On March 5, 2007 Equality Texas, Family Pride and partnering organizations will hold Texas Lobby Day 2007 at the state capitol in Austin. Year after year, Texas families come under attack from the radical right—from adoption bans to marriage amendments and an unwillingness to protect Texas youth. Lobby Day is your day to show up and speak out as individuals, as families, as Texans, as human beings. Register for Lobby Day and find out more information about the schedule, agenda, accommodations, and more.
Family Pride and the Lone Star State
Family Pride is proud to partner with Equality Texas and other organizations to promote the health, well-being and happiness of all loving families. In 2005, Family Pride made a strong showing for LGBTQ-parented families, organizing on the ground. Lobby Day 2005 was an inspiring and effective event: Texans successfully beat back yet another attempt to ban LGBTQ people from fostering or adopting children. Since 2005, Family Pride has made Texas a top priority. In the summer of 2006, Family Pride trained 165+ LGBTQ parents and allies in 4 metro areas to be OUTSpoken. In fact, it was one of our first OUTSpoken-trained families, Andy and Mark Sutherland-Trevino and their children, who were chosen to appear on the Oprah show as an extraordinary family. And in October we came back to Texas—holding Act OUT: the National LGBTQ Family Conference in Dallas.
What you can do with Family Pride for Lobby Day 2007
You can start by submitting your family story! Join with Family Pride in putting together a stories book to share with legislators.Stories books make an impact—they give legislators real live families, names and faces to push them towards advocating for equality and justice for all loving families. They also demonstrate the real influence and voting power of LGBTQ people, our families, allies and friends. When you submit your story, be aware that Family Pride intends to publish it in a book that will be provided to all Texas legislators. For LGBTQ-parented families and allies, sharing our stories is one of the most important things we do. Share your story with us and submit a family photo, as well. If you’d prefer, mail your story and photo to: Family Pride, c/o Dustin Kight, PO Box 65327, Washington, DC 20035
Family Pride values its commitment to being on the ground with our families for lobby days and other local events. Please take a moment to give to us as we give to you. Offsetting the cost of travel and organizing goes a long way to pushing the fight for family equality forward. Take this opportunity to make a statement for all loving families by giving what you can.
If you have any general questions or concerns about Lobby Day, contact Bren Gorman at bren@equalitytexas.org or 512.474.5475.
For questions/concerns about Family Pride’s involvement specifically, contact Dustin Kight at dustin.kight@familypride.org or 202.331.5015 ext. 227.
