VillageQ

where queer meets family

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Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Problem Solving From the Closet

Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Problem Solving From the Closet

Problem: If Roger, a high school senior, has a curfew of midnight, what time does he drop his girlfriend off at her house after a date in order to make it home on time? If he abides by posted speed limits, Roger’s house is a 3-minute drive from his girlfriend’s house. Solve for WHY??? Actually, the why is easy. The why is because I was deeply closeted and petrified that anyone would find out the…

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Villageq Community: IVF to Mommyhood

Villageq Community: IVF to Mommyhood

Meet Sarah and Lauren. They are currently on their journey from IVF to mommyhood. I am so happy they took the time to talk to me about it, and I loved seeing their pictures and can’t wait to see their whole family. Names: Sarah and Lauren Photo Credit: 2bridestomummies Ages: 30 and 29 Hometown: Birmingham, UK Social media handles: Blog: 2bridestomummies.blogspot.com Twitter: @2brides2mums…

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VillageQ Community: Life in the Big Apple

VillageQ Community: Life in the Big Apple

VillageQ Communities welcomes Mitch and his family today. I love how he shares how times have changed since he was young and about his tight-knit community. Mitch makes living in NYC sound pretty great! If you would like to participate in this series, please email me at [email protected] Name: Mitch C. Age: 56 Hometown: Bronx & Spring Valley, NY Social media handles: @gaynycdad on Twitter, FB,…

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VillageQ Community: Texas Allies

VillageQ Community: Texas Allies

PHOTO CREDIT: Catie Ronquillo Meet Marcia. She is the first straight ally I have interviewed for VillageQ Community Series. At first, she asked if it was okay to be interview. Of course! I replied. We are all a community together, and all our voices matter. It is nice to see allies supporting the page, amplifying our voices, and sharing their stories too. If you want to be part of the VillageQ…

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Don't Kiss, Don't Tell

Don’t Kiss, Don’t Tell

My 12-year-old son is a big fat prude. (In reality, he is neither big nor fat, but he is a master of the universe in the bluenose industry.) I haven’t got a clue where he picked this up, because we’re pretty Dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Let It All Hang Out, If It Feels Good Do It types in our house. Is there any evidence that prudishness is genetic? Somebody should get on that research toute…

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Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Make Your Own Kind of Music

Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Make Your Own Kind of Music by @rogeronimo_com | #queer #lgbt

As I have begun to unearth memories of my youth with this series (Reflections on a Queer Childhood), a wonderful thing has happened–my family has begun to unearth memories with me. My dig has prompted conversations and stories about a much younger family. It feels like we’re sitting around the kitchen table looking at faded pictures from the 70s and 80s. My mother recently shared this image with…

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Let's Be the Allies Our Muslim Neighbors Need

Let’s Be the Allies Our Muslim Neighbors Need

Dear VillageQ Family, My heart is breaking for my Muslim friends. The Islamophobic rantings, the characterization of Muslims as terrorists, the unconscionable suggestions that Muslims be banned or tagged or quarantined in the U.S.—this recent up-swell of hate is hurting so many good and peaceful people. While going about their normal days at school or work or home or out in their communities,…

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Let's Be the Allies Our Muslim Neighbors Need

Let’s Be the Allies Our Muslim Neighbors Need

Dear VillageQ Family, My heart is breaking for my Muslim friends. The islamophobic rantings, the characterization of Muslims as terrorists, the unconscionable suggestions that Muslims be banned or tagged or quarantined in the U.S.—this recent up-swell of hate is hurting so many good and peaceful people. While going about their normal days at school or work or home or out in their communities,…

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Staceyann Chin in MotherStruck! is a Mother of a Show

Staceyann Chin in MotherStruck! is a Mother of a Show

Traveling over every inch of stage and weaving in between aisles and making eye contact with audience members, Staceyann Chin will take you with her on a journey from menarche to motherhood in her autobiographical show MotherStruck! at the Lynn Redgrave Theater. You’ll bear witness to all the hardships and obstacles that she, a single, Caribbean, Asian, lesbian, poet faces along the way to…

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Is Religion the Problem?

While the latest terrorist attacks in Paris weren’t directed toward gays, they were certainly aimed at societies that tolerate gays, as well as separation of church and state, and a whole host of other modern concepts and approaches. After my first trip to the Middle East (Egypt in 1997), I asked myself, what’s up with homosexuality in this part of the world? On the first night of my trip, I…

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Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Fantasy Football

Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Fantasy Football

Growing up in my house, weekends meant sports. Either we were at one of my brother’s games, or we were watching a game on tv. His games I could kind of handle. Watching them on tv, not so much. My brother and father will literally watch anything that features some form of ball being oppressed by both gravity and an opposing faction or person. My mother, not really the sports fanatic that my…

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Things we looked forward to as parents

Before having kids, we imagined all the wonderful things we would do with our children once we had them. Everything would be fun! The kids would be well-behaved and grateful! There would be no whining in baseball/Monopoly/dance class/zoos! There is nothing that can truly prepare you for the reality check that comes when you have actual children but we hope to help ease the sting. Here are the…

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A Different Take on Coming Out to Your Kids

A Different Take on Coming Out to Your Kids: How does a lesbian mom tell her kids that she has a boyfriend? #lgbt

My kids were born into a two-mom family, but it didn’t take them long to figure out that most families look different from ours. The first time a child asked me why Noah had two moms, he was probably about 10 months old and the child who asked was in kindergarten. She wasn’t trying to be malicious. She just couldn’t fit us into her view of the world. My heart didn’t stop pounding when a third…

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VillageQ Community: The Sweetest Sweetness I know

VillageQ Community: The Sweetest Sweetness I know

Welcome Mandy to the VillageQ Community series. I love this interview because Mandy is honest about the things that are hard. It is hard to be the token gay family in the fish bowl. It is hard to parent sometimes.  And, most of all, it is easy to be hard on ourselves. Mandy is a fantastic Mom with a beautiful family. If you want to be part of the VillageQ Community series, email me at…

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VillageQ Advice from Ms. Radcliffe: Bullied by Our Vegan Son

VillageQ Advice from Ms. Radcliffe: Bullied by Our Vegan Son

Dear Ms. Radcliffe, We love our vegan son. We are proud of his dedication to saving the environment and to animal welfare. But every time he visits us, he makes us feel terrible about our meat and animal product consumption and our leather jackets. On our last visit, we were treated to a lecture about how many hydrocarbons my wife’s Harley blasts into the ozone. Frankly, we’re sick of it. Sick of…

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Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Growing Up in the Shadow of AIDS

Reflections on a Queer Childhood: Growing Up in the Shadow of AIDS

I, like so many gay men of my generation, have never had sex without the specter of death hovering just above our heads. And I, like so many gay men of my generation, discovered who we are, and how our country feels about who we are, while growing up in the shadow of AIDS. I was born in 1972, in a suburb of Washington, D.C. On July 4, 1981, on the eve of my 9th birthday, The Washington Post…

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My Child, My Heart

My Child, My Heart

It had been more than a few years since we had been to the pediatric cardiologist. The last time we were there, Levi was too young to understand what was going on. He wriggled and squirmed while the cardiologist tried to map his heart with the transducer. He could not stay still in the dark room on the examination table, and he especially did not appreciate the cold ultrasound gel spread over his…

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