GREETINGS FROM THE FAMILY PRIDE COALITION!
JOIN US FOR METRO DC LGBT PARENTING CONFERENCE SET ON SAT., APRIL 30
On Sat., April 30, the Family Pride Coalition, COLAGE, Whitman-Walker Clinic and Rainbow Families/DC will sponsor our first Metro DC LGBT Parenting Conference. There will be over a dozen workshops for parents; on-site child care and activities for children eight years and under, and workshop tracks for children ages nine and older provided by COLAGE.
This will also be an opportunity to meet the Family Pride Coalition’s new executive director, Jennifer Chrisler! For more information, or to register for the conference, go to www.familypride.org
JOIN CONNECTICUT MARRIAGE EQUALITY COALITION FOR ‘CIVIL UNIONS TODAY, EQUAL DIGNITY TOMORROW!’
Please join the Connecticut Marriage Equality Coalition on Sun., April 24 for an action simultaneous to Family Institute Anti-Equality Rally. This marriage equality action will take place from 1-3:30pm at the Connecticut State Capitol, on the south side. The action will feature speeches and songs.
The Family Institute of Connecticut is planning to bring 25,000 people to the Capital to oppose marriage for same-sex couples. Please join the Marriage Equality Coalition on Sunday. For more information, go to www.ctequality.org.
REGISTER NOW FOR THE FAMILY PRIDE COALITION’S TENTH ANNUAL FAMILY WEEK IN PROVINCETOWN!
The Family Pride Coalition is happy and proud to invite you and yours to the tenth annual Family Week in Provincetown July 30-Aug. 5!
Family Week provides an idyllic opportunity for our children to meet other children with LGBT parents, and for parents to meet other parents and share experiences. Because every family has different needs, several activities are planned for each day – your family’s schedule can be as full of activities or as relaxed as you choose.
The Family Pride Coalition has invited COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) back for another year of exciting programming for youth nine years and older. Together, we provide a large array of family activities appropriate and fun for every age. Registration for Family Week in Provincetown is available at http://www.familypride.org/events/familyweek2005.php
JOIN US FOR FAMILY PRIDE’S FOURTH ANNUAL FAMILY CAMP IN NEW JERSEY
The Family Pride Coalition is proud to host its fourth annual Family Camp on Memorial Day Weekend, May 27–29 in Newton, New Jersey (just 70 miles from New York City and 90 miles from Philadelphia).
This gathering of LGBT parents and their children will take place at the Fairview Lake YMCA Camp and Conference Center, 1035 Fairview Lake Road in Newton, NJ. The phone at the campground is (973) 383-9282.
The weekend-long event will include many activities appropriate for all ages, including tie-dying, candle-making, bug hunting, archery, hiking, boating, swimming and more. Also featured in the weekend’s events are a camp fire, an ice cream social and a family dance.
Families will dine together in the community dining room reserved specially for our families. Families will also be sharing rustic or modern cabins. These cabins go fast, so please register your family as soon as possible. To register or for more information on cabin rates, please visit: http://familypride.org/events/familycamp2005.php
JOIN SOULFORCE FOR A FAMILY PICNIC AND PROTEST AT DOBSON”S FOCUS ON THE FAMILY HEADQUARTERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS
Please join LGBT-headed families and our allies for a family picnic and protest at the Focus on the Family’s headquarters in Colorado Springs on Sun., May 1. The family picnic and rally will start at 12:30pm at 8685 Explorer Drive, Colorado Springs, CO. The picnic and rally will feature special music, exciting guests and activities for the kids. The purpose of this event is to celebrate all types of families and to confront Dobson’s untruths about our families. There will be other related activities before and following the rally and picnic on Sunday, as well as on Saturday and Monday. Please check www.soulforce.org for more details and a full schedule of the day’s activities.
RESEARCH REQUESTS
***The Family Pride Coalition does not necessarily endorse or encourage participation, and assumes no responsibility for these independent projects. This is an informational service only.***
BLACK AND MULTI-RACIAL INDIVIDUALS WITH ONE OR MORE LGBT PARENTS SOUGHT FOR BOOK INTERVIEWS
My name is Tina Fakhrid-Deen and I am working on a book tentatively entitled Speaking So You Can Hear Me: Black Children with Gay Parents Share Their World. I am a 31-year-old African-American woman that grew up with a lesbian mother and heterosexual father. For four years, I advocated on behalf of children with LGBT parents through my coordination of the Chicago chapter of COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere). In 2003, I was also voted one of the Top 30 under 30 activists within the LGBT community by the Windy City Times. My work has been featured in numerous LGBT and feminist anthologies and publications.
I seek to interview 40-50 Black and multi-racial individuals ages 11 and up with one or more gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or same-gender-loving parent. (Individuals under age 18 will need parental permission.) I would also like to interview LGBT parents, school teachers/administrators, politicians, religious leaders, academics, activists, and other important stakeholders within the Black LGBT community that would like to dialogue about how to advocate on behalf of Black sexual minority families and shed a light on some of our challenges within the Black community.
If you are interested in being involved in this project, please e-mail me at tinatfakhrid@aol.com or contact me at (773) 398-2086. I will conduct interviews within the next two months via phone, in person and/or e-questionnaire. Interviewees can opt to be anonymous. I appreciate your time and support on this worthwhile and timely endeavor.
LGBT FAMILY ISSUES IN THE NEWS
Gay Dad Fights Court Ordered Separation From Partner
From 365gay.com -- April 12, 2005
(Annapolis, Maryland) A court ruling that forced a gay father's partner to move out of the house where the father is raising his son has harmed the child and should be dissolved, an attorney argued Tuesday.
"It's had a significant impact on this child to have the man who helped to raise him for half of his life forced to leave their family home," attorney Susan Sommer told the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, the state's second-highest court, today.
Ulf Hedberg and his ex-wife, residents of Virginia at the time, separated when their son was four years old. For the next five-and-a-half years, the child lived with Hedberg and his partner, Blaise Delahoussaye, in a suburban Virginia home the couple purchased together.
The home had a back yard and was near a good school, Hedberg said Tuesday. Together, the two men provided a stable loving home, he said.
After the boy's mother moved to Florida, she petitioned for custody. A Virginia court issued an order giving Hedberg physical custody of the boy but requiring Delahoussaye to move out of the family's home.
Unable to afford to maintain the home on his own, Hedberg and Delahoussaye sold the house and Hedberg and his son moved into a small apartment in Maryland. He then launched his legal battle to have the Virginia ruling nullified.
Hedberg, who is deaf and whose native language is Swedish, listened to the arguments today with the help of an interpreter.
Sommer, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, argued that the Virginia court based its decision on that state's sodomy law, which was struck down, along with that of 12 other states, by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003.
Rena Lindevaldsen, an attorney who represents Hedberg's ex wife told the court that the Virginia order does not prohibit Delahoussaye from seeing the boy.
Lindevaldsen, who is with Liberty Counsel, a conservative law firm that fights gay issues, also said that Hedberg's reasons for dissolving the restriction don't "rise to the level of a material change in circumstances" and fail to warrant modifying another state's custody order.
"There's a presumption in this country that a custody order is going to be enforced and it's very rare for another court to say 'We're not going to enforce it."'
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals is expected to make a decision in the case within 60 days, attorneys said. Either side could seek further review at Maryland's highest court -- the Court of Appeals.