lgbtq
Non-nuclear is the new normal; millions of children belong to happy families with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender parents.
Learning to Be Better
From a very young age I watched my father, as well as my grandfathers and uncles, do things that typically fall upon the man's shoulders. My dad was a jack of all trades. He loved taking things apart and putting them back together. He could also work with everything from a car's engine to a computers modem and everything in between. 2 of my 3 grandfather's had garages filled with tools and machines to take on just about any task you could think of that could pop up around the house. I grew up in a family where calling someone to fix a problem for you was unheard of because either my dad could fix it, or someone else we were related to could.
By Samuel Steele5 years ago in Families
The Black Love Moment
Stephanie I am sitting on the couch watching Bridgerton sipping from a glass of celery juice when the phone rings. I’m lost in the drama and in shock of the light dusting of snow that now lays on the lawn. For this time of year in Michigan, a light dusting is considered an early spring. Daphne just found out that the prince is interested in her. However, I know her heart is with the Duke. Quiet as kept, my heart is with the Duke too. The Duke is F-I-N-E. Whew child. Any who, no matter how fine he is, there is absolutely no way I could have lived during the early 1800’s. I cannot imagine the pressure women had to marry, have children, and be completely dependent on a man for resources.
By Crystal Higginbotham5 years ago in Families
Scratchers
With the single swipe of a patinaed 1987 penny, came my downfall. I scratched with all the enthusiasm that a middle-aged office worker could afford, the rusty coin scraping the matte aluminum foil away from the neon pink and green card that boasted “WIN UP TO $1,000,000!”
By Rachel Stafford5 years ago in Families
The Eyes of Love
As the dust rose from the tires of the departing hearse from Whitman’s funeral home as it headed down the drive, I stumbled away from the big house with its wrap-around porch and the swing where my grandmother had spent hours telling me about her life growing up on the farm as we shelled peas and strung beans. With eyes blinded by tears and the bright sunlight, I picked my way across the yard to the old barn. The animals had long been moved to the big new barn and the place where Grandma had taught me to milk a cow while the barn cat wove in and around our legs was empty now, except for the mice who nested in the hay bales that had remained, serving as a reminder of the activity that had once imbued the place with life.
By Debra Lejeune5 years ago in Families
From hiding to affirmation
Picture this, you are growing up in south west Sydney were being different is not only frowned upon but also were it is an excuse to become a victim to crime and various assaults. Now picture this young teenager is walking through a park in Liverpool listening to his music, Eminem playing through his headphones. On his face are tears running down past his black eye which was given to him a few hours prior by his father, this was done as a way to "make a man out of him". However this teenager has an issue he has known since he was 5 years old that he should not have been born a male. This is an issue issue that plays with his mind every second of the day. Constant thoughts in his mind are "why am I a female, I was born male surely this can’t be right”, “why am I not attracted to males if I am really a female I must like men right”, “how do I tell mum and dad".
By Rebecca Bornello5 years ago in Families
The Other Parent
I’ve never wanted to be pregnant. The thought of essentially carrying an alien inside of me for nine months is the type of thought that could put me right into a padded cell. I truly, truly mean that. I’m not sure if it’s a combination of not feeling feminine enough and that I can’t stand the idea of people touching my stomach or that I’m too selfish to devote my body to something for that long of a time, but something about it weirds me out. I digress. I’m glad we got that out of the way.
By Jess Ader-Ferretti5 years ago in Families
Open Letter To Lesbian Couples Trying To Get Pregnant
I was four years old when I knew I was gay. However, I was 22 when I finally decided to come out. Three weeks after that I married my now wife. Up until that moment I never had to think about the different options of getting pregnant with the person I love. I always had thought i’d be in a heterosexual relationship so there were really no worries. No one seemed to talk about the process for a lesbian couple or even heterosexual relationships that have fertility issues.
By Emily Noonan-Phillips5 years ago in Families
More Work lays ahead
I was watching a reaction video today. The lady reacting to the video/song by Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge over troubled water. I started crying with the woman. This was her first time hearing the song. I thought back to the first time I heard the song and times were different back then. I was at my boyfriends house and had been bullied yet another day at school. I was also effeminate and didn't really stand up for myself because I was always smaller. I was an easy target for bullies. My boyfriend found this song on his new record, he came over to his bed, laid down beside me and held me as I cried. This was a new song and he started singing the words of the song to me, and softly kissed my tears away. He told me he would protect me forever. Being that I was a gay youth in the late 1960's and 1970's we had no positive role models to look up too back then. The gay youth didn't know that the father from the Brady Bunch was gay and many others. If we mentioned to our parents we were gay or attracted to other boys we were sent away for conversion therapy or sent to live with an aunt somewhere else. As I look back to this time in our history and to today, I see there has been much progress. But much work still lays ahead. While we are now to freely marry our boyfriends not all is well. I believe we have the right to marry, adopt and foster children. I don't feel we have the right to force a business to provide services to us. If it violates their religious beliefs, why should they have to serve us? Should we sue that business? I don't think so, because he does after all, have the right to refuse service. Does suing the business really do anything? The Supreme court ruled they can refuse service.
By Lawrence Edward Hinchee5 years ago in Families
