Matteo and Valentino are QueerSpawn

Watch out world - I thought I'd start profiling QueerSpawn that are bound to be famous. Meaning there parents are LGBT legends and notables. So my first are Matteo and Valentino Martin. The adorable twins of Ricky Martin.

Alexander Bernstein is a QueerSpawn

Alexander Bernstein is the son of Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre. He is gay composer, Leonard Bernstein's second child. He is president of The Bernstein Family Foundation, and founding chairman of The Leonard Bernstein Center For Learning. Prior to his full-time participation in the center, Bernstein taught for five years at the Packer-Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, New York, first as a second grade teacher, then as a teacher of drama for the middle school. He has studied acting, performed professionally, and worked as a production associate at the ABC News Documentary Unit. Bernstein holds a master's degree in English education from New York University and a bachelor's degree from Harvard. He recently wrote a beautiful article about his father - on this 20th Anniversary of his death. Click the title of this blog to go to the article.

Jennifer Grant is a QueerSpawn

You may know her mother Dyan Cannon from TV shows like Ally McBeal, and her father is a legend in Hollywood. While Jennifer Grant may not embrace the queerspawn title – there is too much confirmation (even Betty White) out there not call her that. Her Dad – Cary Grant – had many wives and women in his life – but it is pretty clear he also had a great-romantic relationship with men too.

Jennifer is Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon’s only daughter, they divorced when she was two. Grant said that she was the best thing he ever made. Partly because her father did not want her to become an actress, she tried other things for several years. After graduating from Stanford University in 1987 with a degree in American Studies, she worked for a law firm, and followed that with a job as a chef.

But after her father’s death, the acting gene kicked in with her role on Beverly Hills 90210 as Celeste Lundy. She has also appeared in several other shows including, Friends, Walker Texas Ranger and CSI. Grant is divorced but recently gave birth to a son, Cary Benjamin in 2008.

Carole Ita White is a QueerSpawn

Carole Ita White is probably best known for her role as “Big Rosie Greenbaum” on Laverne & Shirley. She was born in New City to actors, father Jesse White and mother, Celia “Simmy” Cohn.

White has made many guest star appearances on such popular shows as Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Love Boat, Beverly Hills 90210 and the Profiler. She continues to appear in small roles in films over years, including The Witches of Eastwick, Grand Canyon and Falling Down.

In an interview with Sirius Out Q today, Jan. 19, 2010, not only did Carole come out as bisexual but also revealed that her mom disclosed that she was a lesbian and Carole also stated that so always thought that her dad might have had a relationship with men, but she will always just have to guess.

Whether you like it or not - Anne Heche is a Queerspawn

Ok, so people's reaction to the name Anne Heche is quite different within the LGBT community. After her break-up with Ellen and going "Straight" - it hard to believe she is still an important member of the community. She is still a queerspawn - crazy maybe, queerspawn yes.

Born in Ohio, she moved 11 times before she was 12. Her father was a fundamentalist church organist who admitted to being gay after he was diagnosed with AIDS. She supported her mother, two sisters and a brother by acting in a dinner theater in Atlantic City. Beginning with a long-standing Emmy Award winning role in the soap opera Another World, Anne Heche moved on to a career in film including Donnie Braseo, Volcano, and Wag The Dog and many other movies.

Rep. Mark Kirk's Response to my letter to support ENDA

Dear Mr. LaLonde:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. I appreciate your comments on this issue.

If our Constitution stands for anything, it is the ideal of individual liberty. To defend that liberty, we support democracy. But underneath both of those key values in the West, we believe in tolerance for our citizens.

Our history is one of expanding tolerance. In the 19th century, we ended slavery. In the 20th century, we gave women, racial and religious minorities equal rights. Now it is our turn to offer protection for those of a different orientation.

On April 24, 2007, Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced H.R. 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). This legislation would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation. As the co-author of the Conyers-Kirk Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007, I was proud to cosponsor H.R. 2015.

On November 7, 2007, the House passed ENDA by a vote of 235-184. I voted in favor of the bill and voted against a procedural motion, or a "Motion to Recommit," which would have effectively killed the bill. ENDA now moves to the Senate for further consideration. Rest assured, if the Senate passes ENDA and the President vetoes it, I will vote to override his veto.

Thank you for contacting me on this important issue. Please feel free to visit my website, www.kirk.house.gov, or contact me again should other issues of concern to you come before the Congress. To stay better connected to current legislation please sign up for my e-newsletter at kirk.house.gov/newsletter.

Sincerely,
Mark Steven Kirk
Member of Congress

Which TV Shows have QueerSpaen characters?

Here is the list I have compiled so far of current TV sitcoms and dramas. Please comment to add more. QueerSpawn Characters on TV...

Til Death – FOX
Doug Von Stuessen – lesbian mother
Timm Sharp

Nurse Jackie – Showtime
Dr. Fitch Cooper – lesbian mothers
Peter Facinelli

Glee – FOX
Rachel Berry – Gay Dads
Lea Michele

Modern Family – ABC
Baby Lilly

Vampire Diaries – CW
Caroline Forbes – Gay Dad
Candice Accola

Private Practice - ABC
Dr. Addison Montgomery - Lesbian mother
Kate Walsh

Degrassi: The Next Generation
Ashley Kerwin - Gay Dad
Melissa McIntyre

Shameless
The Gallagher Kids - Lesbian Mom
Emmy Rossum

Joe Valentine is a QueerSpawn

Joseph "Joe" John Valentine is a Major League Baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He is a 1997 graduate of Deer Park High School in Deer Park, New York, where he led the Falcons to the State championship title game.

Best known for his pitching with the Cincinnati Reds, then went on to the Astros and then the Brewers. Valentine was granted free agency by the Brewers. He was not picked up by any major league baseball team, so he went to pitch in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons (he never actually pitched for them; he pitched for their farm team). They released him in June, and the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League picked him up. In 37 relief appearances with them, he went 4-2 with a 1.54 ERA, striking out 37 batters in 35 innings of work.

Valentine started the 2008 season with the Ducks, making 14 appearances with them, saving six games and posting a 2-1 record and 1.62 ERA. In May, the Phillies signed him and assigned him to their Double-A affiliate, the Reading Phillies. After his release in June, Valentine re-signed with the Ducks, but on August 4 his contract was purchased by the Cincinnati Reds, where he was assigned to Double-A Chattanooga. He became a free agent at the end of the season.

So far in his big league career, Valentine is 2-4 with a 6.70 ERA.

During his time with the Reds, Valentine was the subject of a lengthy article about being raised by two lesbians, Deb Valentine (his biological mom) and Doreen Price, who raised him since his birth in Las Vegas in 1979. The couple has been together
for over 30 years. Joe never knew his dad and he has grown up as asupportive son who loves the two women who raised him. Joe was active in baseball and pageants while growing up. He married his high school sweetheart.

Valentine says, "It’s no different than having a mother and father. These are the two women who raised me, and they are wonderful people. It’s just not a big deal to me. Why should it be?"

Rebecca Walker is a QueerSpawn

Rebecca Walker was born in 1969 in Jackson, Mississippi, to an interracial "movement" couple who married in defiance of Mississippi's anti-miscegenation laws. (Anti-miscegenation laws made it illegal for people of different races to get married.) Her famous book, Black White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self, is her own story of struggling to understand her mixed identity. In addition to writing, she is the co-founder of Third Wave Foundation, a national philanthropic organization for women aged 15-30 devoted to cultivating young women's leadership and activism. Rebecca is considered one of the most audible voices of the young women's movement, and was named by Time magazine as one of the fifty future leaders of America. Rebecca identifies as bisexual and is estranged from her lesbian mother, Alice Walker, a well-known author, most famous from her book, The Color Purple. In December 2004, Walker gave birth to a son, Tenzin, whose arrival is the subject of her new memoir, Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood after a Lifetime of Ambivalence. Walker currently lives with Tenzin and his father Glen in Hawaii. Her official Web site is http://www.rebeccawalker.com

Katharine Symonds Furse was a QueerSpawn

Katharine and her three sisters were the children of famed gay English essayist and historian John Addington Symonds (1840-1893). Born in Clifton, Bristol, young Katharine spent most of her childhood in Davos, Switzerland, where Symonds had relocated the family in search of a better climate for his tuberculosis. In 1900, she married painter Charles W. Furse, who also suffered from tuberculosis. They had two sons, Peter and John Paul. Charles Furse died of tuberculosis in 1904. Katharine led the first VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Corps to France in October 1914 and headed the British Red Cross Women's VAD Department from 1915 to 1917. She was Commandant in Chief of the Joint Women's VAD Department in 1916, and the first head of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS) in 1917. She remained the head of the WRENS until they were demobilized in 1919. After the war, Katharine Furse continued her pioneering work in women's service. She worked closely for years with the Girl Guides and for ten years was Director of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. She died in London in 1952.

Ana Matronic is a QueerSpawn

Ana Matronic, born Ana Lynch is the female lead singer for the Scissor Sisters. Her stage name is said to be down to a deep and abiding love of robots. Known for her ferocious presence and cutting onstage banter, her talent and style helped propel the group from a little-known East Village nightclub act to the highest-selling rock act in the UK in 2004.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Ana moved to San Francisco in 1996, where she gained notoriety as one of the only female performers at legendary drag club Trannyshack, subject of the new documentary recently included in the San Francisco and the London Gay & Lesbian Film Festivals.

Ana moved to New York City in 1999, where, inspired by the East Village of the late 70s and early 80s, she set up the Knock-Off Collective with four local artists and performers (including the one and only Christy Love). Knock-Off became a regular night at the Lower East Side club The Slipper Room, and was the site of the first performance of Scissor Sisters, who would later recruit Ana into their ranks.

In 2004, she revealed to British magazine "Glamour" that her parents' marriage broke up when she was a toddler due to her father's homosexuality, and that her father died of an AIDS related illness when she was 15. She also stated in this interview that her immersion in gay culture is probably an attempt to feel closer to him, and understand who her father was as a person. She is in a long term relationship with Seth Kirby. Check Ana out at www.myspace.com/msanamatronic.

Minnie Hall was a Queer Spawn

So who was Minnie Hall? - well she was the "adopted" daughter of Murray Hall - a prominent Tammany Politican. Turns out Murrary Hall was actually a woman living as a man (Trans) but back in 1901 - not quite the term they used. It is quite a story - that is below. Murray's story is much more exciting than the Minnie story (at the end of the article)

MURRAY HALL FOOLED MANY SHREWD MEN
How for Years She Masqueraded in Male Attire.
HAD MARRIED TWO WOMEN

Was a Prominent Tammany Politician and Always Voted--Senator Martin Astonished.

Murray H. Hall, the woman who masqueraded as a man for more than a quarter of a century, and the secret of whose sex came out only after her death last Wednesday night at 145 Sixth Avenue, was known to hundreds of people in the Thirteenth Senatorial District, where she figured quite prominently as a politician. In a limited circle she even had a reputation as a "man about town," a bon vivant, and all-around "good fellow."

She was a member of the General Committee of Tammany Hall, a member of the Iroquois Club, a personal friend of State Senator "Barney" Martin and other officials, and one of the most active Tammany workers in the district.

She registered and voted at primaries and general elections for many years, and exercised considerable political influence with Tammany Hall, often securing appointments for friends who have proved their fealty to the organization ­ never exciting the remotest suspicion as to her real sex.

She played poker at the clubs with city and State officials and politicians who flatter themselves on their cleverness and perspicacity, drank whisky and wine and smoked the regulation "big black cigar" with the apparent relish and gusto of the real man-about-town.

Furthermore, Murray Hall is known to have been married twice, but the woman to whom she stood before the world in the attitude of a husband kept her secret as guardedly as she did.
The discovery of "Murray Hall's" true sex was not made until she was cold in death and beyond the chance of suffering humiliation from exposure. She had been suffering from a cancer in the left breast for several years, as Dr. William C. Gallagher of 302 West Twelfth Street, who attended her in her final illness, discovered; but she abjured medical advice for fear of disclosing her sex, and treated herself. When she felt that life was at a low ebb she sent for Dr. Gallagher, the awful fear of exposure being supplanted by the dread of death. He made an examination and found that the cancer had eaten its way almost to the heart, and that it was a matter of only a few days, when death must ensue.

He kept this information from the patient, fearing the shock might hasten death. He deceived himself, for "Murray Hall" knew as well as Dr. Gallagher that the end was near. In years gone by, from time to time, "Murray Hall' had purchased volume after volume of works on surgery and medicine until she possessed a good medical library. Those books were studied, and the knowledge gleaned, no doubt, served to a good purpose in avoiding detection.

Three months ago most of this library was sold to C. S. Pratt, a book seller at 161 Sixth Avenue. The books found a ready sale among Mr. Pratt's customers, and there was only one left in his shop when a reporter called there yesterday. This was a volume on "The Science and Art of Surgery," by John Eric Erichsen, and was published in 1881. The flyleaf of the book contained this inscription written a feminine hand in a lead pencil. "Cella Lin Hall, 128 Second Avenue, N.Y." Cella was the name of Murray Hall's second "wife," who died July 7, 1898. Her name was in all the books in Murray Hall's collection, but, according to all the book sellers along Sixth Avenue who knew her. It was the "husband" who made the purchases.

A LOVER OF BOOKS.
"There were many books in the collection," said Mr. Pratt, "that were published in Ireland and England. Most of the authors, however, bore Irish names. "I knew Hall well, having had many dealings with him; and believed him to be either a native of Ireland or a person of Irish extraction. He was well read and had no use for light literature. What he wanted and what I always sold him was some work on science. He would always ask to examine the book at home, and if it struck his fancy he would pay any price I fixed without quibble. He seemed to me to be a modest little man, but occasionally he showed an irascible temper. He would never talk about himself and shunned garrulous and inquisitive companions. In fact, when I met him on the street he was either accompanied by his black and tan dog or some woman or women, strangers to me, who I supposed were clients."

"During the seven years I knew him I never once suspected that he was anything else than what he appeared to be. While he was somewhat effeminate in appearance and talked in a falsetto voice, still his conduct and actions were distinctively masculine. This revelation is a stunner to me and, I guess, to everybody else who knew him."

"I wouldn't believe it if Dr. Gallagher, whom I know to be a man of undoubted veracity, hadn't said so," said Senator Bernard F. Martin. "Well, truly, it's most wonderful. Why, I knew him well. He was a member of the Tammany district organization, a hard worker for his party, and always had a good argument to put up for any candidate he favored. He used to come to the Iroquois Club to see me and pay his dues, and occasionally he would crack a joke with some of the boys. He was a modest little fellow, but had a peppery temper and could say some cutting things when anyone displeased him. Suspect he was a woman? Never. He dressed like a man and talked like a very sensible one. The only thing I ever thought eccentric about him was his clothing. Now that they say he's a woman, I can see through that. You see, he also wore a coat a size or two too large, but of good material. That was to conceal his form. He had a bushy head of black hair, which he wore -long and parted on the left side. His face was always smooth, just as if he had just come from the barber's."

"He never sought political preferment for himself, but often said a good word that helped along a deserving friend. And he could say nice things and some bad things about a man, too. Just as cleverly any one of the big politicians.

"Why," continued the Senator, "when the County Democracy was in the heyday of its glory, Murray Hall was one of the bright stars in that constellation. He was the Captain of his election district when he lived and kept an intelligence office between Seventeenth and Eighteenth Street, on Sixth Avenue. That was some years ago, when the district was cut down, making Fourteenth Street the northern boundary. Hall moved so as to be in with his political pals. He used to hobnob with the big guns of the County Democracy, and I knew he cut quite some figure as a politician.

A "GOOD FELLOW."
"He finally tired of his political associations, and came to me. He asked to be taken back into the fold. He was a 'good fellow,' and kept a good line on the voters of the district. He knew most everybody and most everybody knew him, and I thought he would be a very acceptable acquisition. He had formerly been a member of Tamany Hall, and had many friends in the organization. He was at the polls every election day, voted once any way, as they say, and helped get out the vote. We made him a member of the General Committee, and he was always present and participated in the proceedings until the last two years. His health had been bad as a result of being knocked down on Fifth Avenue by a bicycle, and he had not been very active in politics of late."

Joseph Young, one of Senator Martin's most trusted lieutenants and an officer of the Iroquois Club, was the Tamany Captain of the district when Murray Hall served in the same capacity for the County Democracy.

"I knew him well," said Young, "and I remember that we both worked tooth and nail to get the larger vote. If he's a woman, he's the wonder of all the ages, sure's you live, for no man could ever suspect it from his habits and actions."

"Why he had several run-ins when he and I were opposing Captains. He'd try to influence my friends to vote against the regular organization ticket and he'd spend money and do all sorts of things to get votes. A woman? Why, he'd line up to the bar and take his whisky like any veteran, and didn't make faces over it, either. If he was a woman he ought to have been born a man, for he lived and looked like one."

The late Patrick McCabe, who was Chief Clerk of the Jefferson Market Police Court, was an intimate friend of Hall. They had been associated in politics for years, attended chowders together, drank, smoked, and had many good times, but McCabe died without the knowledge of the fact that his chum and colleague was a woman.

While McCabe was located in the Jefferson Market Court, Hall began the career of a professional bondsman. The singular character often befriended unfortunates for a consideration, and was doing a profitable business until, on one occasion, he qualified in a sum that aroused the Court's suspicion.

On investigating the bondsman's alleged wealth it was discovered that Hall had only about $5,000 in real estate, which consisted of five lots in West Chester willed to him by his "wife," "and a few thousand dollars in bank."

Hall was arrested after attending a meeting at the Iroquois Club one night and locked up in the Macdougal Street Station, but didn't stay long.

On the way to the station the policeman who had the prisoner in charge accepted an invitation to step into Skelly's saloon, at Tenth Street and Greenwich Avenue. They had several drinks, for which Hall paid. In the meantime Skelly had sent out for several politicians, who accompanied the officer and his prisoner to the station house. Skelly furnished a bond and Hall was released.
The party returned to Skelly's and had more drinks. Then Hall and several friends went to the Grapevine, Eleventh Street and Sixth Avenue, then to Teddy Ackerman's, across from Jefferson Market, drinking wine in both places until they reached a high state of enthusiasm.

ASSAULTED A POLICEMAN.
Hall was coaxed outside, refused to go home, and started in to whip Policeman O'Connor, who tried to arrest him, and succeeded in putting a storm cloud draping under the officer's eye before he was handcuffed. Hall was finally returned to the station house two hours from the time of the first arrest, locked up, and kept over night. Next day his political friends "squared it," and he was released.

Hall's acquaintances, including Senator Martin, say that he appeared to be about fifty years of age. The death certificate places the age at seventy years.

John Bremer, proprietor of the Fifteenth Ward Hotel, Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue, knew Hall well, and had some business dealings with him. "He was a shrewd, bright man, in my estimation," said Mr. Bremer, "and I wouldn't believe he was a woman if it wasn't for Dr. Gallagher's statement."

"He used to send people from his intelligence office to room here for a day or two, and often came himself to see somebody stopping here. He'd drink anything from beer up, but I never saw him smoke, though they say he did, and chew, too."

"Yes, 'n play poker or pinochle and was sweet on women," broke in a lawyer who lives at the hotel. "I've known him for a number of years. He could drink his weight in beer and stand up under it.

"Why, I saw him play poker with a party of the Jefferson Market clique one night, and he played the game like a veteran. And for nerve, well, I can't believe that he was a woman, that's all. He stood two raises, when a jackpot had been opened, on two nines. I stood directly back of him and saw the play.

"The opener drew a card. The next man drew two cards, the third man drew three cards. When Hall called for two, I thought he was crazy, for there was about $75 in the pot, and he didn't have an ace or a face card to hold up with his pair.

It was a tray he held out for a 'kicker' and blame me if he didn't pull another tray and a nine spot. He made all but the opener lay down, and would have been betting yet if he hadn't got a call. He beat out three aces and got about $125 all told. He had a cigar in his mouth that night, but I don't believe he lit it.

"So he's a woman, eh? Well, I've read of such characters in fiction, but, if it's true, Hall's case beats anything in fact or fiction I can recall."

MRS. MEYER'S STORY.
Mrs. Johanna Meyers, who keeps a newsstand and cigar store at 109 West Tenth Street, knew Hall for many years.

"He used to come in here and buy papers and books, but never tobacco," she said yesterday.

"His wife used to come in, too. She was a large, good looking woman, almost twice her husband's weight. She did most of the business in the intelligence office up to the time of her death. She never intimated to me that her husband was a woman, neither did Hall himself nor their adopted daughter, Minnie.

"Last week Wednesday Mr. Hall sent a servant around here with a message that he was very sick and for me to call without fail between 2 and 3 o'clock next afternoon. My husband was very bad from the grip at the time, and I didn't get a chance to go. He didn't send for me again. He thought a great deal of me and used to come in and sit down and read for hours.

"On my last birthday he gave me a large cake for a present. Not once did I ever suspect from word or action that he was masquerading and was really a woman. I believe that he meant to confide in me and tell me his secret when he sent for me. If I had only suspected I certainly would have gone to see him. His adopted daughter, Minnie, was here this morning.

"The poor girl is terribly shocked over the disclosure. She said she had always believed her foster father was a man, and never heard her foster mother say anything that would lead her to suspect otherwise."

Minnie Hall, the adopted child, is the sole heir. She is twenty-two years old, and Lawyer Thomas Moran, who drew the will, says she is the only beneficiary named. The estate, he said, will not exceed $10,000 or $12,000.

Where Murray Hall came from, or who she really was, no one seems to know, not even the adopted daughter. It was about twenty-five years ago that "he" first came to public notice in New York. About that time he opened an employment bureau in Sixth Avenue, near Twenty-third Street. He had with him a woman known as his wife.

After about three years the wife made complaints to neighbors that her husband was making her life miserable: that he flirted with clients and paid altogether too much attention to other women. This woman suddenly disappeared. Whither she went, when or how, no one knows. The husband never spoke of her after her disappearance, and no one cared enough to make inquiries.

About fifteen years ago Hall moved to a building between Seventeenth and Eighteenth Streets, where he soon after introduced the woman who was known as Mrs. Hall, as his second wife. The couple seemed to get along peaceably until seven years ago, when they moved to 145 Sixth Avenue. Then, neighbors say, they quarrelled, Mrs. Hall declaring her husband was too attentive to other women. That was the first known of Minnie Hall, the adopted daughter.

Who the child was or where she came from is as much a mystery as the early history of Murray Hall. How a man could for so many years impersonate a man without detection, deceiving even her physician and some of the cleverest men and women in New York with whom she frequently came in contact, though the secret must have been known to at least two others --the wives--is a mystery quite as inexplicable as the character that accomplished the feat.

From The New York Times, Jan 19 1901
For more information on Murray HallWhat's the big deal about women dressing like men, anyway?

Jena Malone is a QueerSpawn

Jena Malone (actress, singer, photographer)

You might know Jena from such movies as Saved, Stepmom, Into the Wild, Bastard Out of Carolina and the recent horror movie The Ruins (I saw it, she was fabulous). These have won her a Golden Globe nomination, an Independent Spirit Award in 1997 for Best Debut Performance, and a SAG Award in 1997 for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries.

In 2006, she made her professional stage Broadway debut in the production of the Tony Award winning play Doubt. In 2007, she was released her first single on The Social Reistry, a New York City experimental music label. And currently, Jena has joined the cast of Sucker Punch

Jena was born in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and moved to Southern California. Her mother was active in community theater, so Jena got very comfortable around the theater at an early age. Until age 10, she lived in Lake Tahoe, raised by two moms (mom and Godmom). Then her birth mother broke up with her lover and became a born-again Christian. Legally emancipated since 2000, Malone says she is close to her large extended family, which includes four brothers and two sisters. Jena stated, “I had two loving parents. Love in any shape or form is a beautiful thing.”

Flying the Flag - Blogging for National LGBT Family Day

My partner and I have a tradition ever since we bought our house, that on June 1 we fly the rainbow flag in front of our house. June is a time for us to be proud of the how far the LGBT movement has come. It is time to celebrate family – my lesbian mom and partner, my gay brother and all our friends. It is a tradition that was extra special this year, because it was our son’s first.

Of course he won’t remember it, but it did have a great deal of symbolism for us standing on our porch, Papa, Daddy and Farber. We were a family, and proud.

But this tradition raises eyebrows as well. Every year during the month of June only when the flag is waving, our house gets egged. Now, I have done my fair share of egging and TPing, and I am sure that this has a karma twist to it. But these “kids” have no aim, nor any creativity. Their weak attempts at causing outrage are sad. Just as sad as the hate mail that my mom’s once got. (Do haters ever use spell-check?)

What people don’t realize is that when we fly our flag, we have to take down the American Flag for the month. I am sure people gasp at this notion. But to us, the rainbow flag is the American Flag. Everything that is possible in both flags, freedom feels possible in both flags. And until America supports our family in an equal way, this tradition and swapping will feel hallow in some part. We are proud to be American’s but sad that the rest of America doesn’t embrace us.

Speaking of family, what an amazing one we have. My dad recently remarried and we have gained an awesome load of new family members. And the rest of the family continues it expanding, growing and rebirth.

So this June, like many others, families like ours are posting what makes us tick, what makes us proud, what makes us love. Flying the flag is just a tiny thing we are doing. But more importantly, love is our symbol. Chris and I have been together for more than 13 years. Mom and Sue have been together for more than 24 years. Love withstands all struggles.

Daddy Hug is a Jungle Bundle of Fun - Review for BookDads.com

Daddy Hug
Written by Tim Warnes
Illustrated by Jane Chapman

Daddy Hug takes your kids through a journey of the animal kingdom’s diverse types of Dads. Simple adjectives and words introduce all types of Daddies and roll into the next animal adjective with the flow of a song. Probably best for kids under 4, but definitely not your average picture book, Daddies and their kids abound from page to page as they exemplify the adjectives used to describe them, whether it be the SCRUFFY daddy warthog strutting his muddy self with his young in tow, the SLIMY daddy snake coiling around his wiggling hatchlings, or the FLUFFY ostrich guarding his playing chicks.

Tim Warnes’ book takes a rhythmic journey of dads and their families doing what they do best in the wild, like splashing Ducks or chirping Otters. More importantly, it does this in a nurturing light culminating with what dads love to do best – giving big daddy hugs. Not to be a spoiler, but the last page is total gathering of all of nature’s dads, all hugging and cuddling their little ones.

Beyond the playful use of words, the book is a great expression of illustration by Jane Chapman (who also illustrated Bear Snores On). The art is soft, welcoming, colorful and beautifully rendered. Overall, Daddy Hug is a jungle bundle of fun… for reading to your little one.

Diatribe from a fellow QueerSpawn on Gay Marriage

okay, so this being like the 30 millionth anti-gay ruling in the history of American anti-gay rulings, i realize that it's just another setback along the road to civil rights. but that being said, this one hits especially close to home for me, those of you who know me well know why.

in case you haven't tuned into the news yet today, the California supreme court has upheld Proposition 8 today, banning constitutional equal rights for gay people, namely the right to be married in the eyes of the law. at the heart of the issue is the debate over whether or not gay people should be protected under the same laws that are there (ostensibly) to protect families, i.e. healthy environments for the creation and upbringing of children.

i really thought this one was gonna be a victory. i thought that given the momentum around the country, that at this point, California would come out on top. but i was wrong.

California is my home state (San Francisco, to be precise) and in addition to yet again preventing my parents from being legally partnered in my state of birth, there are (as i see it) two very dangerous and invalidating assertions behind the proposition:
1) that gay people are unfit parents and therefore have unhealthy offspring
2) that somehow through legislation, a privileged majority is entitled to single out a specific minority and attempt to paternalistically keep them from their god-given right to create children

this, my friends, is fundamentally un-American, and furthermore it is bigoted, and it is wrong. do not be fooled, this is not at this point an argument between the left and the right. it is a manipulation of the privileged majority by a few on the radical right desperately urging you to cling to the status quo.

i am 27 years old. my whole life, my parental figures have been queer identified, gay and lesbian. gay people are every bit as qualified as any other human being on this planet to raise a child, and moreover they are doing it everyday.

this legislation does not reflect my reality. and yet i feel like i am at the heart of it. but i want to urge you all to feel out the ways in which you are at the heart of it as well. what do you stand to lose when the government hands out constitutional rights based on moral/value judgements? are there any situations in which you feel like a minority? as a whole, we all suffer from injustice.

today i find myself in Washington DC, our nations capitol. and although the District of Columbia is far removed from California, i am feeling the need to protest. so i'm sending out this letter. i hear there is an organized protest in Dupont Circle tonight at 8.30, but i'm not sure who's organizing it, and am reluctant to say i'll be there given i know very little about it, and am wary of public protest. but i may go, especially if there are others here in the District who are feeling like they too would get something out of a show of support.

anyways, these are my thoughts. please feel free to pass this along to anyone. many thanks and many hearts.

Dakota

Jodie Foster is a QueerSpawn

Born Alicia Christian Foster on November 19, 1962 in Los Angeles, California. Foster's father, Lieutenant-Colonel Lucius Fisher Foster III, a former Battle of Britain fighter and one of the most highly decorated fliers in the US airforce, left the family before she was born; her lesbian mother, Evelyn "Brandy," supported herself and her four children by working for a film producer. Jodie's three siblings are Lucinda, Constance, and Buddy. Her upbringing in a working-class part of Los Angeles was unconventional, to say the least. She and her three older siblings grew up with "two mothers"-Brandy and her live-in lover, Josephine Dominguez, known affectionately as Aunt Jo. Although she was christened Alicia Christian, Foster was called Jodie by the family, after Jo D.

Foster played a breakthrough role of a teenage prostitute in Taxi Driver and since then has shined on the screen in such movies as The Accused (for which she won an Oscar), Little Man Tate, The Silence of the Lambs (for which she won another Oscar), Contact, Nell and Anna and the King. Not only known as one of the most influential women in Hollywood, Foster has a long list of awards for her work behind the scenes as director. She lives in the San Fernando Valley with her sons, Charles, who was born on July 20, 1998. Christopher "Kit" Foster born on September 29, 2001.

Daniela Sea is a QueerSpawn

It might be a name that not a lot of people know, but she is definitely a star to watch.
Daniela Sea was born in 1977 the daughter of artsy/hippie parents, later her father came out as gay. An avid surfer, Daniela and her family moved to Hawaii. The inspiration of the ocean grew her stage name.

Beyond being a surfer, she is also a musician, a circus juggler and most well-known as an actress on the hit show L-Word. Before the L-Word, Sea was a member of the Gilman Street Project and then studiied acting at Laney College. She then went on to several different punk rock bands.

Long before she played Moira Sweeney, an androgynous computer technician who over the course of the season, Moira comes out as a trans-man adopting the name Max Sweeny, Sea lived in India for eight months as a man. She said:

It evolved quickly when I realized what freedom I'd have. As a man, I could ask questions and walk around at night. I felt it would give me better access to the culture. I don't feel anyone suspected anything. I never felt threatened, like I do here. If I want to, people think I'm a boy. I'm a tomboy. I always wear boys' clothes. I don't have to try very hard one way or the other.

When talking about her own sexual orientation, she politically will identify as a lesbian but truly considers herself bisexual.

OJ Simpson is a QueerSpawn

Lets face it. In order to be a community you need all different types. OJ is definitely one that evokes controversy, but still had quite the impressive record up until 1994. While that record maybe tarnished with bad decisions, it is still important that we are honest and straightforward in who is part of the community.

Orenthal James (OJ) Simpson
Considered one of the greatest running backs in American football history, OJ in the early 1990s became a household name-a name that sparked conversations across the United States on race, wealth, and fame.

Born near San Francisco in the Stanford University Hospital on July 9, 1947, he was the son of Jimmie and Eunice Durden Simpson. Simpson's father, a well-known San Francisco drag queen, died of AIDS in 1986. In June of 1994, Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman were found brutally murdered, and Simpson was charged and later convicted in civil court of their murders.

Then when people didn't think it could get worse - in September 2007, he was arrested in Las Vegas and charge with robbery, burglary, assault, kidnapping, coercion, conspracy (is there anything left in the law books?) A jury found Simpson guilty of all charges and he was sentenced to at least nine years in prison. He is currently serving his sentence at a prison in Lovelock, Nevada.

COLAGE Seeks Volunteers to Join National Board of Directors

COLAGE Seeks Volunteers to Join National Board of Directors

COLAGE (www.colage.org) is a national movement of children, youth and adults who have one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (lgbtq) parents. We build community and work toward social justice through youth empowerment, leadership development, education and advocacy. Based in San Francisco, COLAGE offers an integrated array of local, regional and national programs. With over 10,000 member contacts, a network of chapters across the U.S, and 18 years of expertise in youth empowerment and LGBTQ family matters, COLAGE represents and organizes the millions of people who have one or more LGBTQ parents and families.

The COLAGE Board of Directors is an intergenerational, multi-racial/multi-cultural group of dedicated volunteers that includes youth and adults with LGBTQ parents, LGBTQ parents, and allies from all over the United States. The Board convenes for in-person meetings twice annually in addition to participating in ongoing conference calls and committee meetings. The Board provides crucial guidance and oversight for COLAGE and its programs, performs important fundraising and governance duties, and supports the staff of COLAGE in their ongoing work.

This is your opportunity to join COLAGE’s Board of Directors during a very exciting time for the organization! Having recently completed a new strategic plan, COLAGE is looking for dynamic, passionate and active leaders to join the Board of Directors and work with the organization to take it to the next level of its development and impact.

To ensure that all organizational decisions and actions are guided by and reflect COLAGE’s diverse membership and constituencies, we are currently seeking people who have one or more of the following backgrounds or identities to apply:

o Do you have one or more transgender parent(s) and/or identify as trans?

o Are you a person of color and active in communities of color?

o Are you from/Do you reside in the Deep South, Southwest, Southeast, Midwest, or a rural area of the U.S.?

o Are you male-identified?

COLAGE especially seeks dedicated board members with skills and experience in:

o public relations, marketing, media communications, and e-communications;

o financial management, investment & oversight or non-profit accounting;

o policy development and advocacy

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

o Uphold COLAGE's mission, vision, values, and methodology

o Volunteer average of 10-20 hours per month (some months more, some less)

o Attend in-person all-board meetings twice per year. Spring meeting is in SF Bay Area, Fall meeting location rotates. (Next FALL meeting will be held during the weekend of OCTOBER 3-5, 2009.)

o Participate in all-board conference calls every 6 weeks

o Actively participate on at least one board committee, including monthly calls

o Make a personally significant annual financial contribution to the organization and actively participate in fundraising

o Be an ambassador for COLAGE and LGBTQ families (including being 'out' about your family) in your community

APPLICATIONS DUE: Friday, July 3rd, 2009

TO APPLY:

Please submit completed COLAGE Board Application Form to COLAGE Board Development Committee via nominations@colage.org

Find Application Form here - http://www.colage.org/about/board.htm

When your application is received, you will be notified and may be asked to participate in an interview with one of our current Board members or Executive Director.

QUESTIONS?

Email our Board Development Committee at nominations@colage.org or contact

Beth Teper, Executive Director at 415-861-5437 or director@colage.org