Daddy and Papa

We created DADDY AND PAPA, our multiple award-winning PBS film, to inspire complex and engaged discussion about the daily lives, challenges and triumphs of gay dads and their kids. So as the new session of Congress begins and the debate over DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) heats up, we had to wonder, what will be the effects on children of LGBT couples if same sex marriages are federally recognized? A federal audit revealed approximately 1100 federal benefits of marriage, many of which relate to parenting, including joint parenting rights, joint adoption, status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions, divorce protections such as child support and visitation, immigration and residency for partners from other countries and inheritance and wrongful death benefits.

A documentary exploring the personal, cultural and political impact of gay men who are making a decision that is at once traditional and revolutionary: to raise children themselves. Taking us inside four gay male families, "Daddy & Papa" traces the critical issues that inevitably intersect with their lives. As fathers, these men must take on numerous challengers: from conservatives to the gay community.

If _____ Said the Stuff White People Said

Every race has its own annoyingly repetitive tropes to deal with: for Latinos, it's often things like, "I love your accent," or, from the spoof, "I hooked up with a white guy once. He was crazy!" There's always the,"if you went to a really good college it must be because of your race," bit of offensiveness, too.

If African Americans Said the Stuff White People Said

If Asians Said the Stuff White People Said

If Latinos Said the Stuff White People Said

 

Stuff White People Say About Multiracial People

Stuff White People Say About Adopted People

 see above

For some, steep odds to find a bone marrow match

For some, steep odds to find a bone marrow match
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/08/20/awaiting-transplant-cancer-patient-chances-depend-her-korean-heritage/oXksbeVUYTNez8KcaS6trM/story.html
Now, the 40-year-old’s Korean heritage has suddenly become central to her life in a way she never expected. After being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in July, Manocchio-Putney faces a disturbing reality shared with many minorities in the United States — getting a bone marrow donation to save her life will be much harder for her than it would be for one of her two Caucasian siblings.

While 93 percent of Caucasians are able to find a match among the 10.5 million potential donors registered nationwide, the likelihood of finding a match is lower for Asian-Americans — 73 percent — said Chris Mulcahy, northeast district supervisor for Be the Match, which oversees marrow drives and registries.

And it’s even more difficult for mixed-race individuals, African-Americans, and some subsets of Asian-Americans, particularly South Asians, to find a match, said Dr. Joseph Antin, chief of stem cell transplantation at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Bone marrow donors must have similar genetic history to recipients, Antin said. Though race has no genetic basis, the genes that determine the success of transplanted cells, called human leukocyte antigens, correlate with individuals’ ethnic backgrounds.

Humans developed distinct resistances to pathogens depending on what diseases proliferated in which parts of the world, meaning different ethnic groups evolved with different HLA genes. 

That genetic diversity in human leukocyte antigens makes it hard for everyone to find a bone marrow match. But it’s even tougher for people of Asian and African descent, because the more diverse an individual’s evolutionary history is, the harder it becomes to find a match. Since populations in Africa and Asia developed in the face of some of the most diverse conditions, many of its people have unique genetic types.

But sometimes, in cases like Manocchio-Putney’s, one individual’s case can generate enough momentum to expand the registry. For many years, Antin said, it was nearly impossible to find bone marrow matches for Ashkenazi Jews, whose families came from Europe. When one such Jew got sick, the community mobilized, and now many are registered as potential donors.