Today is #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving which is celebrated annually in the U.S on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Usually at this time of year, I’m deciding which charity I want to support and writing my post on Christmas Giving. I’m a minimalist, which I’m aware can make me difficult to shop for. Every year I put one nonprofit on my list and add a note, “Please make a donation in my name.”
Today is the 12th annual Blogging for LGBTQ Families Day. I participated last year through my travel blog. This year I’m releasing a sneak peek of my upcoming memoir. Enjoy!
My mom has always said when my dad came out of the closet, we stepped in. I was only twelve, and it had already been a difficult year with several family illnesses and deaths. School had just ended, and we were enjoying the first days of summer in June of 1996 when I found myself sitting at the dining room table with my sister and parents for another family meeting.
To be queerspawn is different for each of us.
The one thing I consistently hear in our community is that when we meet each other there is a sense of deep understanding and camaraderie. For me, there’s something comfortable about meeting another person who understands my upbringing and family; someone who I don’t need to explain terminology to; someone who doesn’t have to ask several questions so they can categorize me.
A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to watch National Geographic’s Gender Revolution. For those that aren’t familiar, this is a documentary evaluating the complexities of gender identity and our ongoing changing environment.
Over the past few months I’ve heard a lot of conversations regarding discrimination where people have made statements that a person didn’t ‘intend’ to be prejudiced or cause someone harm. They simply didn’t know their words or actions were racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. This got me thinking about these situations and whether intention has an effect on impact.
It’s been a year and a half since I started this journey. When I went to my family during the summer of 2015 and told them that I wanted to share our story, I was terrified that they would say no. After all, we’d spent 2 decades hiding. But my dad was retired at that point and my dads had finally legally married. And I was pleasantly surprised when they all gave permission.
