Douglass & I want to keep you updated with what is going on in our Suburban life or our "Green GAYcres" as we refer to it.
Whatta week it was! We were interviewed by the newspaper for an article about Marriage Equality, since this is a timely issue especially for California. We were a little nervous about being OUT there, but felt the need to help break down stereotypes & hopefully broaden some peoples minds who can't think outside the box. We're assuming you know the world is not all black & white, there are millions of shades of grey & don't forget that ever present rainbow!
Douglass & I were very excited to be asked back again this year to the annual
Women's Power Strategy Conference, the brainchild of
Patricia V. Davis. Last year I was a guest blogger & this year we were both speakers on a panel. The panel was called
"Gay Like Me" a conversation about breaking down stereotypes.
At first we thought it would be like a crash course in Gay 101 for the audience but of course it wasn't that at all. It was funny to think of it that way & we had our Gay checklist all ready to go. At the conference, we were also surprised & honored to receive an award for our work as advocates for Alzheimer's & Caregivers through our blog
Dementia-Mama-Drama along with our role of helping break down Gay stereotypes.
It was interesting to see how everyone on the panel was "normal" - no stereotypes here. None of us had horrendous or dramatic stories of growing up Gay & coming out. Just goes to show you that you can be caregivers for a parent with Alzheimer's (as we were) or raise your wife's children (as if you gave birth to them yourself) like
Sally Kuhlman or
Cynthi Stefenoni & send them off to college just like everybody else... Straight or Gay.
For two years I thought, what were men doing at a women's conference? Once again stereotypes & agendas were not relevant. When you
break it down, we are all the same & we can all benefit from some positive reinforcement. There were some great panels we were able to attend such as "Making Stress Work for You" with
Mary O'Neill , "YouTube & Your Brand" with
Laura Berg, "Owning Your Story, Shaping Your Public Image" with
Lorna Garano & of course the inspirational keynote speaker
Zakiya Mackey who is the Internship Program Coordinator at
Girls Inc. & a filmmaker!
So here we are in Suburbia sharing our lives with the world & what better time to do it then during Gay Pride month. Gay Pride a time to remember that we're not all drag queens, leather daddies or dykes on bikes. There are many types of us GLBT(XYZ) people & we cannot be put in one category, except maybe one... Fabulous!
Thanks for visiting! Please follow, share & spread the word...
Displaced New Yorker? nyc2suburbia Commuter? If U love NYC, Suburbia OR both, our products are for you! Survive with your unique Style, $ense & Sanity with nyc2suburbia products.