Last week, I urged readers to nominate their favorite LGBT moms for the title of “America’s Favorite Mom” in Teleflora’s Mother’s Day contest. I thought it would be a good opportunity for visibility.
Two days after my post, I received an e-mail from a publicist at Edelman, Teleflora’s PR agency. She thanked me for helping them to raise awareness about the program within the LGBT community. She then asked if I’d like to be kept apprised of any LGBT submissions to the contest, so I could urge readers to vote for them. I said yes.
In re-reading the contest rules, however, I noticed that each person can only submit the name of one nominee. Clearly, the organizers didn’t realize this would force children of partnered LGBT moms to choose between them (and could lead to shameless bribery on the part of said parents). I wrote back to inquire whether there might be an exception made here.
This is the nice message I got back. Not the answer I’d hoped for, but still a sign of increasing awareness and willingness to listen:
Unfortunately, all the contest rules in each state are set up for only one person to be submitted per nomination. I know that isn’t ideal for kids of LGBT couples, but on the upside, we really want to tell the story of inspirational LGBT moms! Also, you raised an excellent point and you definitely got Teleflora’s attention. Not sure if they are going to do this contest next year, but definitely something to think about when their lawyers draft the sweepstakes contest rules.
She also notes, however that there are no nominees yet within the LGBT community, but that she would love to have a diverse group of semi-finalists and finalists.
That seems like a call to action, despite the one-mom limitation. (Flip a coin if debate gets ugly.) Nominate yourself, your partner, or a friend (just make sure you have the person’s permission before doing so). Children over 13 can also nominate moms (and those under 13 can do so as part of a nomination submitted by an adult or older sibling. Full rules are at the contest site.
The nomination form also allows you to upload images or videos in support of your nominee. If you (or your kids) do submit a name, leave a comment so we can go vote for you.
Hi
I’m so glad that Mombian gave me an excuse to submit an entry for my awesome wife who is the most amaing Mom to our children! It takes about 24 hours to get on the site, so sometime Friday it should be up. Look for a picture of “Mama Laughing.” Of course, I tried to squeeze in the entry while caring for my 2 and 4 year old who are currently trying to show me the “bootytrap opener” they just made1? This may explain any typos that I didn’t catch. Well, I should go give them my attention now. Thanks for the heads up. Hope our story helps to show America just how normal we all our.
Any idea what’s up with that “non-mom” mom category?
Our Mom is Megen m. on the site…vote away!
Here’s from my original post re: “non-moms”:
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.)
I nominated my partner Susan- here is the link:
http://www.americasfavoritemom.com/mothers-day-2008/mom/Susan-S-6981
Vote vote vote!
Oh, that makes it easier, here’s our link
http://www.americasfavoritemom.com/mothers-day-2008/mom/Megen-M-6861
thanks diva jean for showing me the way…to paste the link…best of luck to Susan!
Hi all,
My name is Karina and I work at Edelman on behalf of Teleflora’s “America’s Favorite Mom” campaign. I’ve been in touch with Dana about the ongoing AFM online casting call, and I wanted to extend my sincerest thanks to those of you who stopped by to visit the site to nominate your favorite LGBT moms!
Also, we just announced the celebrity hosts for the primetime show which will air on Mother’s Day…
She’s “a little bit country” and he’s “a little bit rock n’ roll,” and together Donny and Marie Osmond will now host the NBC primetime reality special which will highlight the finalists and winner (I wish there was enough time to include all our moms!).
If you’d like to view the announcement from yesterday’s “Today” show, check out this clip: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24011295#24011295.
Thanks again and best of luck to Susan and Maggie’s wife!