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Family Pride Guest Post

Parentography is an inclusive community and strives to be a resource for all parents and caregivers.  We support any loving family who cherishes their children.  What follows is a guest post from Jennifer Chrisler, the Executive Director of the national group Family Pride.

Gone are the days of the “Ozzie and Harriet” style family outings. There are many types of loving families in this country - children raised by grandparents, single parents, foster parents, adoptive parents, two dads or two moms, and children being raised by aunts and uncles. Indeed, American families come in many shapes, sizes and constellations.I, along with my partner Cheryl, are the lesbian mothers of twin four-year olds, Timmy and Tommy. Just a few weeks ago, we returned from a trip aboard the “Rosie Cruise” hosted by R Family Vacations (owned and operated by the wife of Rosie O’Donnell). Since this cruise is specifically for gay and lesbian parents, people often ask, “Why is that necessary?” Why are gay and lesbian families compelled to travel together?

The answer is simple. Being a parent is hard enough. But, being a gay or lesbian parent brings an entirely unique set of challenges to the table. For instance, people are constantly asking Cheryl and I if we are sisters or friends. Every day, people ask my children, “Where is your father?” And that doesn’t even get into the political or legal ramifications of being a gay or lesbian parent. For example, just on the R Family cruise last week a woman suffered a serious medical emergency and was taken to the hospital before the ship left port. Unfortunately, because they didn’t have all their legal documents, this woman’s partner was denied entry to the emergency room and wasn’t present when her partner passed away.

So, sometimes we just want to get away and know that we’ll be safe. Sometimes, we just don’t want our children to be subjected to the raised eye-brows of strangers. And sometimes we know that we may face serious discrimination when we travel.  That’s why we travel to locations that are gay-friendly. Like any parent, safety is our top priority. And that’s why, when I use Parentography, I tag locations as “gay-friendly” or “not gay-friendly.”

The good news, though, is that while being a gay parent does have its unique challenges, it is also the great uniter. The language of diaper changes, nap times and story hours bonds all parents. At the end of the day, parenting is not about gay or straight, it’s about family.

Jennifer Chrisler is the executive director of Family Pride. Family Pride is the national non-profit organization committed to securing family equality for all loving families, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer parents, guardians and allies. Our work consists of strategically linked initiatives—broad in scope, but simple in vision—love, justice, family, equality. We make change. We share information. We build community. We are visible.