I am ten years old. Mommy and Mama, my brother Kai, and the cats are in my family. I like to unicycle and I like zebra finches and I’m in fourth grade. I like that I can write stories for [Rainbow Rumpus] and read other people’s stories. I like the dragons too. I especially liked the “Baby Maria” story. It’s nice to hear about people with families like mine and it was nice to hear about the girl who was on “Postcards from Buster.” [The hard thing about having LGBT parents can be] people teasing you. Reading
about families with two moms or two dads or whatever helps people see that our families do most of the same things that their families do. —
Andie, Minnesota
There’s nothing like the words of a fourth grader to let you know an organization is fulfilling its mission. Be sure to read Andie’s review in our Reviews section—her brother Kai’s story will be coming up in the next issue. We are delighted to welcome a new volunteer, Diana Sonnek, who is scanning children’s artwork, sending out birthday greetings, and creating our monthly crosswords. We hope to be receiving your children’s writing and/or artwork at P.O. Box 6881, Minneapolis, MN or kids@rainbowrumpus.org soon! If you would like your children to be receiving birthday greetings on the site, or just to get an inside look at Rainbow Rumpus, click here to take a brief survey and join our e-mail list.
Since the publication of our first story, “Baby Maria,” mentioned by Andie above, Rainbow Rumpus has increased the amount of children’s literature featuring LGBT headed families by 25 percent and made it broadly accessible to folks across the world. “Baby Maria” came to Rainbow Rumpus after being rejected by a publisher who loved the story but believed that few people would buy a book where the main character had lesbian parents. Ironically the story’s author, Mike Huber, is heterosexual. He and his daughter are frequent visitors to the site. Another story by Mike, “Ta-Cumba Goes By Himself,” appeared in the March issue. We think it’s one of our funniest stories yet. In this issue, check out “Mommy, Mama, and Me” by Victoria Wood, which tells the story of a family’s magical day trip to San Francisco. It’s illustrated by Leanne Franson, who also draws everyone’s perennial favorite comic, “Rosen’Blue and Sassafras.” We’ve loved seeing Leanne’s talent applied in a new way, and think you will too.
Rainbow Rumpus creates a community in which folks from LGBT-headed families, the greater LGBT community, and our allies come together. We believe this space is critical to bringing about a world that equally protects and welcomes all families. Our site statistics and our range of contributors show that we’re succeeding. We welcome back U.S. Representative Keith Ellison from Minnesota’s Fifth District as part of our commitment to bringing you an inside look at the leaders who join us in building media, laws, and institutions that support children with LGBT parents. Suzi Nash, an artist with a long history in children’s television, is now creating music and video specifically for children with LGBT parents. Check out her work on our Music and Video page.
We hope to be seeing many of you at the Rainbow Families Conference in Minneapolis on April 21. Rainbow Rumpus will be one of the children’s programming providers, and children will create work that will be featured on the site. The conference is the largest of its kind in the country. If you still haven’t registered, click on the Rainbow Families logo on the sidebar. Children’s programming registration will be closing soon, so sign up today!
