2008 is the 100th anniversary of Mother’s Day. In honor of the
occasion, Teleflora is presenting “America’s Favorite Mom,”
a weeklong contest airing on NBC in May. Finalists in five
categories will appear on NBC’s Today Show the week before
Mother’s Day, and in a prime-time special on the day itself, May
11th. There are also various cash and gift prizes for the
winners.
Part of me cringes at the thought of moms competing against each
other for some claim to superior “momness.” Given that the contest
exists, however, I think it is only fair that we nominate all the
worthy lesbian (and bi and trans) moms we know. The rules state
that they will also accept nominations “for people who have taken
on the role of Mom in a non-traditional way, including single dads,
grandparents, step-Moms and foster parents.” (I’ll ignore, for the
moment, the question of whether single dads (especially those with
strong male gender identities) are really taking on the role of
mom; I’d prefer to think they are expanding a dad’s role, and for
the better.)
The five contest categories are: The Single Mom, The Military Mom,
The Working Mom, The “Non-Mom” Mom, and The Chairman [sic]
of Everything Mom. As far as I can tell, the contest judges
determine the category in which to place nominees. There are also
online-only contests in March and April for the Most Inspiring
Mom and Most Popular Mom, respectively.
The rules do note, however: “if you are nominating someone other
than yourself, you must have that person’s permission to do so. In
addition, you are responsible for obtaining any and all releases
and consents from any person who appears in or is identifiable in
the entry.” Further details are at the America’s Favorite Mom
site.
Does an LGBT mom really stand a chance? Who knows? Maybe they’d
pick one of us just to seem trendy. Even if not, maybe we can open
some eyes behind the scenes.
(Crossposted at
Mombian.)