I’m happy to invite all LGBTQ parents to join the Mombian covey! No, not coven—covey, part of a new app that helps parents find others with similar interests for both online and real-life activities.
Just download the Covey app from your smartphone. (If you click that link from your device, it should automatically direct you to either the Apple App Store or Google Play store, as appropriate.) After you register and indicate a little about your interests and your kids, you’ll be able to find “coveys” of parents with similar interests, like the Mombian covey. (Look for the purple banner.) Each covey is its own discussion forum.
You can also use the Covey filters to find other parents with kids of a similar age, other working or stay-at-home parents, other single parents, etc. Additionally, you can discover parents and activities near your own location. (All the usual caveats apply about meeting in real life people whom you first met online. Covey seems like a nice place, but we should all be smart.)
Obviously, the Mombian covey is just getting started, so there might not be other parents near your location today, but I hope you’ll hang out for some online discussion, invite your friends, and see what happens. I’m also trying to list events that I know of related to LGBTQ parents (like Family Week in P’town) so you can indicate if you’re going and see who else is going. Please also add your own relevant activities, too, whether they’re organized by you or by other organizations in your vicinity.
Covey was founded by computer scientist and mom Vanessa Jameson, who once worked for Google’s Pittsburgh office. Along with a few other mom friends, “We envisioned a social tool designed for parents’ hectic schedules that provides a window into the local parenting communities via their smartphones,” she told Kidsburgh. She left Google to found Covey.
The app is still in its early stages, but Covey seems very willing to listen to feedback, such as my suggestion to increase the number of gender options available when listing one’s kids. (They haven’t implemented this quite yet, but they’ve been open to the idea and why it’s important.)
The Mombian Facebook page is still going strong, too. I encourage you to Like it if you haven’t, and to join in the discussion and sharing there as well, if that’s how you roll. (I often post quick items there that I don’t mention on the blog.) But Covey offers us the chance to connect locally as well as virtually, and to easily find other parents with similar situations, which I think are neat added benefits. Hope to see you there!