I had a wonderful time with my spouse Helen at Family Equality’s Night at the Pier gala in New York City last night, where a record-breaking crowd turned out in support of the 46-year-old organization’s vital work for LGBTQ families.
Peggy Gillespie, co-founder and director of Family Diversity Projects, a national nonprofit organization devoted to helping eliminate discrimination, received the Hostetter-Habib Family Award, presented by renowned choreographer and two-time Tony Award-winner, Bill T. Jones. I had the honor of receiving the same award myself in 2018, and I am constantly humbled by the people who have received it since. Gillespie’s Love Makes a Family project gave us groundbreaking images of LGBTQ parents and our children back in 1999, while her 2023 Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families, developed in collaboration with PFLAG National and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, celebrates the lives of transgender and nonbinary people in their own words and those of their family members.
Entertainment industry powerhouses and queer dads Jason Weinberg and Merritt Johnson were honored with the Luigi Caiola Luminary Award, presented by their friends Academy Award nominee Demi Moore, Presidential Medal of Freedom Honoree Marlo Thomas, and two-time Grammy Award nominee Debbie Harry. Weinberg is an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated and Tony award-winning producer, talent manager, and founding partner of entertainment management firm Untitled Entertainment. Johnson is a producer and screenwriter, best known for writing the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning Temple Grandin and the Writers Guild Award-winning HBO series In Treatment. They are parents to twin teens.
Jim Obergefell, Family Equality board member and lead plaintiff in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed marriage equality nationwide, also spoke, while Broadway stars Darren Criss, Megan Hilty, Nicole Scherzinger, and Cole Escola performed and a host of other entertainers and luminaries attended. I say this not to brag about my rubbing shoulders with greatness—I did not actually meet any of them except Gillespie—but to show the support that LGBTQ families have. More than 1000 people attended the event in total, most of whom, like my spouse and I, were not nearly as well known, but who understand the vital importance of Family Equality’s work.
I was delighted to run into the gracious and kind Lesléa Newman. Newman is best known for her classic Heather Has Two Mommies, but is also the author of 84 other titles for readers of all ages, including most recently Joyful Song: A Naming Story, a 2025 Sydney Taylor Picture Book Honoree.
I also met Jaimie Kelton of The Queer Family Podcast in person for the first time, although we’ve previously each interviewed each other for our respective outlets. It’s always great to meet someone face-to-face after knowing them only virtually, especially someone as fun as Jaimie.
I currently serve as a member of Family Equality’s unpaid, volunteer Communications Committee, helping to advise them on various aspects of their work, and have been in touch with the organization in one way or another since the early aughts, so I admit my bias—but it has always been gratifying to know that there is an organization focused specifically on affirming, celebrating, and defending not only my identity as an LGBTQ person, but my identity as an LGBTQ parent and my child’s identity as someone with LGBTQ parents. The current era is an extraordinarily tough one for LGBTQ families, but Family Equality is rising to the occasion. They recently welcomed a new CEO, Darra Gordon, whom I interviewed in March, and I have no doubt they’ll be doing even more in the coming days to help ensure our families thrive.