The Family Equality Council (FEC) today launches Project Harmony, a new initiative designed to ensure “that the issues and concerns of families of color are part of the national dialogue on LGBTQ family equality.”
“We are committed to building the most informed and effective national programs serving LGBTQ families of color and to fully integrating the voices, experiences and needs of these families into all of the work of the Family Equality Council,” said Project Harmony Program Manager Lisbeth Meléndez-Rivera. “Existing research shows that households including gay Latino men and African-American lesbians have the highest concentration of children among LGBTQ-headed families. We as a movement have much to learn from the struggles and successes of these families.”
Meléndez-Rivera, a 20-year veteran of the LGBT and labor movements, is planning a nationwide listening tour to gather community ideas and insights for the project. The Family Equality Council will release a report of findings from these town hall meetings in early 2009.
This is a much-needed initiative, I say, and I look forward to seeing how it develops.
Brava, Family Equality Council, and thanks, Dana, for bringing this project to wider attention.
Back when the Our Family Coalition report came out last fall (the SF Chronicle covered it, and I know you did too but I couldn’t dig it up) I was really interested to read about the high percentages of LGBT families of color — i.e., in higher concentration than the white middle class ones that get so much media b/c they/we produce/own so much of it their/ourselves. I sensed as much, but it’s a different thing seeing research data. I’ll keep an eye out for Project Harmony and look forward to their initiatives.