Queerspawn Resource Project

The Queerspawn Resource Project develops and compiles resources that reflect the complex, authentic, and intersectional experiences of people with one or more LGBTQ+ parents/guardians and advancing advocacy work that furthers inclusion of queerspawn and their perspectives. Resources include children’s and adult book lists, allyship guidance, a language guide, and media collections.

Gender-Inclusive Pedigree Charts

Pedigree charts are one of the most requested topics that we get from visitors to our website. We have built a guidance document below that will be continually updated. You can also view it on Google Docs.

Image https://www.theknowledgeroundtable.com/tutorials/decoding-pedigrees-made-easy/ What is a pedigree chart? A pedigree chart is a diagram that shows the occurrence of phenotypes through several generations of genetically related individuals. Because a pedigree chart is often confused with a family tree, and uses symbols to differentiate males and females, it is important for educators to give clear and inclusive messaging to their students about these charts.

80% of gay swan couples successfully raise their young, compared to 30% of straight swan couples. (Gender Showcase, 9-12)

Life-long pair-bonded male-male couples of the species Cygnus atratus will raise an egg together donated by a female.

Male-male black swan parents are more successful.

80% of gay black swan couples successfully raise their young, but only 30% of straight swan couples successfully raise their young.

Black swans (Cygnus atratus) also form stable male-male pairs that last for many years. Gay swans may even raise offspring together as a couple. A female may temporarily associate with a male-male pair, mate with them, and leave her eggs with them.

By sharing the workload more equally, male-male parents access better nesting sites and territories than straight couples.

The male couple then parents the eggs and is reported to be more successful than a male-female couple because together they access better nesting sites and territories, sharing the workload more equally than between-sex couples.

A full 80-percent of the gay couples successfully fledge their young, compared with 30 percent for straight couples. (EN19)

(EN19) L.W. Braithwaite, 1981, Ecological studies of the black swan: III. Behavior and social organization, Australian Wildlife Research 8:135-46.

Citation: Roughgarden, J. (2013) Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People. University of California Press, Berkeley. p. 136.

Update (5/24/23): Thanks to J. Boeheme at Science TV Australia for clarifying these papers are about black swans, not all swans.