When my 11th-grader confessed one night at dinner that he was not ready for college and wanted to join the military instead, I was thrown. We hear those stories about the day we have to send our grown kids off into the world. With most of my friends, it is usually about…
My kid came out to me…and now to you
I talk about my children quite often in my writing and my speaking engagements. But I only talk about what they are comfortable with me saying, and at the level they are comfortable with. They tend to be pretty open, but this particular bit of information isn’t something I have shared in the past. Why…
A favorite daughter and a forsaken son reconnect on the road from El Paso
The moral of this story, apparently, is when you’re la consentida, you can bring transgender friends home. Despite the fact that we were both born through a family with a deep history of homophobia, it still comes as a surprise to me how much more my half-sister Olga and I have in common. I’m the…
LGBT parents and the pressure to be perfect
If we fail, do we let the LGBT community down and prove our opponents’ beliefs true? It happened again. We were sitting at a restaurant–husband, two sons, and me. “Two checks?” asked the waitress. I’m always surprised. Our stock answer: “No, one family.” Then, an askance head cock, shoulder shrug, or a mildly perplexed look…
Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni on One Drop of Love
Saturday, January 17 $34.50 ($20 students), 2pm & 8pm Carlos Alvarez Studio Theatre at the Tobin Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni brings her multimedia, one-woman show One Drop of Love to the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theatre at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts this weekend. Produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Cox DiGiovanni, the…
Opening hearts and minds, one episode at a time
Round and round and round she goes. “Come on, dad. Just do it.” I’m no fun, I guess. At least if fun includes signing up for every get-rich-quick or everyone’s-a-winner contest. But there we were, licking our wounds after a dispiriting Rampage rout at the AT&T Center, looking for some fun. Our youngest son, D,…
Coming out for the Holidays
Coming home for the holidays is often believed to be a happy event. There are visions of family gathered around the fire, laughing, and singing. That’s the subject of many a Christmas carol. But, then again, there’s the Christmas song, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” But for many in the LGBT community who…