Editor’s note, Sept. 17: The online chat with Dan Savage has been postponed indefinitely, due to scheduling problems.
MOUNT VERNON — A Cornell College sociology class will host an online chat with nationally syndicated sex-advice columnist Dan Savage, author of “The Kid,” about a gay couple’s quest to adopt a child.
The chat is Wednesday, Sept. 18, from 7-8 p.m. CST. Go to www.cornellcollege.edu/auditorium, and follow the instructions.
“The Kid” chronicles the arrangements Savage and partner Terry Miller made for an open adoption, where the birth mother stays in the picture. Their son, D.J., is now 4. The book is required reading in sociology professor Tina Fetner’s “Families in Social Context.” Seattle-based Savage and a student in the class, sophomore Addy Free of Iowa City, have corresponded regularly.
“I thought the book was hilarious and also terribly honest about the nature of the gay male couple and the process of adoption, legal and otherwise,” Free said. “I just dropped him an e-mail one day and asked him if he’d be into (the chat), and he agreed pretty quickly.”
Savage’s column, “Savage Love,” is published in about 75 newspapers, mostly alternative weeklies. “The Kid” is available at the Cornell bookstore.