After 5 years together, at ages 40 and 45, we started to expand our family of two cats and two dogs. We knew there may be obstacles, but all around us, other lesbians and gay men were having or adopting children. The decision took a long time to make, manyh conversations between ourselves and other gay families – finally, a secret yes or no ballot. So many concerns – mostly about whether we could get the kids through the differences of having a non-traditional family. Such a long list of issues to consider: school, other parents’ attitudes, cultural biases from multiple walks of life, and even our families. Then we just did it and said, “YES” to LIFE. Our hearts full of love, our experiences full of expertise – bits of wisdom from our years on this earth. Our choice to be deliberate about everything we do for them, to help them become the best they can be. Now our first is turning four and her brother is two; best friends forever. Our world is a swirl of what all families share: laughs, snuggles, tears, running, jumping, giggling, learning, tickling, playing hide-and-seek, learning, showing, waiting, watching, worrying, traveling, and holding each other. We hold tight because we don’t want to miss a second, yet they grow fast and slip out of our arms, as wriggly as they can be. And we truly see that nothing we were concerned about to begin with is worth a second thought now. We just ARE a family. We have a right to be here. Happy LGBT Blogging Day!

Hi there
We’d really appreciate if you’d give this campaign a little mention:
Thanks
Moninne

Lesbian & Gay Families In The Spotlight

National Campaign Launched to Improve Visibility For Lesbian and Gay Families Living in Ireland

Tuesday, 1st June, 2010: Today, Marriage Equality is launching We Are Family, a national poster campaign which gives visibility to lesbian and gay families living in Ireland. The groundbreaking campaign shatters the silence and myths surrounding these families and calls on the Government to recognise and protect same-sex couples and their children.

We Are Family posters depicting real Irish lesbian and gay couples, some with their children, are being carried by Dublin Bus and have been sent to Libraries, Family Resource Centres and Community Information Centres nationally. Further information is available on http://www.marriagequality.ie/wearefamily.

Moninne Griffith, Director, Marriage Equality said, “We Are Family is a pioneering campaign with simple messages, that lesbian and gay families are like any other, their children are the same as other Irish children, and that these families deserve to be recognised and protected by Irish laws. Until lesbian and gay families are equal in law, they will continue to experience discrimination and stigma.”

She continued, “Some people in Ireland might not know a lesbian or gay family, and so We Are Family is an introduction of sorts to the wonderful diversity of Irish family life. What is often forgotten too, is that apart from the immediate lesbian or gay family unit, these families are also sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, even grandmothers and grandfathers. They are already interwoven into Ireland’s family fabric and the Government must move to recognise this fact.”

Orla Howard, Board Member, Marriage Equality commented, “Equal marriage rights for same-sex couples will lead to the recognition and protection of lesbian and gay families. The Government’s Civil Partnership Bill on the other hand, continues to deny the existence of same-sex families and ignores their children entirely. This leaves these families legally vulnerable in matters such as inheritance, access, maintenance and so on. The simple solution is for the Irish Government to make this issue a priority for their Programme for Government.”

Ms Howard added, “The Government will be encouraged to make this a matter of priority if members of the public contact their locally elected representative and raise the issue with them. All families deserve equality and We Are Family carries this important message and call to action to the Irish public.”

Marriage Equality is a campaign working for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples in Ireland. We Are Family is it’s latest campaign and was made possible thanks to the support of The Community Foundation of Ireland and the wonderful families who participated.

ENDS/

Campaign posters can be viewed or downloaded from http://www.marriagequality.ie/wearefamily

Media Contact: Andrew Hyland, Platinum PR, 00 353 87 9088 322 / andrewhyland@platinumpr.ie

How far would you go to change hearts and minds?

Would you open your home to the eyes of strangers? Give filmmakers carte blanche to intrude for five years, based on their promises to be “truthful” and “fair” in depicting your family life? Would you sign away, in advance, your right to influence how that footage is made public? Would you risk a promising career that rises and falls on peoples’ perceptions of you, all in hopes that this will somehow make unknown children’s lives better? I dare say not many of us are willing to go that far, but that is just what the Rev. Greg Stewart and Stillman Stewart have done as part of their efforts to help children be adopted.

When my husband and I (no, I’m not one of the lucky few – just straight) approached Greg and Stillman in 2002 about working on a project with them, that was the deal we offered – extensive intrusion into their lives, no payment, and no guarantees that they’d like what we produced. They had already, at that point, been approached by more than one television network and turned those offers down flat. Why, then, agree to our request?

Stillman and Greg had known us – though not well – for several years, and they knew we were both LGBTQ allies and parents ourselves. And their kids liked us (especially Mark, who could have had a solid career as a children’s magician). They believed that we had good intentions. In other words, they trusted us. Wow – faith AND courage!

As most of you know better than I do, courage is what is required, in extra-large doses, from each lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered/queer person, and from absolutely every ally. Courage to stand up against hate, yes; but also to speak out into the silence – silence that pushes all people who are different into the shadows, where the status quo reigns, where so-called mainstream America doesn’t have to deal with them or even think about them.

I can only imagine what it’s like having to break that silence and come out to people you know and love. I salute everyone who has braved that gantlet! But (not that I’m whining) it can also be pretty uncomfortable to inform people that you have taken up the rainbow banner as a straight ally.

For a man, especially, to champion the struggle for full marriage and parenting rights is (still!) to have your own sexual orientation questioned. That discomfort never prevented my husband from working for what he knew was right. But alas, after a valiant – and successful – effort to finish editing our documentary, PREACHER’S SONS, my beloved life and business partner succumbed to a metastasizing cancer in March of 2008.

So now it’s just you and me and our expanding band of allies. I am not alone. And you are not alone. There are millions of us engaged in this struggle for equal rights. Together we will prevail. And now there’s a new tool for prying open hearts and changing minds. PREACHER’S SONS is a non-confrontational and intimate portrait of one family facing prejudice with love and overcoming obstacles with humor.

After getting to know the Stewart family, the Aunt Millies and Uncle Ralphs of the world – good people who have been fed an unhealthy diet of ignorant bull – will finally understand that love is love and people are people, regardless of sexual orientation. Thanks to the courage of Greg and Stillman Stewart and their five sons. Please help me honor their courage and vision by visiting the film’s website (www.preacherssons.com) to learn more.

I just wanted to express my gratitude for this wonderful event. My wife passed away in January and this event has given me an opportunity to let my wife’s words once again show the love she had for her children and myself. Thank you.

Yes well…I’m late and I don’t expect to be included. but here is my link any ways.
http://roleplayingwithkids.blogspot.com/2010/06/blogging-for-lgbt-families.html