34 Responses to “Talk of the Nation”

1. # Florenceon 25 Feb 2002 at 4:48 pm

   Yowza, yowza! This is fan-TAS-tic!

   (just watching in amazement as you conquer the world)

2. # Jonon 25 Feb 2002 at 6:15 pm

   I heard about you in connection with the upcoming NPR piece on kids of LGBT parents.

   Kudos to you for providing a voice for our “kind”. Not only is the site informative, it is truly inspiring that so many kids of LGBT parents will now have access to support and information. Wish there was an Internet when I was a youngin’.

   Keep up the good work!

3. # Paton 25 Feb 2002 at 6:16 pm

   Congrats, on the NPR show, I will be listening.

4. # Sandra - Madisonon 26 Feb 2002 at 3:08 pm

   I heard Abigail moments ago on Talk of the Nation–great job!

   I am a 50 year old lebian mother who came out in 1969 with the help of my very supportive family. I have a 13 year old son conceived by artificial insemination.

   Thanks again for a great show today!

5. # Maryon 26 Feb 2002 at 3:16 pm

   I just wanted to tell you how much I loved hearing your interview just now on NPR. The work you are doing is valuable and wonderful. Keep it up!

6. # Russon 26 Feb 2002 at 4:00 pm

   Congratulations on doing a terrific job. Everything came off so well and you were great!

7. # Anonymouson 26 Feb 2002 at 4:02 pm

   Overall, I thought the host’s tone wasn’t terribly respectful.

8. # Ritaon 26 Feb 2002 at 4:32 pm

   Just finished listening to you on the air — you and Jesse were great, that Neil Conan is pretty dreadful though. Okay, I’ve never listened to him before but he didn’t seem that comfortable with the issue . . . I felt terrible for the lady who came on in the end and started telling her story and he cut her off in the middle. Would have been better to let you say something pithy to wrap the thing up, don’t you think?! He could have used you guys better, I thought. I’m glad he remembered to mention your web site at the end, he almost made it sound like the only thing you ever did was Newsweek.

   Anyway, good job and GOOD FOR YOU!

9. # Loree Cook-Danielson 26 Feb 2002 at 4:58 pm

   Thank you for your excellent job on TOTN today.

   I was particularly pleased to hear your explanation of why there’s a problem with asking about the sexual orientation of kids of L/Gs. As someone who’s heard more than a few L/G parents say they hoped their kids would be straight, I think we need to keep confronting the assumption that being L/G isn’t good wherever we find it, including ourselves.

   Loree Cook-Daniels

10. # Mark Rosenmosson 26 Feb 2002 at 4:59 pm

    Dear Abigail and FLM,

    Congratulations on your Talk of the Nation hour. Not nearly long enough, of course. I tried calling, and then I sent an email to them, but of course they didn’t get to it. Here it is below, for what it’s worth.

    Please keep up the good work!

    Sincerely,

    Mark Rosenmoss

    Dear TOTN,

    Our two daughters of hetero parents, four and eight years old, have been around gay families their entire lives. My older daughter’s best friend has two mommies, and we’ve never treated it as anything other than normal. The school my children attend has a population of openly gay families and teachers that probably approaches the relative percentage of gays in the general population. The result of this special, lucky situation is that my kids think nothing of it. They know that kids are kids and parents are parents.

    I do wonder how to break the unpleasant news that the whole world will not be this way. My kids will sadly have to learn that there are plenty of people out there who will consider their friends to be unusual or even worthy of scorn. We can only hope that our kids will be seeds of a more enlightened perspective.

    Thanks for another important program.

    Mark Rosenmoss
    San Francisco

11. # Debraon 26 Feb 2002 at 5:01 pm

    Caught TOTN this afternoon and couldn’t wait to get a look at your website. Thank you so much for the work you are doing. I am a child free lesbian who has been married for almost eleven years, but one thing that struck me on your website was a shared experience you and I had around the issues of GLBT. We both wondered if we were the only people in the world that this was happening too. The sense of isolation is one of the most devastating results of our society’s continued attitudes about GLBT. It was so wonderful to hear you and Jessie speak of the positive things about gay/lesbian parents and GLBTs in general.

    Keep up the good work!

    Peace and Grace be with you,
    Debra

12. # Kelleyon 26 Feb 2002 at 5:22 pm

    I am writing to you because I heard you on NPR today. You are said things that I could relate to and I have to tell you that that has never happened to me before. I am 25 yeard old and 20 years ago my parents divorced because my mother was a lesbian. Growing up I live with my mother and her partner but they were not openly out. It was not till I was eighteen that my mother directly addressed this issue with me. I think that this caused a lot of stress in our relationship mother to daughter. If she had talked to me earlier I think that would have answered lots of my questions such as “why cab’t other kids stay the night with me?” or “why do the kids tease me about you living with Vicki?”. But now that my mother will talk to me I feel so much better that she has openly come out with me. Knowing that I am not the only one out here is so nice and I was so glad to hear you on npr this morning. Thank you so much!

13. # Joyceon 26 Feb 2002 at 5:50 pm

    I got to listen to the second half of the program, which was wonderful.

14. # Laurelon 26 Feb 2002 at 5:51 pm

    Congratulations - I thought you sounded great - your voice came over very nicely and you were quite articulate. Hope this brings you lots of perks!

15. # Anonymouson 26 Feb 2002 at 6:03 pm

    I kind of felt that Neal Conan was not particularly knowledgeable about the subject, but I generally don’t like him as an interviewer anyway… so maybe that’s my bias.

16. # Danaon 26 Feb 2002 at 6:17 pm

    Great program today - and I also appreciated your Newsweek article. Thanks for putting yourself out there.

    My partner and I are considering having kids, and we’re interested in learning about what gay parents have done well and what their kids wished they had done differently around this issue. Do you have any thoughts on where we could get more information about this?

17. # Ronon 26 Feb 2002 at 6:18 pm

    I heard you on NPR today and tried to call or email but was unable to get through. I\’m very concerned about talking to my daughters about what being gay means and what they need to prepare themselves for.

18. # Joannaon 26 Feb 2002 at 6:19 pm

    I caught the last minutes of the NPR program today, 2/26. Even though I live in diverse Berkeley, as a future gay parent, I’m also looking for information. Thank you.

19. # Anonymouson 26 Feb 2002 at 6:20 pm

    I skipped out of school a little earlier than usual today so I could catch it. You’re doing great work. Keep it up!

20. # Kenton 26 Feb 2002 at 6:34 pm

    I was thrilled to hear Talk of the Nation today that highlighted your work organizing and advocating for children of gay parents. I thank you for your work and am tempted to take up the cuase as well. My mother came out after her divorce when I was 12 and I longed for a community where I could talk about what that was like. If only colage were around then… I am 28 now and studying to earn my masters in counseling psychology and very interested in further work as a marriage and family therapist in this field. I look forward to visiting your website, colage’s and others in the future for references but also wonder if you have any additional suggestions. I didn’t know that only 12 states protect employees from discrimination based upon sexual orientation. It sounds like we do have an opportunity for our own civil rights crusade right hear and now.

21. # Anonymouson 26 Feb 2002 at 6:37 pm

    I thought overall the show went really well, it seemed like brand new territory for Neil Conan and so he didn’t push things too far. but you and Jesse were plenty articulate, so you didn’t really need him anyway!

22. # Danielon 26 Feb 2002 at 9:54 pm

    You were great on Talk of the Nation! By far the best show that whole month. Glad you’re still doing amazing work.

23. # Laurieon 27 Feb 2002 at 10:37 am

    Have you ever read the Tipping Point? By Malcolm Gladwell … may help give insight into why your thing is taking off now.

24. # BTon 27 Feb 2002 at 12:05 pm

    Thanks so much for appearing on TOTN. (I noticed they did get your last name right eventually!)

    I am listening to a tape of the broadcast now and am enjoying it very much.

    Thanks for all you do.

    You have my sincere thanks, appreciation, and gratitude for all your activism and outreach.

25. # Sallyon 27 Feb 2002 at 12:08 pm

    Well - it turned out that I was teaching yesterday during TOTN, BUT - later in the day I stopped by my son’s home, and he just happened to mention he’d been in his car about 3 PM and had tuned in to NPR - and heard a woman describing growing up as the child of gay parents. He said - “I wasn’t really listening, but then I heard her say something about how her parents got divorced when she was 9, and her dad came out when she was 10 or 11, and I thought ‘Hey - she’s describing MY life.’”

26. # Shannonon 27 Feb 2002 at 6:23 pm

    I heard your talk yesterday on NPR and then noticed today that Rosie O’Donnell has come out. Seeing that she’s a lesbian mother of children (who may have a partner), maybe she would benefit from learning about you.

27. # Hilaryon 28 Feb 2002 at 11:52 am

    I am so bummed that I missed this Abigail. I hope that it went well for you and that some intelligent people called in with some great questions.

28. # Connieon 28 Feb 2002 at 6:53 pm

    I had been hearing promos for this program and I KNEW even without hearing her name that Abigail would be on it. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear the program live, but thanks to RealAudio, I just listened on-line and was, again, so impressed with how she presented herself and the topic.

29. # Don 01 Mar 2002 at 6:09 pm

    You were terrific — I thought you came off as smart and articulate (hey, have you ever thought about talking about these issues professionally?).
    : ) I wished the host would have given you more time to talk.

30. # Andion 01 Mar 2002 at 6:24 pm

    I got a chance to hear you on NPR. It was really great, and you did a great job at responding questions — very assertive and eloquent. Thanks for doing what you do.

31. # Mon 01 Mar 2002 at 6:25 pm

    Abigail, hi. I am a gay partner in a marriage to a straight spouse, with two young children. I believe my wife and I are going to separate following my coming out to her almost a year ago.

    I really wrote to thank you for Families Like Mine–it’s been a lifeline as my wife and I sort through what to say to our sons, and when, and how, etc.

    I (absentmindedly) missed your Talk of The Nation show. I can’t find any way to listen to it on NPR’s www site–am I missing something? Do you have any tapes of it, by any remote chance?

32. # Michaelon 04 Mar 2002 at 5:10 pm

    I’m just writing because I heard you on Talk of the Nation , which is my second favorite NPR show (after The Diane Rehm Show). I m so glad to hear that you ve kept working on behalf of GLBT families, and your comments, as always, were right on.

33. # Michelleon 04 Mar 2002 at 6:25 pm

    My partner and I are planning to start trying to get pregnant in October of this year. I listened to the NPR “Talk of the Nation” show last week. Very good stuff.

34. # Anonymouson 20 Mar 2002 at 6:12 pm

    It’s unfortunate, that in the name of balance, totn felt they had to include someone to whom they deemed it appropriate to ask the question - should gays have children? would totn get away with suggesting perhaps other historically oppressed peoples might not want to have children because of the hate their kids might be subjected to simply because of the fact of their existence? (actually i’ll bet it has been suggested by someone but it seems hard to fathom.) i fear i preach to the choir.

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