Provincetown Family Week 2009 is happening now! Alison Delpercio, one of our fabulous Family Week volunteer facilitators, will be blogging at HRC Back Story all week. Here is Alison’s first post (online here):
Greetings from Family Week 2009!
August 3, 2009 1:55PM
Michael Cole
Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of posts from Alison Delpercio, HRC’s Workplace & Family Project Coordinator, who is spending the week in Provincetown, Massachusetts volunteering at Family Week.
“I have a gay dad and a straight mom. My dad came out to me when I was 15.”
“I have two lesbian moms and a donor dad.”
“I have a transgender dad.”
“I have two gay dads and a little brother.”
“I have a bisexual mom and a gay dad.”
COLAGE Mark LogoThat first quote up there is mine. The rest are from a few of my fellow staff members here at Family Week in Provincetown, Mass. where I am volunteering for COLAGE, a national organization based in San Francisco, Calif. COLAGE works to connect children of LGBTQ parents to a community of peers who share their experiences and as part of this work, COLAGE partners with Family Equality Council during Family Week to provide programming for youth ages 8 and up who have LGBTQ parents (COLAGErs as we call ourselves).
So, this week I’ve traded in my cubicle on the 5th floor of HRC’s HQ for classrooms at Ptown High School where I’ll work alongside nearly 40 other adults who have LGBTQ parents to run workshops on everything from coming out as a COLAGEr to the history of the LGBT movement and tools for activism in your community.
COLAGE Family Week Staff 2009 at Training
COLAGE Family Week Staff 2009 at Training
Aside from the occasional news story about the “Gayby Boom,” the perspectives of people with LGBTQ parents are not heard often. While our families are just like other families in many ways, people with LGBTQ parents face the everyday reality that our families are treated differently and/or discriminated against. Family Week provides an opportunity for COLAGErs to build community and learn from one another.
This is my second year here; last year I learned a lot from the youth we worked with every day and I’m sure this year will be no different. In their own words COLAGErs answered many questions like: What’s it like in school these days for kids with LGBTQ parents? What can LGBTQ parents do to best support their kids?
This year I’ll be sharing my experiences with you on HRC Back Story. So far I’ve completed staff training and helped out with the Family Week kickoff events, including a family dance. AND I can report a few key lessons from working with the youth already: 1) It is very difficult to play Duck-Duck-Goose in flip flops. Don’t try it. 2) Rock Paper Scissors takes skill. Just because they’re smaller than you doesn’t mean you’ll win. 3) COLAGErs can dance. For real.
Look for my post tomorrow about the first day of Family Week programming where I’ll be with middle school COLAGErs facilitating the “Tell your story, change the world” workshop.
http://www.hrcbackstory.org/2009/08/greetings-from-family-week-2009/
