Mark Snyder, Communications Coordinator, Reporting live from Netroots Nation in Minneapolis!

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Mark’s Liveblog:

Friday, June 17th

Late night update: Met an amazing young woman who randomly says “I have a lesbian mom.” A COLAGE “aha moment” ensued! “You’re a COLAGEr,” I exclaimed!

I just returned from a wonderful rall in support of the labor movement. The location was significant because it was near the bridge that infamously crumbled a few years ago, killing several people. Investing in the infrastructure of our wonderful country creates jobs – and ALL families deserve jobs.

At the rally I caught up with a really cool guy you may have heard a little bit about… VAN JONES!  I’ll be publishing a very special message from him later.

Also today, I met with Congressman Keith Ellison of the Fifth District, Minnesota. Here is a special video message from him to you:

LGBT Strategy session. Discussing challenges and successes of policy efforts – ENDA, DADT, etc.

Mark: ENDA is a universal issue that impacts all our families and should be prioritized. How do we create an outside force to push everyone to prioritize this issue? Both our friends and our adversaries alike?

Thursday, June 16th

7PM Keynotes.

AFSCME talking about how our struggles are interconnected, and how the workers’ movement is about democracy. Great footage of MLK.

“I don’t consider myself liberal, I consider myself anti-evil” Host, Ely sp?

Minneapolis Mayor: best bike city, most gay friendly, best place to sleep, best place for women in business, etc.  Son took a job in social media.

Minneapolis promise says that the kids who speak 100 languages are the key to the new America.  Continue to be the voices of America!

Keith Olbermann is addressing the audience. “Good news, my boss is Al Gore!”  The walls are closing in on journalism and on democracy. The walls are owned by huge corporations and care nothing but about making money. These People Must Be Stopped! Keith will be the keynote for Netroots Nation 2012.

Delta Low (sp?) Blogger from Zimbabwe. Girls are not encouraged to talk it is considered rude in our tribe. We are not to ask questions because “men have the answers.” I had lots of questions and I needed answers. I started writing. I found out at a very early age that when I write, nobody can shut me up!

–Blogger from Pakistan— People get overshadowed in the coverage of the war on terror. No way we can glamourize that there are 26 countries that are poorer than Pakistan but still send more children to school than we do. My blogging highlights the stories of the people that get overshadowed in the mainstream media coverage. I am here because of the power of social media. I was given the opportunity to speak through digital stories. My work is my payback to my people. Please look behind the hype and perceptions in the mainstream media. Please utilize the social media to engage and show the real stories of Pakistani people. Either you look into the window I provide, or step up and help us. I hope you choose the latter.

Leader of American Federation of Teachers speaks about how the needs of billionaires are a higher priority than the schools, students, and teachers. “Teachers don’t stop at buying supplies for their classrooms, they are buying food for their kids!”  We need to improve all schools to help ALL students.  Budget cuts, punitive cuts, top down – doesn’t work. We need collaboration and shared responsibility. Standardized tests do not measure what kids need to know in the 21 century!

Howard Dean is about to take the stage… Personal note – Howard Dean’s campaign totally inspired me as a college student. It was the first electoral campaign that I was involved in that utilized the internet and social media. At the time, I started Emerson College Students for Dean. Although we lost, we made history and we changed the way campaigns are done.

“We need to defeat the right-wing.”  We need to keep our promise to ourselves. Politicans follow they don’t lead. We lead collectively, all of us. The internet has made politicians irrelevant. You can get 100 people together to do something without permission! We need to transcend politics. Right now the Republican party is trying to roll us back to the 50s…the 1850s. In NC the Republicans got rid of desegregation. We need to work together in a leaderless movement, bigger than ourselves.

Russ Feingold speaking. The netroots have held not just politicians accountable, but also the traditional media. We have never needed independent checks on our media than ever before. Will post video of speech online soon.

3:00pm “Obliterating the False Divide Between Online and Offline Organizing”

Group discussion quotes:

“volunteers come to coalition meetings, everyone gets a sheet to sign up for membership to email lists etc.

You need a “phone treet” get people to bring in others.

“Everyone we talk to gets into our database, connect on facebook, and monthly eblast. ”

“When we ask our folks they say they are not online, but they are.”

“For our members who have cell phones, we use texting”

“Day Laborers change phones often, so texting doesn’t work.”

“if your people are texting, work with them about how to use twitter, a similar technology.”

“You can use a twitter number to text, donations will send their tweets to that number. Via text.”

“change.org is easy platform for smaller campaign.”

“Campaigns to stop the deportations of young students – successful in getting people to hold fundraising parties with photos, videos, etc.”

“sign-ons by moevemon was awsome – we got 15k to sign our petition. They e-mailed it to the Florida list. ”

“In WI in one senate district using offline list from doorknocking and canvassing they databased all that and now they built a 23,000 email list!”

At this workshop I spoke to many about the successes we’ve had with our Every Child Deserves A Family Act petition and our successes in using causes.com to raise money for our non-profit.

Elana Levin, Communications Director, Writers Guild of America, East. Co-founder, Organizing 2.0

- Can be hard to create change in your organization – they’ve always done things the same way.

-In trying to promote new strategies begin by talking in language they understand – it IS organizing.  Openrate in emails isn’t much different than “1s and 4s” when doorknocking. It’s great to show what similar groups are doing. It’s achievable.

- Great book – The Switch. The difference between status, power, and expertise. Many people in this room have the expertise but not the power to make things happen.

Sarahi Uribe, East Coast Organizer, National Day Laborer Organizing Network

- got cell phone # of reporters to alert them on direct actions

- created online map showing 24 states, actions around the country

- actions were posted in solidarity with Arizona all around the world

- It was helpful to create an online hub – there was an overabundance of news. We quickly put together a website as a hub, the frontline folks leading the fight.  With all the “talking heads” coming into town, it was so important to have that hub.

- Our organization learned to use these tools as we went while fighting SB1070. We’re trying now to implement it in our turning the tide campaign.

- Folks signed petition, they want to know what’s next right away – sometimes a tension between the online/offline work because sometimes the local organizers don’t know what’s next…

- Still trying to figure out some stuff – do trial and error!

Nathan James of Leadership Center of Common Good, Olivia Leirer, New York Communities for Change,  Biko Baker, League of Young Voters, Elana Levin – Writers Guild of America East, Sarahi Uribe,

This is an exiting panel/workshop for COLAGE to attend because we do online and offline organizing. We often organize online to create change in our communities. In my personal life I have used QueerToday.com to organize and create coalitions that translated into huge demonstrations.

“The things that work in either space, are the same. It’s about building relationships, urgency, giving people things they can accomplish” – Nathan James

“In order for us in this particular moment, things happening in the Arab Spring, Wisconsin, rise of the Tea Party, we’re in a situation where we can’t afford to not be doing the best most powerful work possible.”  - Nathan James

3 points Nathan Makes:

1. The digital divide is shrinking. 70% of African Americans and Latinos are online.  People of color have more and use more cell phones.  25% of AA use twitter. 15% of Whites.  By the end of this year 50% of phones in use will be smart phones – able to browse the web. Statistically African Americans and Latinos donate money to nonprofits on their phones more than whites. 96% of union, low-wage workers own cell phones.

With this data and these tools we have the ability to maximize conversations – have the right conversations with the right people at the right time.  We can share skills, and we can sustain action over time.

2. People previously on the wrong side of the divide are outstripping everyone and enegaging

3. Mobile divices are the wave of the future.

Olivia Leirer, New York Communities for Change @nychange, @oliviarising

Olivia worked for ACORN and is now carrying out a lot of that work.  Turned out 1800+ people for May 12 rallies just from their social networking organizing. Instead of pushing a coalition website, we just used facebook. Got 12 coalition partners to send things to their e-mail lists to join the facebook group. Also used facebook paid ads. Used momentum of upcoming events, people who already liked us to share with their friends too. We able to identify who were the connectors to push out the message. Daily News did an article about the rally and the hashtag #. Since building everything through facebook, didn’t have to worry about who was going to own the list, how to split it up, it’s still there and coalition members can still post on it for each other using that platform – allows the movement to keep going.

Friends and Neighbors Program: We’ve tried telefriend pages, facebook groups, been experimenting with facebook groups – what kind of contact can we make to get them to really get them to engage. Started doing local blogs, personal write-ups about what folks have done.

1:38pm  - Met a gay father who has a daughter with his partner, shares custody with an ex-wife. A COLAGEr story at every turn, no matter where you are!

10:am Currently attending the online analytics session. This will help us test our e-mails, website, and campaigns to increase participation so we can make a stronger impact. Testing messages and designs helps to increase actions that can translate into petition signing, calling legislators, and more – but I don’t want to spill all our secrets here!

Wednesday June 15 (sorry – our site was hacked with malware and some went missing and the formatting got messy!)

Marriage discussion showcased a variety of views. Many saying that prioritizing the issue over more pressing needs like homelessness and youth was troubling – as well as the amount of money spent on it. Others were very passionate that we had to fight for marriage now and continue to fight for it n matter what.

LGBTQ Immigration Panel:

“I was 14 when I was moving here from Brazil and struggling with my queer identity at the same time. Not knowing the language…. it’s hard to talk about the poverty… it’s so foreign to Americans in the US… not to have a sewer or electricity…here I see 5 brands of milk. Growing up in the US having to face the concept of not having papers and not understanding what it would mean for me to not have a visa / passport… until I had to go to College. I was in 11th grade, very depressed. I had to confront my undocumented status becuase I was forced too, at the same time I was queer, couldn’t begin to addressthat. I found economic independance later and foun the courage to come out as queer. I came out as undocumented 3 years before coming out as queer. I remember telling myolder sister and the first thing she said was “great now you will be hated twice.”

You’re hated because youre an immigrant, you don’t have papers and you’re queer.  After telling my story on TV it became a mess. I can’t adjust my immigration status becuase I can’t get married.  United American Families Act would benefit me personally, but not a friend of mine who is from North Carolina – she came here from Mexico whens he was 2 years old. She crossed the border with her family.  Even for her she cannot adjust her status with marriage. She needs the Dream Act or Reform.

Ricki came from Guatamala. He was running from his dad. It was a very homophobic area he was in, also his dad was very abusive. Police wouldn’t help. He was arrested three times for being brown – accused him of stealing he was about to purchase, he was walking across the street – those arrests came against him when he was trying to seek asylum. It took him 15 years and thousands of dollars to gain assylum. Zero Tolerance in high schools – is putting people of color in touch with the police.

When I was being harassed, I went to detention in school – once you are an undocumented immigrant  you need to realize that “zero tolerance” turns police into immigration agents and young people are being deported for doing things in school. It’s not fair! A friend told me to go to the LGBTQ group becuase they would be the most inclusive. I found undocumented immigrants in every town from Florida to DC. I feel like I belong here in the LGBT community and you belong to us in our dailystruggle. We need to get to the people in the rural areas and across the country so that this room can represent the struggles of the LGBTQ community.

Utilizing Blogging: Social Media, and Online Activism to Effect Change Discussion…. Eden – CHANGE.ORG – . Julian – I want to play Devils’ advocate. Never going to happen. Orgs are often about staying on message. When peple deviate from that message they don’t want to know me anymore. It’s hard to sustain ourselves because we’ve been critical of the advertisers… The money that can lead to this fund can come back to bite them – that said I know a lot of organizational staffers who undesrtand the value of the bloggosphere and want to support it and feel that their hands are tied. – What about boards? –  Michael Rogers: The orgs on the back of this agenda sheet – you’ll see the boards are contributing.  We need to create a benefit to these bloggers, to being in this room, this benefit.  I dare any organization to walk out of here and say it wasn’t valuable to be here. Orgs need to take a lead from newspapers -there’s an editorial side and an advertorial side – we can’t conflate those issues.  I commend blogs that have ads sitting there where they say what they want. We’re on the same page – we want full equality for our movement. Jeremy Hopper doing as much to fight right wing in America…we see orgs will go and get that information, write a note and thank him the next thing you  know – look what’s out there. Bloggers are now saying we can got right to the media must come from within the community. – Mark – how can we both criticzie and critque and also express solidarity with the larger orgs who may feel threatened by smaller bloggers.

We need outside sources and funding – there are people to support – giving exclusives to the bloggers in the room. Letting them know we care abot you as much as the reporter to the AP. Leak exclusive video to you first because we respect you as part of this movement. –  As a person from Tennesse I’m here for press, to get press list. – The expectation that we should support all lgbt blogs just becuase they are gay is a fallacy and doesn’t fit with the requirements of media, advertisers, good press office within an organization. I don’t know how to balance that our but do want to bring that out. – I need a virtual paperboy. I probably won’t contriute to all those laces.. its more like all the readers – what if popup screens across lots of blogs. $35 a year get all the news all the blogs, what stories more interesteing to you, email food, top highlights. – The general  fund idea – Eden – wouldyou be interested? most raised hands. – Pam Spaulding (pams house blend) –  never made enough $ to quit my job. Covered frequently to attend or post things but I’m at work. It’s so prohibitive to cover and do all the activism we need to do. – Someone asks: How do we move messages into the mainstream media? Media lists are pretty easy to put together with friends, little research, have balance, an army of media. Mainstream media monitors us, looking for story ideas. Coalition with other organizations to make pitches… – Thing to remember when talking to media ” who cares? ” – I don’t know if looking to orgs to sustain bloggers through advertisers is sustainable. Foundations want to take time and incremental change, wont look at you without 501c3 status… some blogs looking for that… – How do we get the feel good stories, the good things happening out there. – From the org side – helpful to get together. change our budgets. the way we interact with funders about blogging, social media, etc. -

WEDNESDAY JUNE 14 (newest posts first) Lunch Break Check-In Just met some folks from Change.org who are based in DC and also a progressive consultig firm in DC.  Met briefly with Jill from GSANetwork (GSA NETWORK IN THE HOUSE!). The conversations so far have been very productive with an emphasis on finding ways to include and prioritize the issues/voices of transgender, people of color, families, immigration, etc. I’ve been meeting some wonderful people particularly of the trans and genderqueer/variant/androgynous community in the room. I have met a RAD polyamorous family who have kids! Funding Blogs: How can we engage more effectively across faith lines: – Some of us feel like its not a choice – we must engage faith communities –  Coalitions, Identifying Pastors of faith, identifying common ground in terms of things Christians care about – health, suffering, – We are unwilling to work with faith communities,  how do we move past the hurt, heal, forgive. We need to work on ourselves about to deal with faith. Identify key gaps in movement: Our answers: – economic -generational divide -rural/urbandivide -Seniors not coming out 9:15 Groups are working on answering questions in 1 minute! My group’s first question ” How can we egnage more effecitvley across race/ethnic lines” 1. Working in coalitions with organizations prioritizing issues you may not be working on, educating each other back and forth, sharing knowledge, recognizing intersectionality of our issues 2. Not just tokenizing people of color but prioritizing issues important to POC communities such as economic justice and immigration 3. 8:30am The day has begun with everyone introducing themselves. There are activists from all over the countryworking on all types of activism. We’re about to have a discussion about what is happening in our communities and what is not happening n our communities. – We have challanege getting health issues covered. Defense puts money in states for health iniatives but no money for queers.  Theyare testing lgbt language to put on surveys. The FEDS said they need more to hear from us. Our communitty doesn’t know that tobacco is one of the number one killers in our community. W need awareness building. You can right now write to Sebilious and it would make a big difference if they did now. – Anthony, Long Beach; Long Beach has the second highest HIV rate int he state among LGBT people. Theres a misunderstanding about HIV among young pepole, a lot of folks don’d understand the ramificantions of being infected.  We need action around young people, mental healthissues, etc. – Mark: Wants to see broad array of families included in all our work especially youth with LGBTQ parents. – Matt wants us to hold DNC accountable for holding the convention in North Carolina where there are no workers’ rights. What can we do collectively – Pam Spaulding  - “I don’t want to be the only blogger talking about North Carolina.” – Jil  - Bilerico – Trans left behind in DADT debate. If we don’t speak about these other portions of the community  hey get lost and then wehave amonolithic identity out there. David  - Queerty – we need to criticize queer media for low representations of queer people. Only time I ever see a black guy outside of RuPaul’s drag race is on an HIV commericial. ” Jil – GSA Network – we need to talk abot what we can do to make it better, actions specific people can take such as policies we can make and support, including lgbt in the curriculum materials Philipe – one issue people never talk about is how police is collaborating on immigration and how that is impacting the queer community. when youre afraid the police will deport you, its hard to come out. in miami we see tha tpoeple are afraid of eventalking abouttheir aueenress right now because of that. Another issue – Florida is a part of the south we are fighting really hard becuase the congress is super conservative. We have a super conservative governor. Our gains are being lost. Human rights gains in Miami Dade Ordinance almost lost trans protections.  If you continue doing these types of things we are not going to visit you anymore – need to threaten a boycott of Florida tourism. Rich – GLAAD – need to raise importance of fighting for LGBT inclusivity in the workplace Christoher – would like to see more recognition for immigration among families. Mel I. – 20 year AIDS survivor. There is a huge assault going on for AIDS funding around the country. There was no medical care. Access to healthcare is a hugely important thing, peole don’t have that – nothing else matters. I hoe we can focus on that issue. Mel – SF – we are experiencing issues at Pride. We should discuss the issues around Pride. What does it mean now? How do we manage it? Should there be one org that manages how Pride is celebrated? How do we celebrate pride? Addressing the internalized stigma in relation to HIV , fear of people with HIV Kathleen, MN – Trans Inclusive ENDA is very important to me. I was fired for being trans. In a relationship with 4 people so we could buy ah ouse together and be recognized as a family. Zach – Sex – we need to be able to talk about sex. We’ve hidden our sexuality against the mainstream world. We need to show we are not just people who deserve equality bug that we are whole happy human beings. Need to talk about queer sexuality. Name?  It takes one budget cycle to devastate AIDS funding. When a new legisltator can be elected and destroy our funding, this is an issue. We will see in a few yars it will be very bad in terms of the prevention programs being cut. Lindsay – DC  Equality Maryland – one of my biggest concerns is how can we create sustainable local groups nd state groups that can work in coalition together?  There is a lot we still shy away from. How do we hold our leaders accountable. Jeremy- want to talk about religious freedom in a better way. Highlight distinction between civil marriage and church marriage. Immigrant Group in Chicago Rep: we need to think locally too – lgbt orgs in Chicago are in white affluent communities, immigrants get left without any resources. Where we outreach to in our physical location. Beingmore inclusive around the work we do with communities of color . Not using citizen again and again – some of us are not citizens. We want to hear from people in Peurto Rico – including Trans stuff.  Trans day of remembrance slides by without much attention. Main passed law for Trans folks to use any restroom.

Ewan McGregor plays a young adult whose father comes out as gay.

“I love my gay dad…so much!” – Mike Mills

Recently I had the honor of meeting and interviewing Mike Mills and Ewan McGregor of the new film Beginners. Some COLAGE staff and volunteers saw a sneak peek of the film, and we think you’re going to love it!

Aside from the fact that I share with the main character Oliver,  played by McGregor, the experience of having an adorable Jack Russel Terrier, I also happen to have a gay dad.

In the film Oliver stands by his 75 year old father Hal, played by Christopher Plummer, through the coming out process, and through aging and eventually death. Meanwhile, he is managing his work life and his own intense relationship with a new girlfriend. I think a lot of us with LGBTQ parents can identify with the notion of bringing all our identities to the table.

Although the film explores the complexities of sadness and depression, it also shows that people can change and have new beginnings at anytime in their lives. When my father was incarcerated, and then began his coming out process within the prison industrial complex, everyone in my family had a new “beginning.”

Watching Hal come out of the closet as an older gay man was inspiring. It conquered a piece of the isolation I have been feeling about having an aging father who is coming to terms with his own sexuality, and it gave me hope that perhaps my dad and I can soon share a more open and honest bond as he becomes more open and honest with himself.  Plus, it would be super fun to throw a coming out party at the Twin Peaks gay bar in San Francisco where all the older guys hang out!

I want to thank Mike Mills, Ewan McGregor, and the Focus Features crew for being so supportive of COLAGE and for taking a risk in making this film. Films like these make a huge impact on our families by showing us that we are not alone and by introducing our stories into the mainstream so that people begin to see the importance of treating all families with dignity and respect.

Join COLAGE on facebook.com/colage for more updates!

Should Gay Couples Have The Right To Adopt Children in Virginia?: MyFoxDC.com

COLAGE needs your support to empower a new generation of leaders with the skills to advocate for equality for all families. Please donate today.

At COLAGE we know by experience that LGB families have many different family formations including single parents, co-parents, grandparents and beyond, and LGB families come from every race, ethnic, class, and geographical background imaginable.

US Census Data presented by the Williams Institute has shown this to be true. We are eagerly awaiting analysis of the most recent Census data., yet even in 2000 the Census showed that self-identified lesbian, gay, and bisexual people were more racially diverse than those identifying as heterosexual.

One stereotype about LGB families is that they are primarily white, wealthy and “well-off.” This could not be further from the truth. Data has shown that many LGB people live in poverty, and that same-sex couples with children have slightly less earned income than heterosexual married couples with children.

The 2000 Census showed that one in five children being raised by same-sex couples lives in poverty.

Check out the report on LGB demographics below presented by Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute.

LGB Demographics

When students were tormenting me in my high school hallways, calling me faggot, queer, and sissy, I never, never ever for one second, thought I would see the day that our president would be addressing this issue in collaboration with LGBTQ rights advocates – from the White House!

I am elated that during the question and answers session real experts (not ideologues) are advocating for holistic measures to combat bullying rather than so-called “zero tolerance” policies that focus mostly on punishment rather than prevention.

I know that the youth who bullied me were suffering from mental health issues, violence at home, extreme poverty, and other stressful situations that needed to be addressed with compassion. I never once thought that simplistic punishments of the kids who were bullying me would eliminate the isolation I felt.

The experts on the panel today are advocating for simple reporting of bulling, comprehensive prevention measures like building relationships with students, and addressing the mental health and issues that all students may be facing.

Despite my long list of frustrations I have of the Obama administration, I deeply sincerely thank them for showing leadership on the issue of bullying. Thank you President Obama from the bottom of my heart. Thank you on behalf of all of us who have ever considered taking their own lives due to bullying.

• Please join me, and COLAGE, in supporting the Safe Schools Improvement Act as a first step in addressing bullying on a national level.
• Check out the GSA Network online conference on bullying!

Our society’s binary system of gender policing stifles creativity and gives ammunition to homophobic and sexist bullying. Who is to say what is a “girl toy” or a “boy toy” anyway?

At COLAGE we know how isolating and challenging it can be when people treat us and our families differently. We believe all children and families should be embraced and celebrated for who they are.

From Dr. Phil.com:

Robby’s 5-year-old son loves to play with Barbies and prefers wearing girl’s clothes. She asks Dr. Phil how to deal with this behavior, which she doesn’t think is normal.

“There are developmental stages in kids and it is not unusual, particularly for young boys, to experiment and get stuck on certain stimulus items,” says Dr. Phil. Particularly because the little boy has two older sisters, he says, it’s not unusual.

“This is not a precursor to your son being gay,” explains Dr. Phil. He’ll know that in time, but this is not an indication of his sexual orientation.

Dr. Phil tells Robby that she has a job to do: “Direct your son in an unconfusing way. Don’t buy him Barbie dolls or girl’s clothes. You don’t want to do things that seem to support the confusion at this stage of the game … Take the girl things away, and buy him boy toys.”

Most importantly, he tells Robby, “Support him in what he’s doing, but not in the girl things.”

And here is a parent who does get it, and is embracing their child for who they are!

News via Queerty.

Mark Snyder, Communications Coordinator

We should congratulate Elton John and his partner in welcoming a new child into their family and for shedding light on the discrimination of babies and children living with HIV/AIDS. Many people with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ) parents have experienced the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In our new film and interactive timeline, Family Time you can hear personal stories about the impact of HIV/AIDS on the LGBTQ family movement.

The news coverage of Elton John’s decision to adopt is an opportunity for us to examine the way people treat families with LGBTQ parents, the way our laws and adoption agencies treat families with LGBTQ parents, and the ways in which the many forms and systems of oppression and discrimination affect the way adoption works around the world.

Homophobic Reactions & Homophobia in Adoption Laws and Policies
Recently, a manager at Harps grocery store in Arkansas decided the cover of a popular magazine featuring Elton and his family was too offensive for other families see. They censored it with a plastic “family shield” until the store’s headquarters heard about the situation and quickly removed the censorship. I applaud Harps for taking quick action and apologizing for the offense.

As people with LGBTQ parents we experience this kind of censorship way too often – at school and in our communities. Our voices are regularly left out of discussions about families during school-wide celebrations like Mother’s and Father’s Days or family tree projects. And  families with LGBTQ parents often face systemic discrimination. Our parents can still legally be fired or not hired in many states. Adoption laws and Adoption agencies also discriminate against LGBTQ parents and potential parents in many states. There are too many variations and inconsistencies in the laws to list in this post! (See below for more resources.)

Issues to think about
Aside from the discrimination and homophobic reactions to their new family, Elton’s  adoption and other “celebrity adoptions” raise concerns and questions that make us search deep within for moral and ethical answers about the state of adoption in the world today. At COLAGE we know that the many people who have been adopted struggle with finding the answers to these questions and solutions to these societal problems.

Many people assume that children who are adopted are orphans. This is not usually the case. More often than not children who are adopted have been torn from their families due to a combination of economic hardship and systemic discrimination. The biological father and other relatives of one of Madonna’s children made news recently when he came forward to seek visitation rights.

According to the nonprofit organization EveryChild, an international development charity “working to stop children growing up vulnerable and alone,” over 95% of the children living with HIV/AIDS in orphanages in the Ukraine are not orphans. Furthermore, they have found that the publicity surrounding celebrity adoptions can encourage mothers to give up their children to orphanages in the hopes that their child may also find a home in a wealthy family.

Issues of racial and economic injustice and discrimination affect every aspect of life in the United States, including our own system of adoption.  That’s why Charlie Spiegel, an adoptive parent in San Francisco founded On Your Feet to help “birth mothers in achieving the personal and financial independence they need to take care of themselves and their families.” Lisa Marie Rollins, also a San Franciscan, founded Adopted  and Fostered Adults of the African Diaspora which “connects, supports, and advocates for the needs of the African Diaspora adoption and foster care community on a global level ”

In the United States there is a growing number of children of color being adopted by white parents, particularly in the LGBTQ community. In San Francisco, over 80% of new adoptions are by LGBTQ parents. This reality is sparking important dialogue about how culture and class relate to adoption. Should white adoptive parents be required to live in an area where their child will see other people of color? Should they be required to undergo anti-racism and cultural competency training before adopting? Why is there such a disproportionate number of children of color in the foster care system? What are the psychological implications on youth who were transracially adopted?

I hope to be a parent someday, so for me, and I think for many of us, now is time to ask these hard questions and have real conversations about the ethical and moral dilemmas involved in the adoption process.

More articles and organizations:

• CNN “Charity Urges Caution over Elton John’s ‘Adoption Plan’
• CNN “Transracial adoptions: A ‘feel good’ act or no ‘big deal’?”
• Cover Awards: “Harps Stores Causes Outrage By Censoring Us Weekly Elton John Cover”
• Adopted and Fostered Adults of the African Diaspora
• EveryChild
• Lambda Legal: Adoption Laws by State
• On Your Feet