Gender Now Coloring Book: A Learning Adventure for Children and Adults
When we received the very first copy of GENDER NOW we couldn’t have been more pleased! After several years of hard work and dedication in creating the art and text for the book, it was finally here. And yet even as we held the first copy, looking at the kids playing and dancing throughout the pages of the book, it felt like it had always been. It’s funny how that happens. It’s as if the images of the children had made their personalities known as we worked with them, telling us who they were, and how they wanted to share their message with other children.
We can only hope that this book will reach all the children who are desperately seeking reflection in their world. We know that it is the children who will change the world and instilling messages of equality and acceptance can only serve to further the goal of positive change. We hope that whether you are transgender or not, whether you know someone who is transgender or not, you will take a moment to connect with the child within, open the coloring book, get out your crayons and let the kids of the gender team open your mind to all the many ways to be in this world.
| Read more about the Coloring Book>>> | Read the Press Release>>> |
| View inside and buy>>> |
Proposition 8 Overturned!
What a fabulous day, not only did we send off our Gender Now coloring book to be printed today but also a Federal Judge overturned Proposition 8 which had taken away the right to marry for same-sex couples in California. All over California LGBT people are celebrating, marching, and dancing in the streets. Maya and I were interviewed in the Castro about our thoughts on the court decision. I didn’t know what to say at first and then I remembered….what would have it been like if my dads could have been married? How would that have legitimized my family and my experience and provided much needed reflection? It’s hard to say but I imagine that it would have spoken volumes in more ways than I could imagine. While California joins other states in beginning to recognize the rights of ALL, there’s still a ways to go until full equality. But in the meantime let’s celebrate the small victories and dance in the streets!!!
To read the full ruling click here.
Filed under LGBTQI Families | Tags: acceptance, celebration, empowerment, family, lgbt, reflection | Comment (0)Invisible Families
When I was a child, they didn’t teach about my family in school. They didn’t talk about my family on television or in the movies and definitely not in books. At least not the books I ever came into contact with at my library or school. If my family was mentioned at all, it was to condemn, ridicule, or shame. Why? Because I have a gay father.
The messages I heard repeatedly from my childhood were loud and clear in everything I read, everywhere I looked, and everywhere I went. I must be the only one. My family must be something I’m supposed to hide – a difference not to be celebrated, but embarrassed and ashamed of. My family, and therefore I, must be less than, unwelcome, an outcast, deserving of the harsh treatment because otherwise someone would try to stop it, someone would talk about it, someone would tell me it was ok, right? These messages followed me throughout my middle school and high school years and into college. Never once did I meet another kid like me, never once did a teacher acknowledge families like mine existed, never once did I not feel fear that someone would find out my secret and tease and shame me for it. My family was invisible. I was invisible.
At the end of my junior year of college, after I had told maybe a handful of people my entire life about my family, I was sitting at a computer researching scholarships. When out of nowhere I found an organization called, COLAGE. An organization for children who have lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender parents! I couldn’t believe it! I wasn’t the only one, I wasn’t an outcast! I wasn’t supposed to be ashamed. No, in fact, I could be proud! Proud of Continue reading »
Filed under LGBTQI Families | Tags: acceptance, empowerment, family, lgbt, reflection | Comments (3)
