Jun 17th, 2006
Gay Families: Not Always “Picture Perfect”
In honor of Fathers’ Day, I offer you a portrait of me with my dads taken in 2003 by photographer and queerspawn Amber Davis Tourelentes.
This photo got national exposure when CNN needed an image to go with my interview on Paula Zahn Now during my book tour.
I am always advocating that LGBT families should not be required to present a flawless image in order to gain societal acceptance, so I also feel compelled to share with you an “out-take” from our session with Amber.
As we began to arrange ourselves for this this portrait, I don’t remember what we were saying to each other, but I can remember the tone — we each thought we knew the “right” way to pose for the photo and we were all talking over each other, insisting that if the other two would just go along with it, they would soon agree that it was the “right” way.
“Just hang on. Let me show you. We should…”
“No. Wait. I know. I got it…”
“Now, c’mon now guys… what if we tried…”
Amber snapped a shot as she waited for us to get our act together, and captured this:
I stumbled across this photo today in my files as I searched for the official portrait. My first reaction was, oh dear…not the best image.
And that’s why I decided to post it.
We’re not picture perfect. We’re family.
Happy Father’s Day.
Totally beautiful, and wonderful.
Three people who are capable of independent thought, whether finding consensus or not, are simply doing what they do best — being themselves, being together, being family.
Too many of us (whether gay parents, or gay kids) are waiting and hoping for such a day.
I *love* both of those photos, and the post. Thanks for sharing them!
Perhaps this warrants a change in the apostrophe placement so it reads “Happy Fathers’ Day!” :)
The image has a lot more character than any kind of posed shot. Thanks for sharing!