In honor of the occasion, I’m going to share a few of the posts contributed by non-LGBT allies for Blogging for LGBT Families Day back in June. I hadn’t re-read them in a while, and found myself marveling again at the outpouring of support from outside the LGBT community—though “outside” seems too black-and-white a term to use for people whose acceptance and understanding crosses so many boundaries. Read them and take heart.

The Ice Floe:

I believe in GLBT families because I believe in children having families.
I believe in GLBT families because I believe in equal rights of all types.
But mostly I believe in GLBT families because of Angela. . . .

Angela (don’t call her Angie) lived with her daddy, her papa, and her brother Eddie. They had a big pale blue house right on the waterfront in the small town where I did my seminary internship. . . .

And when Daddy adopted Eddie and Papa adopted Angela , the little family was complete. The day after Eddie’s adoption was legalized in the US, Daddy and Papa brought their offspring to the church to be ‘bap-a-tized’ in Angela’s words. . . .

Because Angela was 4, she got to answer some of her own baptismal questions. The pastor crawled down to her level and interviewed her. He skipped the microphone. Only a few of us could hear her voice, at first.
“Do you want to be baptized?”
“YES!”
“Why do you want to be baptized?”
“I love Jesus”
“Do you want to be in the church family?”
“uh-huh.”

Silence.

“Daddy and Papa and Eddie and Me and Jesus, too. That’s our family.”

The pastor broke into a huge grin.

“And you can be in the family, too,” she offered.

Then she shouts,
“Everyone can be in our family!”

. . . . Every time I baptize a child, I remember Angela and Eddie and their parents, little Angela that showed us all that there’s plenty of room in the family of God.

All Gawdess All the Time:

Why blog for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender families?

Because mine could be one.
That’s it.

I want for all families what I want for my own.
I want for all children what I want for my own.

Love, acceptance and support.

My Two Shews:

J and S are fantastic parents to this baby. They worry and fret, and love and kiss. This baby loves life like I love ice cream—which is to say a whole, whole lot. They are a perfect family. Perfect in their love, beauty, grace, humor, imperfections and foibles.

And there is no but. There is no “except.” Don’t dare tell me that they are perfect “except” for there “not being a dad” in the family. You know what? I have a dad. I love my dad very, very much. But he didn’t parent me better or worse because of testosterone. He parented me different than my mother. The same way that any two people are going to parent differently. Just because you and I have vaginas does not mean we are the same kind of mothers. That’s ludicrous. What matters is love. And I dare you to find any mothers who love their child more than J and S. All I did to get my beautiful children was a little bow-chicka-bow-bow. They walked through fire. And they continue to walk through fire every day to raise this beautiful baby girl. How dare anyone question that. And if that’s you? Don’t even look at them. Don’t even look at these women, this family. You are not good enough to look at them. They are too beautiful for your eyes.

Bloogs Blowing By:

it’s important for us to be allies to other families that are non-traditional. whether it is a single parent household, a blended family, an adoptive family, a family with two mothers, two fathers or any mixed up version of any of these, we all need to help shape people’s expectations. we all know that families come in many different shapes and sizes. and we are all responsible for helping to change people’s expectations.

a long time ago when i had a summer job that involved cold-calling parents and guardians of infants, i got in a small bit of trouble when i asked if i could speak to “the mother or father of baby so-and-so.” in fact, baby so-and-so was being raised by two moms who called my lab back to complain about my choice of words. it helped me realize that i shouldn’t expect that every child is being raised by a mother and a father living together.

so, the next time you need to refer to a child’s parents or guardians, please think about the words you and choosing and what they say about your expectations about what it means to be a family.

Kamrin’s Karma:

We are not a LGBT family. We have friends that are. One day I might be the mother of a person in the LGBT community. If it were your son or daughter, how would you want them to be treated? Hopefully better than I have seen some people treat members of the LGBT community. If we learn tolerance and love within ourselves for those things/people/cultural differences that we encounter, then the whole world will be a better place. There really is no need for any more anger and hate in the world. What we really need is more love and respect. So, if you don’t have kids, learn to embrace the different folks of the world, and if you have kids, teach them to be open minded and to live without preformed prejudice. Who knows, one day your child might grow up to fall in love with someone from a group outside your norm and then where would you be?

Tangledme:

At the request of a fellow blogger I admire . . . I decided today was the best time ever to talk about being LDS and NOT being anti-gay.

. . . . My hubby and I have been married for almost 27! years. How does two men or two women, or one man and four women threaten the institution of marriage? In my eyes it doesn’t. No one can threaten my marriage except for myself and Bald Man.
I feel very strongly that families need to be protected. And when I say family, I mean any group of people who are choosing to live and love together, and very, very especially when there are little people who need/should be protected. They need legal protection, they need to have access to medical insurance through the big people in their lives, they need to be protected if something in their family goes awry.
So today, I am blogging in support of all families. No matter what they look like, just like my family, love holds them together ultimately. Go hug your family today. We all deserve it.

Like the World Needs Another Blog:

In our differences we have such commonality. Our true basic needs are all the same. Love and understanding. We strive for a full and productive life. We love and worry about our kids.

Today is LGBT Family Day. I write this blurb today to support all families and all mothers around our country who work hard everyday in their pursuit of Life Liberty and Happiness!!!

Tied to My Apron Strings:

I met Chris and John while collaborating on a project with the company Chris and I work for about 12 years ago. Their son, Kendall, is adopted and has various serious health issues, like severe asthma; also, Kendall is a different race than his adopted parents. They are all the same gender. It tickles me that Kendall calls Chris “Daddy” and John “Pop-Pop”.

They are a happy, supportive family and the first that I’d met with same-sex parents. While I was delighted for them that they had adopted, there was a bit of a dark cloud over the adoption process that they went through back in 1995. Because they weren’t a “traditional” family, their priority was shunted to lowest. In order to receive a child, they were left to choose from children that had been passed over by everone else. With expensive health issues and being born of a drug-addicted mother, Kendall was not a easy choice. Chris and John wanted to be a family and looked past all the negatives with Kendall and just saw his beautiful smile. They chose him, and despite the hardships, are a family to look up to, full of love.

Uncle Roger’s Notebooks of Daily Life:

One of our [gay] neighbors, talking about what it means to adopt:

“Back when we were talking about this and freaking out about having a kid, I realized that it meant that we would have to give up some things in order to give someone a home who doesn’t have one. I can do that.”

. . . . I’d love to see more couples like my neighbors adopt kids out of foster care. The more children that have loving homes the better off we’ll be down the road.

SprogBlog:

LGBT families are great because they’re families. I’m fascinated by how families in all shapes and orders make themselves, how they get by. It’s so hard to be a family in this contemporary age—the first in the history of our species when all of society wasn’t oriented toward the institution of family. Raising children to survive another generation isn’t exactly automatic now and as a result cultural adaptations have to compensate for the gaps in what Hillary considered the village. Those adaptations make for a beautifully rich fabric of unique and diverse families. Today is a great occasion to celebrate your own adaptations, however and why ever you had to find them. Happy day, everyone!

Anti-Racist Parent:

As an anti-racist parent, all -isms concern me. The default person in our culture is white, straight, Christian and middle-class with a gender defined by context. (Curing a child’s fever? Female. Digging in the medicine cabinet, blindly searching for the right medication? Male.) The minute a person is outside of that default, he or she is at risk of being made a target.

The struggle of any anti-ism movement, as illustrated by the name discussion, are the -isms within that movement. Can we be antiracist when we’re adhering to classist values? Can we be antisexist if we’re heterosexist? How do we promote one group if to do so we have to step on another group? If we’re fighting for the greater good, does it matter that we have to leave some people behind?

I don’t have answers to these questions – I’m feeling it out as I go. But I remember within our activist feminist community that there was certainly a strong undercurrent of classism in our anti-racism. While we embraced Sweet Honey in the Rock and Alice Walker, we were far less likely to celebrate a real-life African American client with a bright red weave and airbrushed acrylic nails. I sense this same dichotomy in our discussions around names and hair.

I struggle with this as an activist, as a parent and as a transcultural adoptive parent. I struggle to recognize the limitations of my activism, my unpacked privilege, and my knee-jerk assumptions.

Chaucerian Girl:

I don’t believe that a parenting relationship is inherently better than any other parenting relationship merely by virtue of the fact that there is a father and a mother present in the home. What matters far more is whether the parents are committed to the safety and wellbeing of their children. At a time when there is a severe lack of available foster homes, it is tragic to see couples rejected because they do not fit the traditionally accepted model. It is keeping those parents from providing love and care to children who desperately need it. It is keeping those children in situations that are harmful to them, because there are not enough safe places.

I read my friends’ blogs. I see the photographs of their children. I see how loved those children are, how well cared for. It matters not to those children whether their parents consist of a father and a mother, two mothers, two fathers, one father, one mother, two grandparents, or any other combination of parental figures. What matters to those children is that they know, deep down, that they are loved and wanted. That love transcends any boundaries of gender. Those children are blessed, as are their parents.

Stepping Off the Spaceship:

Most of my friends at the gym are Conservative. Many are Christian Conservatives. Don’t ask because even I don’t know how I do it. Some days, I can’t.

Friday, though, one friend really surprised me. Ellen is usually on t.v. there while we work out. One of my friends turned to me and said something like, “I love her. She’s awesome. I hated that her other show was cancelled. People were pissed off because she’s gay. It was funny. Who cares?”

No, that’s not a mind-blowing conversation. We didn’t uncover the mystery of life or anything of the sort. But I’m used to homeschool groups that send out a call to arms insisting people gather at the capitol in an effort to “save” marriage (because as our divorce rates show, we heterosexuals have done such a FABULOUS job). I’m used to reading the posts to those lists about how evil the school systems are for teaching tolerance. I’m used to reading calls for a boycott of Wal-Mart because they made one measely donation to a group that supports all families (a number of Christian groups initiated an influx of mail that made Wal-Mart vow never to do that again). True, the women at the gym aren’t part of that scene, still, I was surprised to hear such a comment.

Sometimes, people can see through the rhetoric. Sometimes, people can tune out the fear-mongers. Sometimes, we really can all get along. And sometimes, I have to smile quietly to myself.

Temmerling at An Accident of Hope finds an eloquent analogy:

I’m going to propose that what makes a parent, what makes a mother, is the kind of primal love that would have you leaping between your child and a rampaging semi-truck and getting up at night, for the umpteenth time on the umpteenth night in a row, to provide some need to that self-same child, and spending hours just talking, playing, reading with the child.

This kind of love isn’t earned like a badge. This kind of love doesn’t necessarily come from a pregnancy or birth. This kind of love comes from a choice to open oneself up to it. This kind of love just is and it must be there before that combination of above- mentioned stuff will happen. And that love, that choice of openness, is what makes both women (or both men) equally a parent when the child makes its entrance into the world (whether that’s through birth, or adoption, or fostering). Like an atom looking for an extra electron, with the child providing that extra electron, fusion occurs and a molecule is formed. That’s the image of family-building that I’d like to see taken up and spread. H2O. My family is water, and water is one of the greatest forces for restructuring this world has known.

It’s a radical notion, I know, that no other qualification makes a parent but love. But then, radical notions and children go hand in hand. After all, someone wiser . . . than I once said that parenting is a radical act of faith in the future. It’s a radical act of faith and love in the making.

Diane at In this Moment writes about the interaction of parenting and politics:

Loving a child isn’t playing.

Cleaning him up when he’s been sick in the middle of the night, sitting with him when he’s terrified, holding him when he’s in despair, disciplining him when he’s making mistakes, guiding him when he needs a push in the right direction, paying for his bills, celebrating his joys and going to his baseball games, football games and band concerts… none of these things has anything to do with “playing house.”

Most people understand this. I certainly know this as a lesbian and a parent.

Unfortunately, Stephen Bennett, a spokesperson for Concerned Women of America, thinks that who loves a child is more important than how well they love and how well they parent.

In his tirade against Mary Cheney and Heather Poe and the simple fact that they are parents, Bennnett misses the point that anyone who has ever raised a child should know: It’s not who you are, but what you do that makes a difference in a child’s life.

Children are too important for anything else to be true. Children are too important to be turned into political props. Children are too important and good, sane parents who can help children grow up strong and well loved are too rare for any qualified, willing parents to be turned away.

I find myself, once again, in the odd position of praising Dick and Lynne Cheney. While I do not agree with any of the vice president’s politics, I cannot do anything but praise him for understanding that all of his grandchildren deserve to be accepted and loved. I would have been delighted to see Mary and Heather in the photo with the vice president and his wife, but the fact that the photo and its cutline are on the White House site says a lot about the truth of families.

[See Think Progress for the vile quote from Bennett.]

Party B at Insane Animals also takes a political angle, this time reminding us how non-biological motherhood played a role in legalizing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts:

Why does it matter if same-sex couples marry? One reason the Goodridge case emphasized is that we are out here having children. The law and society may or may not care about same-sex couples as equals but the state has an interest in the welfare of children, all children. And so, despite the Commonwealth’s argument that the state should recognize only “ideal” family configuartions the highest court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Massachussetts has not in recent years made any distinction between children born in and out of wedlock, same-sex couples are foster parents and adopt children through state agencies. Half of the plaintiffs already had children. Families were a major focus of the case.

I remember reading about the lead plaintiffs at the birth of their daughter. At the time, of course, marriage was not legal and so they were legal strangers to one another and the non-bio mom a legal stranger to their newborn. There were complications and the family was split up in the moments following the birth of their daughter. When trying to return to her partner the non-bio mom was not allowed back in to see the bio-mom. It was only at the shift change that she got in by saying she was her sister. I was touched by their story because it prompted them to action and eventually to the suit that changed marriage.

Shannon at Other-Motherhood speaks of comfort in her role:

The truth is, I am completely happy in my role in our family. Never, when Kim was pregnant, did I wish it was me. Not even when Erik was born. I loved him with all my heart from the moment I saw him. Before that, even. From the moment we started talking about having children, I’ve loved this little boy. And I know that we made him.

I’m not his biological mother. But no matter how I try to look at it, I am his mother.

And that’s a perfect fit.

I’ll add my own note to these posts, which is that while the bio/non-bio dichotomy is a central one for many of us who create our families through conception, it is not the only one, nor does it always play out the same way. The thing about diversity is that there are always further layers. For a couple that chooses a donor who looks more like the non-bio mom, the bio mom may experience the assumption of non-parenthood when among strangers. (There can be a racial bias here, too; a mixed-race, brown-skinned friend of mine with a white husband gets “Are you the nanny?” comments when out with her lighter-skinned son.) For my own part, neither my partner nor I fit the standard bio/non-bio categories. I donated an egg, which she carried, so we categorize ourselves as gestational and genetic when we stop to think about it (or, as I used to tell her when she was nursing, “I’m the chicken, you’re the cow.”) Most of the time, though, as the above bloggers relate, the mechanics of creation fade before the current reality of mutual care and love.

Abigail Garner at Damn Straight shared the video of her keynote address at the Rainbow Families Conference in April. She also extracted her four main points, which I’ve further summarized:

1) Don’t refer to people of LGBT parents as “allies.” You can’t very well be an “ally” to something you are already part of…and to suggest otherwise is alienating and insulting.

2) Encourage and increase the visibility of second generation people.

3) Lighten up on the interrogation and rankings. Any queerspawn entering queer space gets peppered with questions as if to determine how much “cred” they have or how deserving they are be involved with the LGBT community.

4) Treat adult queerspawn as adults, rather than as perpetual adolescents.

Worth reading her advice in full.

Several bloggers wrote of coming out about having LGBT parents, or of the first moment of realizing one’s family is “different.” Miranda at DeviantART said:

Even when I was younger I knew I was being lied to, so as I became a teenager I decided for myself that my dad was gay, and that it was time for me to come out of the closet about it. Coming out as someone with gay parents meant finally being able to talk about it openly and honestly with anyone who seemed interested. It also meant that if someone wanted to talk shit about gay people, I had something powerful and unique to counteract it with. When my dad finally became open and honest with me about his sexuality, things were absolutely fabulous for me as queerspawn.

Sarah left a comment at Mombian:

Knowing full well that my parents would not always be there, I decided that it was my turn to come out about my family. This proves difficult at times. Every time I come out for my family, I put my dads and myself on the line. I know who I am. I know who my family is, and I have nothing to fear; nonetheless, I do not know how others will receive me. Although living in San Francisco has blessed me with a diverse and accepting community, I know that the world at large may not be as welcoming.

I do not plan on saving the world one homophobe at a time. I do, however, try to teach others about my family. I want people to know that we are just like any other family in the sense that we support, care for, and love each other. Being raised by two gay men has taught me more than not to wear white after Labor Day. . . . I have learned to be more open-minded and accepting of others’ differences. I have learned that people have the capacity to be respectful of differences that include sexual orientation. . . . I have become an advocate for COLAGE (Children Of Lesbian And Gays Everywhere.)

Princess Jessie writes of an early moment of realization:

My family is myself, my two lesbian moms, my dad, his partner, and our two dogs and my five fish. That’s how it’s always been, plus or minus a couple dogs, cats and fish. It’s how I’ve grown up and what I thought was normal, until I went into preschool. We were talking about families at circle time and I, unashamed, said I had two moms. I remember there were questions upon questions from the other kids and the day ended in with all my classmates going home in tears, sad and mad at their parents because they only had one mom to make them cookies and to take them to the park because in the eyes of a preschooler a mom can do no wrong that won’t be immediately forgiven and forgotten.

That day I went home and asked my no longer “normal” moms why they had to be different from everyone else’s parents. Though they had told me about all sorts of different families for as long as I could remember it had never clicked that mine might be one other people would view as strange. That day I really learned that I am different and I will always be different because of who my parents are. Ever since then I have fought for the rights of my parents and for rights for myself as their child. I’ve been a hard working activist for gay rights since that day.

Moniwu writes of her dad’s transition:

It took me a little while to come to terms with my dad’s transition. I pondered the meaning of having a woman for a father. Ironically, I was exiting my adolescence as my dad was entering a second adolescence, as she learned to become the woman she is today. In my young adulthood, it occurred to me just how strong and brave my dad must be to undergo such a drastic life change in middle age. She also taught me the valuable lesson that no matter how open-minded I claim to be, there is always more to learn.

Noah at Politics for Teens used Blogging for LGBT Families Day to come out about his parents: “I made this blog post to tell my friends, and you know who you are, that I have gay parents. I hope that you will continue to be my friend.”

Scout Spinoza speaks with pride of being second-generation queerspawn:

I’m second generation queerspawn. My grandfather (paternal, lol) and his partner adopted my daddy, and then my daddy and papa had me with the help of my mother (RIP). I think I’ve had more problems because I’m disabled rather than from my parents being gay.

I’m incredibly proud of my heritage, and I think all kids raised like me should be as well.

Others, like PsychoLaurie, built on the theme of finding a community of children from LGBT families:

It was the best high of my entire life.

I was at a huge party in San Francisco and I was in a teary-eyed gaze. I couldn’t help but to be dumbfounded by the vision of the most Utopian experience. Awash in a sea of bright rainbow colors and bouncy music, there was so much love that the walls of the building could barely constrain the feeling.

The love came from families that were celebrating the fact that, in this place, they were free from judgment and condemnation. You see, I was at a party celebrating LGBT families during the grand opening of The San Francisco LGBT Center. For some of the families, it was a gathering of old friends and play mates. For others, it was the first time they had ventured out in public. For me, it was the ultimate vision of what I want my world to look like.

Fairymere also writes of queerspawn community, and marks an anniversary of involvement:

In exactly 18 days, I will be celebrating an anniversary. To the day it will have been 9 years that I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. But more specifically, on June 18th, 1998 I first became involved with COLAGE. . . .

And now, 9 years later, I reflect on the fact that this community has been empowering, enriching, challenging and supportive of me in ways that my post-college brain could in no way even fathom. Connecting with other youth and adults who have or had one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender parent/s is so much more than my job. It’s a place where I come for friendship, humor, politicization, and activism. I find myself in awe of and inspired by my fellow queerspawn on a daily basis.

I honestly believe that there is something about the experience of having an LGBT parent that creates truly incredible youth and adults. Maybe it’s magic. Or maybe there truly is something in the water. There is no other way to explain the collective fabulousness of the people with whom I have worked, struggled and grown through COLAGE.

Tobi at No Designation talks of her own coming out as trans, her lesbian moms, and the need for community within community:

When people find out that I have lesbian moms, the usual reaction is something along the lines of “Wow, that must be so wonderful. I bet you didn’t have any problems coming out.”

Growing up with lesbian moms, both queer community and dealing with heterosexism and homophobia have always been a part of my life. Being ‘different’ was par for the course. And with support from my queer family and queer community, things were always good. But when I started to think about my gender and when I began to come out to myself as trans, I had to wonder if that ‘difference’ would be understood by my parents and my parents’ friends who I had always gotten my support from.
. . . .
Even now, another year and a half later, being trans in queer communities still leaves me feeling somewhat like an outsider. I still go to all the queer activist events in town, but a good half the time I’m the only transperson there. I’ve got my trans community, but in my non-trans queer community there’s still a pervasive ignorance of trans issues. Even in queerspawn spaces, there’s a distinct lack of trans community.

When I got involved with COLAGE, I began to find a few people with similar experiences. I connected with another trans queerspawn. I had long in depth conversations with a queer transpawn. Between the two identity placements I found a commonality. At least with the few I talked with, there was a strong desire for trans community within queerspawn community. And a difficult time finding it. But as we told each other our stories I couldn’t help but get the sense that that was going to change. A few dedicated community builders can make a monumental difference.

Along with the need for communities of queerspawn is the need for inclusion within the greater LGBT community, as Turtleheart Cove reminds us:

I have recently acquired a brand spanking new, bumpersticker free bumper on my Forester as the result of a minor fender-bender, so I’ve been looking for some statements to put on all that free space. . . . I can’t seem to find an LGBT sticker that fits me as an LGBT child and friend.

Searching at PFLAG (that’s Parents, Families/Friends of Lesbians and Gays– but how about us ADULT CHILDREN of lesbians and gays?) there is merchandise that says “I’m a PFLAG fan” or “I’m a PFLAG Mom/Dad” but I don’t see any “I’m a PFLAG daughter/son/child.” Elsewhere under kids & family I can find, “I love my gay son” or “I love my lesbian daughter” but no “I love my gay dad/lesbian mom”; although you can find little kids’ stuff that says, “I love my mommies”… okay, so getting a little warmer, but then that doesn’t include my lesbian friends and LGBT support in general…

This brings us back to Abigail’s point that we need to stop treating queerspawn as “perpetual adolescents.” I hope those of you who are LGBT parents (and I think that’s most of my readers) will learn much, as I have, from reading these insights from the grown children of other LGBT families. I will be lucky if my own son is nearly as wise and strong.

• Clare at An MSW in Cambodia tells us the story of Karen Atala, a Chilean parent whose children were taken away by the court because she is a lesbian, and the organization founded because of her struggle. A reminder that the fight for LGBT rights is an international one.
• The FemiknitMafia relates “about the unique experience of a lesbian couple doing a surrogacy for two gay dads in Massachusetts.” As the legal spouse of the surrogate mom, she was required to sign “an affadavit of non-paternity.” Antics with computer databases ensued.
• Vicki at One Writer’s Quest speaks of being a single lesbian mom. “Searching on the internet for groups or even articles about people like me, I find tons of information for lesbian couples, but not very much for single moms like me,” she says. Despite this, she finds strength: “It probably sounds like I’m complaining or whining, but I’m not. I’m proud of who I am. I think I’ve accomplished some pretty amazing things. . . . I’m proud of Michael. I tell him that. I tell him I love him. Love is what makes a good family. Good, unconditional love. With that, I think kids can survive a lot.”
• Owl at Enough Grows writes about her and her partner’s struggle to start a family. Her first problem was being declared fertile, which limited her access to the reproductive services of her home state. Later, she was declared infertile, which brought its own set of stresses and emotions, although she could get treated closer to home. She keeps a positive outlook, though: “Every extra effort has been re-payed 1000 fold. We are two of the happiest girls alive with the most amazing family.”
• Steve at Adamant Sun brings up the little everyday moments of being a parent, with the intriguing question, “What does one serve with chicken pops and a tub full of oatmeal? Pigs in a blanket?”
• One of His Moms reminds us that an LGBT family can extend beyond just LGBT couples or parents and their children. “Our moms are a huge part of our LGBT family,” she says. “For my LGBT family, the soul of what makes us a family, what keeps us bound in love is the place from which we came, our moms.” Her full post includes two funny, touching anecdotes about both her mother and her partner’s mother.

More highlights throughout the week.

Participants included: lesbian moms (bio and non); gay dads; trans parents; single moms; adult children of LGBT parents; LGBT children of LGBT parents; straight allies with and without LGBT relatives; people of color; people with disabilities; adoptive, foster, and biological parents; lesbians pregnant and trying to conceive; gay men hoping to adopt; LGBT individuals and couples without children; parents of LGBT children; bloggers in Cambodia, Canada, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S.; those who fit two or more of these categories; and others whom I may inadvertently have overlooked.

Over the next week or so, I will be highlighting some of the posts that especially caught my attention, and juxtaposing some that I think make good reading as a set.

I will also be starting a new “Family Voices” series that expands on this concept of sharing our experiences as parents and LGBT individuals. Starting Tuesday, through the summer, I will run an interview each week with a different family from the Family Pride Coalition’s OUTSpoken Families program. These families have undergone extensive training through Family Pride and have committed to speak to their local communities and media about their lives and the need for LGBT equality. I am pleased they have also agreed to share a bit of their lives here. Please come back tomorrow and read the first interview.

Thanks for taking part!

Today is the second annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day, a time for the LGBT community and our allies to come together in support of our families. Below is the list of contributed blog posts so far. I will be updating the list every few hours throughout the day, so stop back often.

To contribute, send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com or leave a comment with a link to your post.

Thanks to everyone who contributed already. I wish I could thank each of you personally, but sheer numbers make that doubtful.

Many thanks to the Family Pride Coalition for their sponsorship, and to COLAGE and Mike Rogers of PageOneQ, among many others, for help in promoting the event.

List is getting too long, so I’m taking it off the front page:

• About: Lesbian Life: Celebrating LGBT Families: Growing up with Lesbian Moms
• An Accident of Hope: My Motherhood as an Elemental Force, My Family as a Molecule
• Adamant Sun: Is there a doctor/chef in the house?
• Addition Problems: Blogging for LGBT Families
• All Gawdess All the Time: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Another Other Mother: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Anti-Racist Mom: How Do Other -Isms Intersect with Racism?
• Artificially Sweetened: Five Wishes for LGBT Families Day
• As the Pig Flies: I Have a Dream
• BAd Blog: Seventeen Years Ago
• Becca: My Gay Mom
• Bike Ridin’ Momma: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Bilerico: The Beginning of the End
• Bilerico: Happy Mother’s Day
• Bilerico: I now pronounce you… okay, I don’t know what to pronounce you
• Bilerico: Passion Cocktail, Please
• Bloogs Blowing By: Allies
• Ben Brophy: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Bunny’s Blog: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Caroline [comment left at Mombian]
• Celebrating All Families: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Cha Cherry Cola: Blogging for LGBT Families – 2007
• Chaucerian Girl: Parenting
• Cheese and Whine: I Can’t Imagine I’ll Grow Out of It
• Coaching4Lesbians: The #1 Most Important Lesson to Teach Your Kids (and Yourself)
• Colby Street: Our Not-So-Normal Normal Family
• Complete Guide to Egg Donation and Infertility: Gay Men Becoming Parents Through Egg Donation and Surrogacy
• Cousin Lucy’s Spoon: Untangling Knots, Part II
• The Curvature: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Daddy, Papa, and Me: Blogging for LGBT Families Day: June 1
• Damn Straight: We’re here. We’re queerspawn. Where do we belong?
• Dancing on the Edge: Happy Blogging Day all my fellow GLBT bloggers!!
• DeviantART: Being Queerspawn is Fabulous
• (en)Gender: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Enough Grows: Our Difficult Journey to be a LGBT Family
• Fairymere: Happy Anniversary Queerspawn Identity
• Family of Choice: Blogging for LGBT Family
• Family Pride Blog: Telephones, Puberty and Penis Facts
• Family Pride Blog: Today Is Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Fast Times @ Homeschool High: Why yes, yes we are a gay family
• FemiKnitMafia: No Baby Daddy & Bloggie Break
• Forever Reaching: Blogging for LGBT Families: A Family of Two
• Fostering Pride: Blogging for Families Day – Updated
• Gaydad: Gay Marriage = Gay Parenting
• The Gay Marriage Thing: June 1: Family Pride Blog Day!
• Good As You: Adopting a New Set of Plans
• G-Spot Magazine: New Hampshire Approves Civil Unions
• Heliana [Comment left at Mombian]
• Hope and Megan’s Home Page
• Humpty Dumpty House: Kids of Lesbian Parents Go to School, Too
• Hydrangeas Are Pretty: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• The Ice Floe: Daddy and Papa and Eddie and Me
• Insane Animals: Welcome to Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Instincts, Maternal & Otherwise: Just Sitting by the Side of the Pool
• In This Moment: The Reality of Lesbian Parenting Has Nothing to Do with “Playing House”
• Is America Burning?: National Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Jaxens Mommy
• Journal to a Muse
• Journey of a Co-Mom:Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Journey of a Co-Mom: Being the Co-Mom
• Journey of a Co-Mom: Why a Co-Mom
• Just Keep Swimming: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Kamrin’s Karma: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Kat and Loe’s Fantastic Adventures: June!
• The Kat’s Meow: Love
• Kinder Bueno: Happy Blog OUT Day
• LesbianDad: Same/Difference
• Lesbian Fatherhood: Navigating Uncharted Waters: 2nd Annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Lesbicanarias: Blogeando por el día de las familias LGBT
• Like the World Needs Another Blog: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Liquid Baby: Back to Home, a Married Woman
• Liza Was Here: My Heart Is Just Breaking
• Liza Was Here: The Journey Starts Yesterday
• Lois and Holly’s Baby Story: Blogging for LGBT Families
• The Manley Family: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Mary Magdalene
• Moms to Three Boys: This Is for Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Moniwu: Trans Parent Relations
• Moochie & Co.: Recognizing the bond between dogs and their gay owners
• Mookie’s Mama: Being an LGBT Family
• The Mouse’s Nest: Becoming a Family
• The Mouse’s Nest: Blogging for LGBT Families–Today and Everyday
• An MSW In Cambodia: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• My Lesbian Family Blog: Long-Distance Lesbian Family
• My Two Shews: My LGBTQ Blogging for Families Post
• Name that Mama: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Navigating the Maze: Foster Parenting and Life: We Aren’t that Different
• Nexys Cocoon: Worth More Dead
• Nhamo In Paradise: Gender Crash
• Noah’s Blog: Politics for Teens: LGBT Familys
• No Designation: Trans queerspawn and transpawn – Finding connections
• Nontraditional Family Law: GLBT Foster Parents
• No Star Like Thee: A Bumble By Any Other Name
• Not Your Ordinary: Reading Material
• Not the Mama: Everyone on Sesame Street is always talking about love
• Not the Mama: Happy Feet
• O for Obsessive: Extended LGBT Families
• One of His Moms: Speaking of Moms…
• Orange Tangerine: Blogging for LGBT Families 2007
• Other Mother: Celebration Station
• Other-Motherhood: The Other Mother’s Decision
• Our Family Adventures: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Oxygen Momma: A Good Day to Start a Blog
• ParentDish: California says no to LGBT harassment in schools
• ParentDish: I am a lesbian and it’s Archie Bunker’s fault
• ParentDish: San Francisco encouraging more same-sex adoptions
• ParentDish: Who Are Sam Cheney’s Parents?
• Plomise: Just Wanted to Say Happy Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Possible Maybe: Blogging for GLBT Families: The View From Here
• Princess Jessie: Blogging for GLBT Families
• PsychoLaurie: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Queercents: How to Pay a Nanny/Babysitter
• Queercents: Making Babies
• Queercents: Money and Kids in LGBT Families
• Queerspawn Community: Blogging for LGBT Families: Round 2
• Retreat for the Insane: Undeniable Magic
• Riding the Gus Bus: A Belated Post for Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Role Playing with Kids: Same Same!
• Ryan: Posting for My Family
• Sarah Gogin [Comment left at Mombian]
• SassyFemme: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Shanamadele: Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2007 – Shout Out
• ShazzerLIVE: In honor of “Blogging for LGBT Families Day”
• Shrike & Whozat: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Sparkly Spiral Girl Knits & Dreams: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• SprogBlog: Dreaming of Dysfunctional LGBT Families
• Stepping Off the Spaceship: Straight, Not Narrow
• Take a Walk on the Child Side: Just Living My Life
• Tangledme: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Thoughts from a Foster Family:Blogging for GLBT Families: The Way It Should Be
• Tied to My Apron Strings: Blogging for LGBT Family Equality
• Tina Deen: When Venus and Mars Collide
• Tina’s Views: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Tracy and Mia’s Gay Blog: I’m Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Tummy Troubles: Blogging for LGBT Families Day
• Turtleheart Cove: LGBT Family Blogging Day
• Twins and a Toddler: 3 Kids, 2 Mommies, 1 Family
• 2 Girls in Love: 2 girls in love with a baby
• Two Moms Are Better Than One: Blogging for LGBT Families
• Two Moms a Turtle and a Butterfly: She’s Ours!!
• Uncle Roger’s Notebooks of Daily Life: Dad of the Year
• Unwellness: I Don’t Do Politics
• Up Popped a Fox: Two Moms
• Virgotext: Estimating the “familyness” of a recently unladen lesbian
• Virgotext: Blogging for LGBT Families: The Day After
• We Really Are Fambly
• World of Finches: Blogging for LGBT Families

With Mary Cheney bringing LGBT families into the media over the past week, we have a great opportunity here to be part of the conversation, and to show the diversity of LGBT families and our supporters.

If you usually blog about LGBT families, you can write something special or simply send me a link to whatever you would normally post—a “slice of life” about your family is just as good as a political excursus.

If you often write about LGBT issues, but not necessarily families, please consider focusing on a family angle tomorrow.

If you don’t often write about LGBT issues of any sort, I hope you will make an exception and share why you think it is important to support LGBT families.

Past posts on relevant topics are fine, too. (You might then want to put up a new post on your own blog mentioning your participation and linking back to your original post.)

Videos and photos are also great. (There’s one video entry already.)

Once again, here’s how it works:

• Blog on a topic related to LGBT families on or before June 1, 2007.
• Leave a comment on this post, or send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com with the permalink to your post. (If you know how, you may also add the tag “blogging for lgbt families day” to your entry.)
• I’ll compile the posts and highlight them here on June 1. Come back and read the stories and insights of our community and allies.

Download a banner if you like.

Many thanks to those of you who have promoted the event, and to Family Pride for their sponsorship. I’m looking forward to a great day.

Please download a banner and promote the event on your site. The more people who participate, the more impact our voices will have.

After that:

• Blog on a topic related to LGBT families on or before June 1, 2007.
• Leave a comment on this post, or send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com with the permalink to your post. (If you know how, you may also add the tag “blogging for lgbt families day” to your entry.)
• I’ll compile the posts and highlight them here on June 1. Come back and read the stories and insights of our community and allies.

Thanks to COLAGE and HRC, who included mentions of the event in their e-newsletters, and to the Family Pride Coalition for overall sponsorship. Thanks also to the Huffington Post’s Fearless Voices section, which published a piece I wrote about the event.

I hope many of you will also be a part of this.

Last year, over 130 bloggers participated, including lesbian moms, gay dads, adult children of LGBT parents, members of the transgender community, LGBT individuals without children, and straight allies. Countries represented included the United States as well as Australia, Canada, and the UK. Some bloggers told stories about their paths to parenthood, or tales about their children; some wrote about LGBT relatives or friends; others discussed current political events; and several spoke of why their faith obliges them to support LGBT rights. This year’s writings should be equally diverse and compelling.

Here’s how it works:

• Blog on a topic related to LGBT families on or before June 1, 2007.
• Any blogger who wants to support LGBT families is welcome, LGBT or not, parent or not. I especially encourage those who don’t usually post about LGBT families or LGBT issues, as well as those for whom every day is Blogging for LGBT Families Day.
• Leave a comment on this post, or send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com with the permalink to your post. (If you know how, you may also add the tag “blogging for lgbt families day” to your entry.)
• I’ll compile the posts and highlight them here on June 1. Come back and read the stories and insights of our community and allies.

In the meantime, please download a banner and promote the event on your site. The more people who participate, the more awareness we can raise.