Tonight begins the first of Seven Straight Nights for Civil Rights, a coordinated campaign of overnight vigils led by straight allies across the nation who will “come out” as supporters of equal rights for LGBT Americans. Atticus Circle and Soulforce are organizing the events, important opportunities to show that support for LGBT rights extends beyond the LGBT community. Visit the Seven Straight Nights site for more details and to learn how people can get involved. (You may also want to check out my interview with Atticus Circle founder Anne S. Wynne.)

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.

Read more »

Continuing the highlights from Blogging for LGBT Families Day, here are some posts about being a non-bio mom. (Other non-bio moms contributed posts, but didn’t write about being a non-bio mom this time, so I’m including them elsewhere.) I urge you to read the full posts of which these extracts offer a mere taste. Read more »

One of the great joys for me in this year’s Blogging for LGBT Families Day was that there was an increase in the number of posts by those who grew up in LGBT families. Many thanks to COLAGE for helping to spread the word about the event among their members. In my experience, LGBT parents and the teen and grown children of LGBT families inhabit mostly separate areas of the blogosphere (though for a happy exception, see the mother-daughter team blog of Joan Garry and Scout Opatut, Who’s the Grown Up?). I’m glad we could come together for this event, however, and each get a glimpse of the other side. Here are a few posts from children of LGBT families that caught my eye: Read more »

I want to start my roundup of Blogging for LGBT Families Day posts by sharing a few perspectives that really made me think about the variety of our experiences.

• 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.

I spent almost the entire weekend reading through the more than 140 posts contributed to this year’s Blogging for LGBT Families Day. (Yes, my own family will be glad to have me back when this is over.) Once again I am overwhelmed with the diversity, strength, and love of LGBT families and our allies. Thanks to all of you who participated through posts or promotion. I hope you use the event to discover new blogs, new perspectives, and perhaps new friends.

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.

Did you wake up this morning and suddenly realize you had forgotten Blogging for LGBT Families Day yesterday? Was your child sick or did he or she require an emergency batch of cupcakes at school for an end-of-year party? Never fear—I’m still accepting contributions through today. Call it a concession to “Parent Standard Time” (though you needn’t be a parent to participate). Leave a comment or send an e-mail to lgbtfamilies@mombian.com with the link to your post.

Thanks for taking part!

Total count is 150 contributed posts, plus a few others on private blogs that I couldn’t access. Thanks to all who took 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: Read more »

A reminder to all that Blogging for LGBT Families Day is tomorrow, June 1. People are already sending me links to their posts, though others are waiting until the actual day.

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.

Mother’s Day is now past, Father’s Day is approaching, and in between is June 1, the start of Pride Month and Blogging for LGBT Families Day. Contribute a post and join the celebration and the outreach. Any blogger who wants to support LGBT families is welcome, LGBT or not, parent or not. I 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.

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.

You are cordially invited to participate in the second annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day on June 1. I’m especially pleased to announce that the Family Pride Coalition will be sponsoring this year’s event and working in conjunction with us to get the word out and raise visibility for our families.

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.