OUTSpoken”
is to make valentines with your family picture and send them to
your friends, family, and legislators.
When I was a kid, I read the Babysitter’s Club Books because they
had the prettiest pictures on the cover. I ate bubble gum ice cream
because the rainbow smears throughout the ice cream were the most
fun to look at. I didn’t know what car models were but I sure did
know that shiny red cars were my favorite. At any age, images are a
powerful mode of communication. There are very few people who
don’t smile when they look at a picture of a young child (this
may or may not be why I have an Anne Geddes debit card!), so what
better way to start changing hearts and minds about LGBTQ families
than a fun valentine with a picture of you and your family! Do you
remember Valentine’s Day as a child? I used to spend hours with
glue sticks, glitter, doilies, and pink markers to make gorgeous
valentines for my friends. Change might not happen overnight but
what better catalyst than a valentine? Take this opportunity to
bring your family together while designing fun, sparkly, adorable
valentines and increasing the visibility of our family
constellations. Send them to close family members, neighbors,
school board members, legislators, our president, a stubborn
employee, the milkman, your local paper, and the list goes on.
Celebrate your families—we couldn’t be prouder.
52 Ways to be OUTSpoken is
part of OUTSpoken
Families, and provides LGBTQ parents/allies with creative, doable
actions to help secure family equality all year long. To increase
the reach of 52 Ways, Family Equality Council staff will blog about
each upcoming “way” the week before it takes effect. People who
sign up to become OUTSpoken
receive weekly email reminders about 52 Ways. To download the 2008
version of 52 Ways, click here