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Zusatztext “Community activist Shelton ( Boy Crazy ) brings intellectual rigor to this well-researched examination of the history! progress! and challenges of LGBT families in the U.S.! a broader focus than the title implies.”— Publishers Weekly “An earnest! well-researched overview”— Library Journal Informationen zum Autor The author of five books, Michael Shelton is the director of sexual-minority treatment services and works with same-sex families at Equilibria Psychological Consultants in Philadelphia. He is also the residential director for Mountain Meadow, one of two summer camp programs in the United States for the children of same-sex parents. He lives in Philadelphia. COLAGE is a national movement of children, youth, and adults with one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer parent(s). Klappentext An invaluable portrait and roadmap on how to thrive as an LGBT family The overwhelming success of Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" YouTube project aimed at queer youth highlighted that despite the progress made in gay rights! LGBT people are still at high risk of being victimized. While the national focus remains on the mistreatment of gay people in schools! the reality is that LGBT families also face hostility in various settings-professional! recreational! and social. This is especially evident in rural communities! where the majority of LGBT families live! isolated from support networks more commonly found in urban spaces. Family Pride is the first book for queer parents! families! and allies that emphasizes community safety. Drawing on his years as a dedicated community activist and on the experiences of LGBT parents! Michael Shelton offers concrete strategies that LGBT families can use to intervene in and resolve difficult community issues! teach their children resiliency skills! and find safe and respectful programs for their children. From the Introduction Advocates proudly proclaim that more LGBT progress has occurred between 2009 and 2012 than at any other point in the nation’s history. This progress was obvious when, in 2011, the United States and eighty-four other countries presented an international declaration to the United Nations Human Rights Council urging an end to discrimination against LGBTs. “The US government is ?rmly committed to supporting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals to lead productive and digni?ed lives, free from fear and violence,” declared Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, US ambassador to the council. But why then, with all of this progress, did Jon Davidson, the legal director of Lambda Legal, the nation’s oldest and largest legal organization working for the civil rights of LGBTs, begin a late 2011 editorial with the following: “I consider myself an optimist. I usually focus on the remarkable progress LGBT people have made through the years . . . But, there are times when the venom and violence that still [get] directed at members of our community [break] through and I ?nd myself shocked at how strongly people still hate us and how far we have yet to go.” Many LGBT activists and leaders have voiced similar sentiments of frustration and disbelief; the more progress made for LGBTs, the more intense the backlash against them. And, unfortunately, families with LGBT parents have become a focal point of this ire. Signs of Progress Progress for LGBTs has ranged from the seemingly prosaic (as when the federal government, for the ?rst time, redesigned forms recognizing the possibility of two parents of the same gender) to the phenomenal, including • The Obama administration’s 2011 refusal to back the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which had granted individual states the right to de?ne marriage as they saw best and the concomitant ability to deny the legality of a marriage occurring in another ...
