Mar 8th, 2007
Chinese, Jewish, Adopted, and Queerspawn
The New York Times profiles a Chinese adoptee celebrating her bat mitzvah.
The countdown to the big day was the typical blur of lessons and studying, sit-downs with cantors and tutors, caterers and party planners. There was a thick dossier of Jewish history to master — history that Cece confessed did not feel like hers. “I just really try to learn it,” she said. “I don’t try to think of whose history it is.”
Cecelia Nealon-Shapiro came to the U.S. in 1994 when she was adopted by a lesbian couple. What’s especially notable about this media coverage is that the questions of identity are centered around being Jewish and being Chinese, not about having lesbian mothers. Not that this is a “non-issue,” but it is refreshing to see an in depth story on a young woman with lesbian parents without it derailing the focus of the coverage.
One of Cece’s mothers discusses the challenges of identity and adoption, in a quote that nearly any adoptive parent or LGBT parent can relate to once their children are old enough to ask questions:
As a baby it seemed like a very easy thing, but as your child grows and gets older, it’s a lot more complex than you thought it was going to be.
Be sure to view the slide show and the video as well.
Thanks to Robyn for bringing this article to my attention.
[…] Abigail Garner brought my attention to a New York Times article today about a Chinese adoptee celebrating her bat mitzvah. Garner writes: Cecelia Nealon-Shapiro came to the U.S. in 1994 when she was adopted by a lesbian couple. What’s especially notable about this media coverage is that the questions of identity are centered around being Jewish and being Chinese, not about having lesbian mothers. Not that this is a “non-issue,” but it is refreshing to see an in depth story on a young woman with lesbian parents without it derailing the focus of the coverage. […]