#thisisourbook

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

This may be the best book review yet...

KIDS, WE HAVE WRITTEN A BOOK THAT WILL CONVINCE YOUR PARENTS IT IS OKAY TO BE GAY! WE DID IT! 

- Question submitted by Anonymous --

Kristin Says:

Anonymous! I HAVE TO TELL YOU SOMETHING.

Last month we went up to a conference in Massachusetts where we spoke to 70 high school guidance counselors about how to be better prepared for their LGBTQ students. Each one of them was given a copy of This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids!

Even though the book is centered around the parent-child relationship, so so sooooooo much of what is in the book is relevant and helpful for friends, educators, co-workers, administrators, and employers of LGBTQ people! We cover so many questions that are relevant in homes as well as schools (from the more basic, ”Is it a choice?” and “Am I allowed to ask questions?” to the specific, “What do I do if they want to come out at school?” and “What is the difference between gender identity and sexuality?”), and the stories shared by young people help round out a better understanding of the complex experiences of LGBTQ humans!

My other immediate suggestion, since you already know about GLSEN, would be to reach out to the people at NYCoRE (New York Collective of Radical Educators). They have a smaller subset group called NYQueer, and they are very knowledgeable about how to help teachers “queer” their curriculums and be more inclusive in many, many ways. They have resources like reading materials for young kids, yearly planners with notes on historic days in LGBTQ history, and more. They rule, and I am certain they’d have some amazing books to recommend.

Also, remember this: reading about the lives and experiences of many queer and trans people, even though not specifically tied to educational practices, is very, very powerful. The biggest gap in teacher-student relationships as pertains to these issues is a lack of sensitivity, awareness, and understanding. If there is some flexibility in your book club, maybe you can pull a few articles on things like pronoun usage and the importance of gender neutral bathrooms, or watch videos together that cover things like bisexual awareness and the gender binary! Overall awareness will get your fellow teacher-friends in a place where they are being inclusive in their classrooms in extremely powerful ways.

Lastly! Dannielle and I have a goal this year of partnering with educators to help us create a teacher’s guide for This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids, and to build out a teacher-specific section over on The Parents Project. If you have interest in helping us, let us know (email us at info (at) everyoneisgay (dot) com)!!

YAY FOR TEACHERS WHO ARE THE BEST ONES. Beans, if you have more resources, reply with them!!!

xx

Hey! You can buy signed copies of our book, now! They ship all over the place, they have our autographs, and they come with a bookmark. Tada! 

This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids  IS GOING TO ITALY!!!

This September, This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids is going to be translated into Italian and published in Italy! WHAT?!

We are so excited. We are SO EXCITED. We. Are. Molto. Eccitato.

Stay Tuned for Updates!

Meet: Vivek Shraya, author of God Loves Hair

This past fall, we (Dannielle & Kristin, that is) went on a 21-city tour across the country and beyond (shoutout to Montreal!), talking to families about the coming out process and reading from our new book, This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids.

In fifteen of those cities we were honored to have Canadian author Vivek Shraya along with us, reading selections from his first book, God Loves Hair. Illustrated by Juliana Neufeld, God Loves Hair is "a collection of 21 short stories following a tender, intellectual, and curious child as he navigates complex realms of sexuality, gender, racial politics, religion, and belonging."

Vivek's stories are beautiful, compelling, and powerful. In fact, he is one of the strongest voices we've come across in our community of queer, contemporary writers. You can read more about God Loves Hair, and get a copy for yourself or a loved one here.

If you are really into fantastic things, go one step further and get yourself a copy of Vivek's most recent book, She of the Mountains, which is a bisexual love story. It will gut you, in the very best ways imaginable. Read more about She of the Mountains here!

WTF was this year, even?!?!?!

Holy poop, everyone... It has been a YEAR. Here are a few of the things that we accomplished in 2014:

Created The Parents Project

Released A F*CKING BOOK (This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids!!)

Wrote for Cosmopolitan, Time, Autostraddle, & The Advocate

Featured in Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, HuffPostLive, NPR, The Independent, and more!

Began our digital series with ULive called This is a Show for Parents of Gay* Kids

Threw an all ages Pride Party at Bluestockings featuring Jenny Owen Youngs & Mal Blum, tabled at NYC Pridefest, and appeared on Google's first ever Livestream of NYC Pride!

Released our first quarterly 'zine issue in collaboration with Autostraddle (Better Together: OMG I'm Gay), and did our first ever YouTube collaboration with SassiBob!

Stayed live on the internet for 24 consecutive hours for our second StageIt Marathon

MET LAVERNE COX

Spoke on a Tumblr panel with It Gets Better and We Are The Youth, discussing the internet's presence in social activism

Partnered with Tumblr and Housing Works Bookstore for a National Coming Out Day Storytelling Event

Toured 21 cities across the US & Canada on our #FamilyIsTour with Canadian author Vivek Shraya

Fed our cats!

The above list is a list of things that we both (1) never, ever thought we would be doing (except for feeding our cats), and (2) could have never done without you (except maybe for feeding our cats).

Thank you. From the bottom of our tiny, warm hearts. We are filled to the brim with love and joy, we can not express how grateful we are to have shared this year with all of you. We appreciate your continued support of our work more than you can possibly imagine. 

We are ready to take down 2015! See you there!

We Did Ittttt!

Wow. It is hard to believe that our six week journey has come to a close... and what an incredible time we had out there. We cannot thank you enough for supporting our #FamilyIsTour: we passed our fundraising goal on Indiegogo, enabling us to cover all of our expenses. You gave us shelter, fuel, food, and so much love as we journeyed.

A huge thank you to The Trevor Project for providing materials to cities who needed them most, PFLAG for coordinating with us to bring parents to our events in several cities, and the one and only Vivek Shraya, who journeyed with us to 15 out of the 21 cities, sharing stories from his incredible book, God Loves Hair. 

As we move into the heart of the holiday season we are all looking forward to some much-needed rest and time with our loved ones... but then, of course, we look forward into 2015 expectantly. We are going to be working hard on many new efforts, including translating many of our posts on The Parents Project into other languages as we gather volunteer translators. Many of the people we saw out on the road explained to us that their parents needed resources that they, too, could read.

If you'd like to keep up-to-date on our efforts with families, sign up for our Parents Project Mailing List, or follow The Parents Project on Tumblr, Twitter, or Facebook!

You astound us at every turn with your support, and with what is possible when the efforts of so many come together. Power in numbers is an incredible thing.

Happiest Holidays to all of you, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

xoxo