The Rainbow Letters is a great new project that aims to collect and share the stories of those who have LGBTQ parents.
Founded by Julia Winston, a communications professional, and advocate and author Zach Wahls (who rose to YouTube fame after a video of him speaking to the Idaho House went viral twice), the site aims “to build a community of people who can draw strength, encouragement, and inspiration from each other by writing, reading, and sharing letters.”
They write on their website that “We’re not trying to fit an all-American mold. We’re not pushing a political agenda.” Rather, they want to showcase the variety of experiences of those who grew up with, or later discovered they had, a parent or parents who identify as LGBTQ. Among other things, they hope to explore “how the identity of having LGBTQ parent(s) intersects with all the other identities we hold, such as gender identity, race, geographic location, socioeconomic status, whether you’re second-gen, a DI baby, a bothie, have (a) straight parent(s), and all the other things that make us who we are.”
They will be collecting letters through December 31, 2014, in partnership with the COLAGE, Family Equality Council, and Our Family Coalition, and selecting them for publication and circulation in 2015.
If you’re interested in contributing a letter, check out the details on their website, or go directly to their Write a Letter page. If you don’t have LGBTQ parents, pass the link along to someone who does!
The Rainbow Letters joins a couple of other storytelling communties devoted to elevating the voices of those with LGBTQ parents: the Gay Dad Project (founded by daughters of gay dads, but open to any with an LGBTQ parent) and the Recollectors, dedicated to those who have lost a parent or parents to AIDS (founded again by daughters of gay dads, but open to any with a parent, LGBTQ or not, lost to AIDS).
