Feb 5th, 2008
Queerspawn Creating Space at Creating Change.
No, I won’t be at Creating Change. But if you will be — and you have one or more LGBT parents — be sure to go to the caucus on Friday night, “Queerspawn Making a Difference.” I know for sure you will meet Monica, and if other people let me know they will be there, I will list them here so y’all can find each other.
I do not know if the caucus organizers will attempt to make it a queerspawn-only caucus. I hope so, and I hope it will be easier than when we attempted to do so at Creating Change in 2004. We attempted to politely specify who the caucus was for, and it turned kind of nasty between us (the organizers) and a handful of non-queerspawn LGBT people who seemed to think their plans to have children someday entitled them to sit there and observe our gathering like they were visiting a petting zoo. A few parents expressed soft but respectful disappointment, but others were downright rude, appalled that we (the “kids”) would dare defy them (the “parents”). “Kids” and “parents” are in quotes since the kids were in their mid-thirties, and the most hostile parents-to-be were at least a decade younger.
It was tense, to say the least. I remember a young female couple leaving, one of them saying something about how THEY had showed up to HELP us, in a flippant tone that informed us all that they would think twice before offering “us” their “help” again. And yet, they didn’t ask why this was important to us; they only focused on how insulted they were. (Coincidentally, I had spent that afternoon in my hotel room on deadline and had just emailed out my column on this very issue.)
Perhaps they are parents now, and perhaps they are fabulous ones at that. I hope they will be open to their children’s reality, even when it doesn’t make them feel all warm and fuzzy.
It’s all very confusing, seems the kids will always disappoint the parents (don’t know what else to do but make light of it and try to educate). Loved your book by the way.
Vi a matéria da revista Gloss, achei maravilhosa sua atitude, lutar pela causa, e apoiar crianças e adolescentes na mesma cituação pela qual você passou!
Não sou gay, mas apoio iniciativas assim com toda certeza!
Parabéns!