queerspawn.community

I know this will come across as shameless self-promotion, but then again, isn't that what a soapbox is all about? Getting attention?

The short story:
My brother and I are featured in the Advocate this month (6/20/06 Pride Issue) along with a bunch of other second generation adults, talking about what we learned growing up gay with gay parents.

The long story (or the story behind the story):
During all of the Brokeback Mountain media attention I was amazed at how little coverage there was from the kids' perspective. I felt like this frame of the story was being ignored. I approached a few people about doing a story, but I missed the boat shall we say. By the time I had enough personal momentum the moment had passed. But the conversations with the Advocate led me to discussing another thing I am passionate about... the invisibility of queer kids of queer parents. (And to a greater extent, the invisibility of all adult kids of queer parents.)

The story I hoped to tell was how a large number of queer activists working in the movement right now come from queer homes and that their activism is hugely informed by their upbringing. The Advocate assigned reporter Fred Kuhr to the story who interviewed a bunch of us and wrote a very informative piece. I was particularly pleased that the article was not just a "lifestyle" type of article but one that conveyed the message I was hoping to get across. I think my brother said it best: "Having a gay parent connects me to the struggle and gives me a sense of history.... Just having that kind of knowledge takes away the apathy and inspires me ot make a difference."

Thank you to Fred and Sean at the Advocate... to Brendan and to my dear friends Asha, Meredith, Ryan and Jesse who also appear in the article. You are all a part of my family and make the "work" of being an activist much more fun.

And while we are here... don't forget to check out COLAGE and Asha's current project: South Carolina Equality Coalition