Over the past few months, I’ve been pleased to work with the Family Pride Coalition and their OUTSpoken Families program to bring you a series of Family Voices, interviews with LGBT parents around the country. For the next phase of Family Voices, I’m proud to join with COLAGE, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere, to share the perspectives of those with LGBT parents. It seems to me that often LGBT parents and the adult children of LGBT parents inhabit different areas of the Internet, despite the occasional overlap between these groups (one of my previous interviewees, for example, was also the daughter of a gay dad), and we are both part of the broad LGBT community. I don’t think there’s anything particularly odd about that—I think it’s just the age-old split between parents and kids. I don’t necessarily want to hang out in the same places my parents do, and I’m sure my son will say the same to me.
Still, it’s often good to hear perspectives from the other side, and I hope this new phase of the series will help us do that. I know I’ve learned a whole lot from people like Abigail Garner, author of Families Like Mine
Beyond that, I am hoping to share some international voices. Blogger Julieta has already started to translate the Family Voices posts into Spanish, reminding me that this is indeed a world-wide web of families to which we belong. If you are an LGBT parent or have one or more of them, live outside the U.S., and are willing to do a short e-mail interview similar to the previous posts, please drop me a note (and indicate if you are able and willing to translate for others).
To wrap up the first phase of Family Voices, I’ve asked Dustin Kight of Family Pride to talk a little about the OUTSpoken Families Speakers Bureau he coordinates.
As the OUTSpoken Families participation in Family Voices winds down on Mombian, I’m proud to say I was a part of such an inspiring endeavor. As a regional coordinator of the OUTSpoken Families Speakers Bureau, a project of Family Pride, I was able to connect OUTSpoken families with Mombian and, thus, the ever-growing, ever-curious blogosphere.
There are many things that will contribute to full equality for LGBTQ-headed families. Telling our stories is key. In the recent fight to save marriage equality in Massachusetts, legislators overwhelmingly agreed that their personal interactions with LGBTQ people — especially parents — and their allies made the difference in how they decided to vote. And in this case, they voted for us.
OUTSpoken Families is committed to developing local leaders and encouraging individual voices. We all have different stories to tell; we all lead different lives. The beauty of OUTSpoken is that it shows us how we can maintain our individuality while sharing similar messages — messages that ultimately resonate with the public-at-large.
The OUTSpoken families featured in the Family Voices series all contribute to the fight for family equality in their own unique ways, but they do so with a shared understanding that in order to win we must reach out to others, create allies in our communities, expect more of family and friends, and share our very personal stories in order to make plain what LGBTQ families are, to show the rest of the world that though we may not all be the same, we all deserve equal justice.
I encourage you to read back over the Family Voices series and find inspiration in these families’ stories as I have in working with them. And if you, too, are interested in learning how you can help push our movement for equality forward, join the 1,000+ people out there who have already stood up and said, “When it comes to fighting for equality for my family and others, I’m in.” In other words, stand up and become OUTSpoken!
Dustin Kight is a Program & Education Associate at Family Pride, the national advocacy organization dedicated to securing equality for all loving families, especially LGBTQ-headed families. He coordinates Family Pride’s regional work in the South and Midwest. Dustin can be reached at dustin.kight@familypride.org.
Hello! My English is very bad. I would like invitarte to that you happen through blog. He is of my family: we are two mothers and a son and are very happy.
Almost for 9 years we have been in pair, we now glided to begin with the attempt for our second son. I hope that you read to us.
A hug.
Hi.
Here are a couple more Spanish language sites for lesbian mums. Also, if you need translation for an interview to Spanish or Romanian, please send me an email.
http://lesbianfamily.org/2007/08/28/familia-lesbiana-blogs-en-espanol/
Clare