What are three things you’d like a vacation from?
Here are mine: laundry, Legos, and lists.
A prospective parent asked me what surprised me in my first few months of parenthood. My response: laundry. So much! So frequently! So stained!
My kids are now nine, and the laundry’s still there, along with the Legos in odd corners and endless lists of things to be done. That’s why I love August: there’s the wonderful chance to pack up and leave it all behind.
For those of us who are part of LGBT-headed and/or multiracial families there’s also the chance to leave behind the looks. A few months back I was in New York City with my daughter and my mother, visiting one of my oldest friends. The four of us were walking back to our hotel when my friend said, “Wow, people are staring at us. I guess it’s surprising to see a family group of Asian, white, and black people together.”
My daughter and I are so used to the looks that we hadn’t consciously noticed. We do, however, notice the joy of spending time in a community of similar families. My family has attended a Rainbow Families camp since our kids were tiny. We’ve made some friends there we now see all year long, and other “camp friends” we get to see each summer. It’s wonderful to see each other’s kids grow up and hear parenting stories from folks across the state who have formed their families in a variety of ways. Our children love the chance to run free and play with other kids who also have LGBT parents. If you’re interested in a similar experience, check out our Resources section.
Now, as the publisher of Rainbow Rumpus, I’m having the same experience on a larger scale, traveling across the country and meeting many wonderful children, youth, and families. We hope you get that same sense of refreshment with each issue of Rainbow Rumpus.
Recently, I was chatting about Rainbow Rumpus with a heterosexual parent. She said, “I remember when I was bringing my boys to the park, and we saw their swim teacher. A friend told us, ‘That’s not Chloe anymore; that’s Nathanael.’ The boys had no problem with it.”
While her boys may have had no problem, they also had no way to see their experience reflected in stories, comics, or other children’s media. In July, Rainbow Rumpus changed that, publishing the first piece of fiction for young adults about a youth with a transgender parent, and a children’s comic examining transgender issues. We also featured an interview with a family with transgender parents in “Outtakes from the Smooch Project.”
At Twin Cities GLBT Pride this year, a woman told me about the mentoring she had provided a boy in her neighborhood, helping him overcome struggles with reading and self-esteem. When the boy’s parents realized she was a lesbian, they forbade him to interact with her. He would try to sneak waves to her from the car when his parents weren’t looking.
These conversations remind me of just how important stories about our families are for ALL children. Many children have interactions with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults. Our stories give children a way to talk about the issues, and they open the hearts and minds of adults. Please join our email list, let your friends know about these stories, and click on the “donate now” button on any page to help support this important work.
I’d like to take the chance to welcome a new member to the Rainbow Rumpus family: David Seitz, a sophomore at Macalester College, St. Paul, is our new staff writer. David has written for the Milwaukee Gay News and the Minneapolis magazine Lavender.
Remember to check the “Contact Us” page for ways you can get involved and join us in celebrating the contributions of LGBT-headed families. I am glad to have you here today and hope to get to see you soon in person.
