A Different Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who lived in a majestic castle, in a faraway magical land. This ridiculously perfect place was also the home of a very handsome prince. They met, fell in love, and lived happily—insert sound effect of something coming to a screeching halt. Fairy tales do not always end happily ever after, nor do they always follow the same script. Mine went like this: Once upon a time there was an awkward, insecure, newly out of the closet college freshman who met a really cute sophomore who hadn’t yet admitted to herself she was gay. They fell in love, spent some time hiding their love, saw a few therapists, and then decided to let love be their guide. Then they moved to Vermont, got married, and had kids. Now they live exhaustedly ever after.

The Pride Center of Vermont is Rewriting the Book

SafeSpace

The Pride Center of Vermont, formerly RU12?, is the state’s biggest community center committed to the health and safety of all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Vermonters. The Center offers legal resources, support groups, and advocacy programs like SafeSpace, Vermont’s only anti-violence program specifically meant to support LGBTQ and HIV positive victims of verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Services also support LGBTQH victims of sexual assault or discrimination based on sexuality or gender expression.

SafeSpace Coordinator and Program Advocate, Jenna Lee, “Many people don’t realize that intimate partner violence occurs at approximately the same rate for LGBTQH folks as it does heterosexual couples. It’s important for the LGBTQH community to know they are not alone. It is critical to increase awareness of the SafeSpace program to better serve queer survivors across the state.”

The Family Program

The Pride Center is also committed to providing community events that bring LGBTQ individuals and families together. One program that does so is the Family Program. The Program hosts workshops and events to provide a specific layer of commonality to our parenting world: gay parenting.

While we are fortunate to live in open-minded Vermont, resources like the Pride Center and its Family Program are still vital to LGBTQ parents. Having our children around other kids with similar narratives shows children that they are not an oddity. It lets my daughter talk about her donor siblings or sperm donor without eyebrows being raised. And being with other LGBTQ families at the Pride Center gives me the opportunity to relate to other non-biological parents.

Gay parenting is very much like parenting, but there are differences that can only be understood by another gay parent. One of those is our lament over the bombardment of heteronormal children’s books. Besides being on the lookout for free or cheap babysitters, my partner and I are always on the lookout for children’s books that represent our family and families much more diverse than the images portrayed in fairy tales.

Family Program Book Drive

Each year children’s books portraying diverse families and transgender children are written. They are written to fill a gap in children’s literature and they are written to create dialogue, understanding, and acceptance. But books that fall into the LGBTQ category are for all families. Maybe your child’s best friend has two dads. Maybe your child is gay. Maybe your sister and her partner are about to adopt a child and you want to help your child understand this. Books like King & King, And Tango Makes Three, and Mommy, Mama, and Me should be on every child’s bookshelf.

In collaboration with the Flying Pig Bookstore, the Pride Center’s Family Program is hosting a book drive for the entire month of June. The Family Program is asking for new or used children’s books to build a library of diversity-filled books for the LGBTQ community and its allies.

To make this as easy as possible, here is a link to our book wish list. Books can be mailed to or dropped off at the Pride Center of Vermont, 255 South Champlain Street Suite 12, Burlington, VT 05401, Attn: Family Program.

Don’t see a book on the list, but know a good one we should have? Awesome! Want to send cash or a check and let us do the shopping? Sweet! All books or books purchased from your donations received before June 24th will be given a dedication plate.

Join Us for the Book Drive Library Party

Pride Center of Vermont and the Family Program will host a Library Party at the Pride Center on Saturday, June 27th from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. We want to celebrate the end of a successful book drive and let our kids dive into the new books. We also want to celebrate the ongoing conversations, friendships, and respect between all types of parents.

Books and early literacy give children so many advantages. Children’s books with underlying threads of same-sex parents or adoption give kids with those real-life households the feeling of inclusion and pride when talking about family. Our kids are your kids’ classmates, and we want to share our stories with you.

You Want to be Part of the Story Too

Please consider donating a book to the Family Program. And feel free to share our wish list with your children’s schools and your local library. Help us make diversity filled books available for everyone. If you want more information or have questions, please contact Phoebe Judge, Family Program Coordinator, at [email protected].

And if that isn’t enough for your motivated self, consider volunteering at the Pride Center—we’re really fun. If you are a business owner, consider being a business sponsor. The LGBTQ community likes to shop at stores that support us, and we are a pretty loyal bunch. Check out the Pride Center’s website for more information.

Written by Amber Leventry

Amber Leventry is a writer and SAHM. She tries to be good at both each day, but never the twain shall meet. She can’t find a picture of herself without a child or while wearing a clean shirt, so sometimes she takes selfies of herself to include in bios. She lives in Vermont with her partner, the kids, and their attention deprived dog. She writes for The Next Family and InventorSpot. Follow her on Twitter @AmberLeventry. Her writing has appeared on Scary Mommy, BLUNTmoms, and Huffington Post.