Daddy, Papa and Me

As you know, at the 'last minute' and breaking tradition, the first morning tickets were all reserved (you know, the morning when Laura Bush and the dignitaries are out), shutting the GBLT out of the adminstrations view. Did they do it purposely? I don't know, I assume so knowing the M.O. of the Bush administration. Of course this means the Bushes are either a) afraid of what the religious right would have done or b) really were loath to see GLBT families. So be it, history will judge them harshly.

But for us, for our families, this was a turning point. This was our moment on the national stage. There were no pickets, not slogans, no shouts or protests. We required no legislative action, we had no list of demands.

We only stepped out so the country will know us, because we believe that if they know us, it will be more difficult to discriminate against us. And see us they did!

In the last couple days we've been interviewed or photographed by ABC local and national affiliates, CBS local affiliates and national, the Washington Post, the San Franisco Chronicle and others I haven't counted. From talking to other families, the media has gotten around! Everyone seemed to have been photographed or interviewed at least once.

This morning was drizzly, cool and grey. But we were excited and all my daughter could talk about was finding Easter eggs. We arrived at the designated meeting place where we met other families and got situated. We all walked over to the tents where we waited for our designated time (12:00pm, tents were labeled by timed groups). Most but not all of our tent was composed of GBLT families with their rainbow leis. As we entered the tent we were greeting by a wall of photographers, journalists and videographers.

I am sure it was quite intimidating for some of the straight families there. First they had to make it through a barrage of press and then they were surrounded by a see of GLBT families and rainbow leis. Most seem to be taking it in stride, some a bit bewildered. I heard one such family whisper to each other "Oh, these must be the gay families." Another family that heard about us from the media attention. I was told a couple straight couples actually asked for leis to wear in solidarity. I think I saw one of them later, the wife gave me a huge smile.

And then it was into the White House Lawn and fun. Our group of nearly 100 GLBT parents and their kids dispersed throughout the event. We were obvious with our rainbow leis, but like every one else, we were there to have fun.

First it was on to the egg roll! Emma was great. She was so excited. We had told her that we were going to the "White House" to hunt for Easter eggs... for the next day or so, especially this morning, she'd point to white houses and inform us that we must be there and lets go hunt for eggs! I explained to the egg roll was a race, and Guy showed her how to push the egg with a spoon.

Wow, she's a natural egg roller! That egg postively flew down the track as she used a golfing move on it. I think she won (not that anyone was actually racing, but hell she's our daughter.. so she won :). She was SOOOO disappointed that she couldn't keep the egg saying "it's Easter egg day"

We of course took photos of our family and our daughter, the future resident of this house ;) in front of the White House.

The festivities included magic shows and jump rope groups. Emma was watching this one with her new-found friend (she wasn't as bored as it looks here, really... she was mesmerized)

Then we went on the Easter egg hunt.

She was estatic. She loved finding the egg. But that was all she was supposed to find, and then, again, they didn't let her to keep it. They even gave her candy at the end (and a certificate saying she was a master egg hunter) and that didn't placate her, she still insisted we needed to go back to get the egg.

We noticed that next to that was an Easter egg dying spot... and it looked like they got to keep the egg... so we took her directly over there and she dyed an egg..... and got to keep it!!

It was here that we saw, across the way, the only protesters the entire weekend. Just a few were out, but they were loud (though the police told them to shut down the loud speaker it looks like, and they were obnoxious.

As the sign says, beware of us. Don't let me and Guy charm you and whatever you do, DON'T let our daughter charm you!!

Well, they were so far off that I'm sure not many people, and most children, didn't even notice and easily ignored them. Us on the other hand, we were everywhere charming all those people including the volunteers.

It was the last thing we did that was Emma's highlight and had half the volunteers (ok, one or two) fall in love with her. She saw the PBS characters Berenstain Bears, Leoni from Read between the Lions and Calliou (my least favorite, a whiny 4 year old character that needs some parenting :) and insisted we go over (even though she was having fun listening to the music).

Emma was especially enamoured of Leoni, but since she is scared of all things dressed up, drag queens, clowns and characters, she refused to get close. Instead, she shouted things from the sidelines trying to show Leoni some of the things she got during the day. She finally sent up Daddy to talk to her and to show her the egg coloring kit she got.

The man on the left, a volunteer, fell in love with Emma and her fascination with the character, as did several onlookers. When she shouted out to Leona "Leona, you wan't to come to my house and have a playdate?" all hearts melted and Daddy and Papa just laughed and teared up. We had to leave and finally got her to come with us... we got as far as the walkway when she must have made up her mind and courage and said she HAD to see Leona. So, we returned and she went up and got a big hug. Her smile was one of pure joy as was the volunteer and many of the onlookers.

That was the end of our White House visit. A lot of fun, a lot of smiles, a bit of bewilderment, a few frowns and i'm sure some scowls (though I saw none).

I disagree with Bill O'Reilly's comments last night (has there ever been a time I've agreed?) where he believes this did more harm than good for our 'cause'. On the contrary, the people there saw our families and the hundreds of kids and fell in love with them. People who never thought of our families before, to whom we were invisible, now saw us on the media everywhere and had to talk about us (O'Reilly, the not-so-bright-bulb that he is, was afraid that we'd make parents talk about homosexual sex to their children... but when those parents are explaining single parents or even just other families, do they speak of their sex lives? of course not, no reason with young children, including when talking about our families). When people start talking about our families, they will learn about our families, and learning about our families will make it harder to hate our families.

Of course, O'Reilly was right about something, for a segment of our society, this just made it worse. The section that hates us, it just makes them hate us more. It did no good with them. But I don't care about the Perkins', O'Reilly's and Dobson's of the world any more. I am not trying to get their approval or acceptance. I don't even care that the Bushes weren't there. I've given up having them listen to us and as yesterday proved, the didn't want to. I've written our president off. I will talk to the average American, who in the end has a heart of gold and American values of fairness, tolerance and acceptance. To them I direct my words.

And in that, this 'action' was a resounding success. The media coverage was all over, in many cities and on national news and almost all of it was positive. When the voting American thinks of us now, they can't think of us as an abstract 'bad' thing, but now must see us as families with children, families that are going through the same struggles and joys they are.

It will be harder to discriminate against us in the future.

update: A link to a SF Chronicle article that quotes us.

also, you can read Terrance's family's experience on his blog