For the past few days I’ve been making my way through the interminable list at Mombian.com of all the posts and bloggers that contributed to the Blogging for LGBT families event. I submitted my post at the very last minute, and I’m very glad I did.
There were gay families talking about their kids, and about their past or planned wedding (legal and illegal). There were straight families talking about their kids, and about their support for the LGBT community. There were formerly straight families who are no longer straight families, because one of their children is gay, or one of the partners is transgender. There were young 20-somethings beaming with nervous anticipation at starting a new family, and veteran over-40s, experienced yet still learning new things.
Some posts were monumental: they exposed the harsh situations they would not be facing had they not been LGBT; they called for diverse and comprehensive dialogue in schools, churches, and other public places; they pointed out the pervasive discrimination we run into every day; they demonstrated with heart-wrenching words the desperate need for laws that protect and include LGBT families. Others were short and simple, just a quick recap of their family. Yet this simple act of having a family, an LGBT family, is already monumental, something that certainly deserves celebration.
What I learned is that there is still a lot to overcome. There are too many obstacles and problems that everyone faces, but that LGBT people in particular face needlessly and without reason. I also learned that there is a lot of love. Love from straight parents, from gay parents, from transgender parents, from children of straight parents, children of gay parents, transgender children of straight parents, gay children of gay parents, even love from grandparents! Just, a lot of love.
I have hope that there is enough love out there to change people’s minds and hearts, so that some day we may all be able to express our love for our partners and our children and ourselves, and our children can express their love for their mothers and fathers and parents, so that some day we may all be able to have the same rights and protections, so that some day we will have to fight another fight, because this one will be over.
I know this won’t happen in my lifetime, but maybe that’s why we need the children, and they still need us.
genderqueer.me 