Tomorrow's news today (therefore tomorrow's blog posting today): the New York Times will run this damn fine story on gay stay-at-home dads. As it turns out, male-male couples with children are more likely that "traditional" couples to have on party stay home with the kids (26 percent vs. 25 percent (vs. 22 percent for lesbian couples)). This is a heck of an interesting stat, especially given that gay couples, on average, have a *lower* household income.

Here's the explanation:
"Sociologists, gender researchers and gay parents themselves say that because gay men are liberated from the cultural expectations and pressures that women face to balance work and family life, they may approach raising children with a greater sense of freedom and choice.

They may also not fear stigmatization in these new roles, said Ellen Lewin, chairwoman of the women's studies department at the University of Iowa. Professor Lewin is the author of 'Lesbian Mothers' (Cornell University Press, 1993) and is working on a study on gay fathers."

More evidence that straight men are missing a huge set of opportunities because of silly, outdated "cultural expectations" and stigma. Such a shame.

In contrast, there's this story out of Ohio about a couple will very traditional gender roles that suddenly gets turned upside down by a layoff. The story includes this line: "Jody doesn't mind being portrayed as a submissive wife. That's how her role in their marriage was defined." With that kind of silly, mid-century view of family life, I have a hard time feeling the pain of the suddenly at-home man who admits, "'I didn't realize how nerve-wracking it could be at times.'"