Second Annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day slated for June 1
MombianŽ and Family Pride
Coalition to co-sponsor the event
June 1, 2007, is the second annual Blogging for LGBT Families Day,
when bloggers of all sexual orientations and gender identities to come
together and write in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
(LGBT) families. The event, developed by LGBT-parenting site MombianŽ and
sponsored by the Family Pride Coalition, aims to raise awareness of LGBT
families, their diverse natures, and how current prejudices and laws have
a negative impact on their lives and children.
"I chose June 1 because it falls almost exactly between Mother's Day and
Father's Day," explained Dana Rudolph, founder and publisher of Mombian.
"As such, it honors both equally, but also conveys that not all families
fit into the traditional structure of one mother and one father. June 1st
is also the start of Gay Pride Month, making it doubly appropriate."
Over 130 bloggers participated in last year's Blogging for LGBT Families
Day. They included 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 compels them to support LGBT rights. Many
affirmed that love was the defining characteristic of a family.
"Sharing our stories and opinions with each other and the world helps us
realize our similarities and respect our differences," said Rudolph. "It
gives strength to the LGBT community and our allies and helps others
understand us. They can see that anti-LGBT legislation affects real
families."
Any blogger who supports the goal of the event is welcome to participate,
whether they are LGBT or straight, parents or not. To do so, bloggers
should write relevant posts on or before June 1, and notify Mombian that
they are taking part. (See link below for details.) Mombian will showcase
the full list of participants on June 1. The choice of subject is up to
individual writers. Topics might include family anecdotes, paths to
parenthood, a local or national issue of LGBT family rights, being raised
in an LGBT family, having an LGBT relative, or what someone has learned
from the LGBT family down the street.
For more details about the event, or to download promotional banners,
visit
www.mombian.com.
and click the "Blogging for LGBT Families" banner.
About MombianŽ
Mombian: Sustenance for Lesbian Moms (www.mombian.com)
is a blog offering a daily mix of parenting, politics, and diversions to
strengthen and sustain lesbian moms in all their varied roles. The
associated Mombian Resource Directory for LGBT Parents contains
approximately 500 links to information on starting a family, raising
children, LGBT politics and law, blogs, forums, and offline groups for
LGBT parents, and much more. The site was founded in June 2005 by Dana
Rudolph. Rudolph is a lesbian mom and former head of the LGBT employee
network at a FORTUNE 500 financial firm, where her primary job was to
develop marketing and business strategies for several key online
initiatives. She also writes a regular Mombian column for Bay Windows, New
England's largest LGBT newspaper.
About the Family Pride Coalition
Family Pride is the national non-profit organization committed to securing
family equality for all loving families, including lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer parents, guardians and allies. Our work consists of
strategically linked initiatives-broad in scope, but simple in
vision-love, justice, family, equality. For more information about Family
Pride go to
www.familypride.org.
