla., after announcing that he would pursue a sex-change operation.

Today, Susan Ashley Stanton is in Washington, D.C., lobbying for transgender rights. The St. Petersburg Times had a story over the weekend about Stanton’s transition and the preparation involved in sitting for her first portrait — a photo she very much wanted to be involved in the making of.

New York’s governor seems ready to put New York at the center of the same-sex marriage debate.

According to The New York Times, Gov. Eliot Spitzer will introduce a bill in the coming weeks to legalize same-sex marriage in New York. Though the bill is unlikely to muster enough support in the state Legislature this year, gay rights activists are enthusiastic about it being part of the governor’s agenda.

Gary Parker, the founder of Greater Voices, a coalition of gay-oriented political clubs in New York City, said the fact that every statewide elected official now supports gay marriage had heartened advocates.

“During the Pataki administration, there was a lot of frustration,” Mr. Parker said. “We felt extremely stagnant and stifled. Now there is movement. And the fact that there is discussion is progress.”

Maybe, just maybe, this legislation will propel Spitzer to the ranks of People Allowed to Ask American Idol Cast-Off Sanjaya Malakar for an Autograph.

The culture wars against homosexuality are failing, most notably with younger demographics. So what’s an evangelical pastor to do? Switch tactics. Claim homosexuality is biological. Put the blame Adam and Eve (heck, why not?) and suggest curing homosexuality in the womb with an infusion of hormones.

Oh, yes, he did.

From The Seeker, the Chicago Tribune’s blog on religion:

Earlier this month, [Rev. Albert Mohler Jr.], president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, acknowledged that homosexuality might be biological, adding it should come as no surprise.

“Given the consequences of the Fall and the effects of human sin, we should not be surprised that such a causation or link is found,” Mohler wrote on his blog. “After all, the human genetic structure, along with every other aspect of creation, shows the pernicious effects of the Fall and of God’s judgment.”

Citing scientists who claim they can change the sexual preference of lambs before they’re born, he challenged his flock to imagine the possibilities of detecting homosexuality in the womb and a hormone patch that could change it.

Conservatives cringed at Mohler’s suggestion that babies might be born with a sexual orientation, a significant departure from the church’s teachings. Meanwhile gay rights activists bristled at Mohler’s relentless quest for a “cure.”

You know, we can’t say we’re all that shocked by the reverend’s ignorant suggestions. But more disappointing is that Chicago Tribune chose to make his intentionally provocative comments the basis of an online poll that asks, “If you could know your baby is gay before birth, and hormone treatments were available to change the orientation, would you use them?” Followed by: “Do you think it is morally justifiable for others to use such treatment?”

What if the reverend had suggested being born black was a curse? Or a type of disability? Would the Trib have parroted that language? Why is it OK to treat homosexuality as though it were a genetic disease?

The comments that follow are the predictable back-and-forth about the origins of homosexuality, what the bible supposedly says, etc. There are some who think being gay is just so god-awful that the patch would be a blessing.

“If such a test and treatment was possible I would absolutely take advantage. Why would anyone want other than the best for their child? Being born gay may not be a ‘sin’, but why force someone to deal with the difficulties that would certainly arise? If science is showing a way to identify the spcecific [sic] gene that makes someone gay then a method to remedy this is not far off – and I say that’s a very good thing,” wrote Jon, who added he’s expecting a son in May (editor’s note: Hey, good luck!).

There are also plenty of comments from readers who find the whole issue offensive.

“Could you also post a poll to survey the public about whether any of us would choose to cure offspring of being straight? That only seems fair!” wrote David Greene.

Or, as AL simply noted, “Too bad there isn’t a patch for intolerance.”

As of 12:01 a.m. Monday, New Jersey became the third state in the country to offer civil unions for same-sex couples. From The New York Times:

The Legislature modeled its civil union law on those of Vermont and Connecticut, which allow for same-sex couples to take another’s surname without a court hearing, be able to jointly adopt and be entitled to inheritances. California also allows civil unions, Hawaii and Maine offer limited rights to same-sex couples and Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriage. [...]

Stuart J. Rabner, the state attorney general, said last week that couples who exchanged vows in states that have existing civil union laws were automatically entitled to the same rights in the Garden State. In addition, Mr. Rabner said that gay couples married in Massachusetts, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa and Spain would also receive civil union rights in the state.

“The name of the relationship selected by other jurisdictions, however, will not control its treatment under New Jersey law,” Mr. Rabner said in a statement.

The first couple to be granted all the legal rights of marriage under the new law had already had a civil union in Vermont in 2002, but they wanted to be sure there was no doubt about their status in New Jersey.

“We’re scared that if there’s an emergency, and someone looks up whether we are civil unionized in New Jersey, who wants to go into an explanation that New Jersey automatically recognizes Vermont unions?” Garden State Equality Chair Steven Goldstein said. “It just seems safer to have the piece of paper from New Jersey.”

Unlike their first civil union, which was a lavish affair, this time the couple kept it simple — and political. According to the Bergen Record:

The ceremony took place above a Blockbuster Video, in the non-descript office of state Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), who co-authored the civil union law and served as their witness.

And instead of reading wedding vows, the couple pledged to press on with their campaign to lobby for same-sex couples’ equal access to marriage.

“Do you, Daniel, vow to continue fighting for true marriage equality, so that couples like you can legally marry in the state of New Jersey one day soon?” Rabbi Elliott Tepperman asked, in a twist that was not written by Trenton legislators.

“I do,” said Daniel Gross, as did Goldstein.

Here’s more close-up coverage from BlueJersey.com.

Now, about those public displays of affection …