gay teensWe can talk about supporting marriage equality and gay acceptance all we want, but LGBT teens still struggle with all sorts of bullying, homelessness and other issues related to oppression. Even legal issues. A Florida crisis case right now illustrates the precariousness of being an LGBT teen in a frightening way.

A high school student is facing felony charges because on her 18th birthday the parents of her girlfriend decided to legally harass her. I don't understand why law enforcement is assisting this, because if Kaitlyn were an 18-year-old boy they wouldn't be involved. In Florida, typically legal action about consensual relationships between teens would only be pursued if the one person is 24-years-old or older.

Related: 10 things a mother should NEVER say to her daughter

It seems clear that Kaitlyn is in trouble because she's gay. There is a window of time where she has already turned 18 and before her girlfriend turns 16, and carefully timed prosecution is

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Pregnancy shapewear from Cozy Belly. Photo: Cozy BellyAh, to be pregnant and gorging again… I don’t know about other women out there, but personally, I loved using those nine months as a reason to eat two (or three) desserts without guilt and, finally, to unequivocally love every inch of my body. So it made me totally sad this morning when I received a press release from Cozy Belly touting its “pregnancy shapewear,” reminding me that it is, in fact, a thing.

But really, why?

I tried to block out word of the depressing trend when Kim Kardashian blogged about her love of belly shapers recently. “For any concern that my clothes are too tight, I have so many pieces custom fit for my growing body! They make pregnancy Spanx which are tight,” she wrote. “So this theory sounds ridiculous! I feel my best when I am in heels and chic clothes!”

But then came the clincher, so to speak, from Cozy Belly:

"For pregnant women who want to gain a little extra control over the shape of their body, we offer pregnancy shapewear. If you want to cover up some of

Read More »from Pregnancy Shapewear: The Baby Bump Girdle No One Asked For

Daddy's girlMy oldest daughter, Adair, is a daddy's girl. I used to think it was just a phase because when her baby sister was born, she spent lots of extra time with her daddy. But now, her sister is a toddler, and it's clearly not a phase. Addie is a daddy's girl to her core. Some days, this makes me a bit sad. I wish I was the one she wanted to comfort her when she was scared or hurt. I wish I was the one she preferred to read her books. Instead, it's her daddy. Always. Some days though, it's pretty cool to see their bond. The way they love each other, the way they "get" each other - it's pretty rare.

Here's why I'm OK with my daughter being a daddy's girl:

1. Adventure
Phil has a big heart for adventure. He spends nearly all of his free time exploring the woods, working in the garden, and dreaming about backpacking trips for the whole family. From a young age, he started taking Addie to explore the wilderness and now, it's her favorite place to be!

2. Play
Phil has always

Read More »from She Prefers Daddy Over Me (and 9 Reasons Why I'm OK with It)

Kaitlyn Hunt was expelled and faces felony charges for being in a same-sex relationship with a younger student. (Photo: Courtsey of the Hunt Family)An 18-year-old high school senior in Florida has been expelled and is facing felony charges for dating a 15-year-old freshman at the same school. Parents complained, and it became a classic "we don't want you to date our daughter" story, but with a modern twist: both of the students are girls.

Also on Shine: Dad's Love Letter to Gay Teenage Son Goes Viral

Kaitlyn Hunt was arrested on February 16 and charged with two counts of “lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12-16 years of age.” If convicted, she faces jail time or house arrest and will have to register as a sex offender, something that could affect her for the rest of her life. She has until this Friday to accept a plea deal -- two years of house arrest, followed by a year of probation plus sex-abuse counseling -- or take her case to trial.

Also on Shine: Indiana Anti-Gay Prom Plan Sparks Backlash

According to the Hunt family, Kaitlyn met her girlfriend (who has not been named) months ago, during basketball practice at Sebastian

Read More »from Teen Expelled, Charged as Felony Sex Offender, After Parents Object to Same-Sex Realtionship

Students protest graduation ban

Seven kids at East Carter High School in Grayson, Kentucky thought it would be funny to release 10,000 crickets in their school last Thursday morning as a senior prank. Unfortunately, school administrators didn't get the humor. According to local WSAZ News, the seniors were not allowed to walk in their graduation ceremony on Saturday morning and will not receive their diplomas until they each pay a $600 fine.

More on Yahoo!: Obama Delivers Morehouse Commencement

Some of the pranksters' classmates came to their defense, "We've been to school with them since we were in diapers. It's not fair to us to not have them there with us," senior Alissa Lawson told WSAZ during a student protest on Friday night. Dozens of seniors chanted, "Let them walk [in graduation]" and held signs in support of the "Cricket Clan." Kentucky state Senator Robin Webb, who once served as class president for East Carter High School, called the decision "overreaching" given that the kids had never had any

Read More »from Cricket Prank Bans Seniors From Graduation

Kylie and her dad Bob on the trail. Photo: Courtesy of the Trawick family.In an effort to fight hunger, 13-year-old Kylie Trawick and her dad Bob are going the extra mile in a major way—hiking more than 2,180 miles from Georgia to Maine, at a clip of about 20 miles per day since setting off in late March. And, at 723 miles in, they’ve already surpassed their goal of raising one pound of food for every mile completed. About 4,000 pounds have already been donated in Kylie’s honor to food pantries across the country.

More on Shine: 6 Ways to Create a Father-Daughter Bond That Will Last Forever

The biggest challenge, as it turns out, has been for Bob, a 50-year-old registered nurse, to keep apace with his daughter. “Kylie is a phenomenal hiker, and she’s never quit anything in her life,” he told Yahoo! Shine by phone from Daleville, Virginia, where the two had stopped to rest and refuel for a couple of nights. “So the truth is, she’s wearing me out. She’s just so fit and strong! It’s the Sassafras Express and I’m clearly at the back.”

Muddy father-daughter hiker feet. Photo: Courtesy of the Trawick family.Sassafras is Kylie’s Read More »from Father and Daughter's Amazing Appalachian Trek to Save Lives

Every two or three blocks on the avenues of downtown Brooklyn, a big old stone church rises from the ranks of the brownstones. A couple of weeks ago, my little boy Felix pulled his trike to the curb and squinted at the steeple of one.

"What's that castle, Da-da?"

"It's not a castle, it's a church."

"What's a church?"

"It's a place where people go to worship god."

"What's god?"

"God is a concept some people believe in. A creative force, I guess you'd say."

"Huh."

And with that, he rode on. I must admit, this isn't the most compelling definition of the supreme being I could think of - I attended Catholic school for nine years and am steeped in Bible lore. I could've told him the story of the Garden of Eden, in which god-with-a-capital-G appears as a benevolent father whom his creations defy, or perhaps recounted how the vengeful deity punished Sodom and Gomorrah, or the demanding dictator demanded Her loyal subject Abraham to sacrifice his only son.

Read More »from Losing My Religion: Why I'm Raising My Child to Believe in Science, Not God

When Jennifer Siebel Newsom was pregnant with her first daughter, she realized that it was hard to find any female role models that her daughter could eventually look up to. There were powerful, strong, and independent women all around her, Jennifer observed, but they weren't portrayed that way in the media. In fact, there was a huge disconnect - there are many women in positions of power and influence making a difference in the world, but in the media, women are most often reduced to sexual beings, with looks being more important than anything else.

So Jennifer decided to do something about it. She made a documentary called "Miss Representation," which addresses these issues and features interviews with successful women from all walks of life. In this clip from "The Jeff Probst Show," Jennifer tells special guest Yvette Nicole Brown why she made this documentary, and what she hopes viewers take from it.

"The Jeff Probst Show" is airing its finale episode on Wednesday, May 22 -

Read More »from The Disturbing Ways Women Are Shown in Media