Happy Not the Mama Day?

Steve, Todd and their family (courtesy of Family Equality)

Happy “Not the Mama” Day. That’s the greeting my partner Todd and I give to each other every Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. (“Not the mama” being a tired joke from that old ABC show Dinosaurs.)

It, too, was meant as a joke, but it was also our reminder that we shouldn’t focus on our gender or whether biology links us to our kids. Father’s Day (and Mother’s Day) is not a day to celebrate one parent or another, but instead a day to celebrate our entire families.

Our community understands that it doesn’t matter what we call ourselves – mama, daddy, poppy, etc. What matters is that we as parents use the day to celebrate our love for each other and our commitment to our families.

Unlike other families, we cannot take our relationships with our kids for granted. Our legal rights as parents are sometimes tenuous and we are still struggling to earn many of the benefits and protections other American families enjoy. Even now, we are working with our families to secure marriage equality and working to ensure we have equal opportunities to create families through foster care and adoption.

Perhaps one day there will be a Family Equality holiday – one day a year to celebrate the fact that all American families (LGBT, straight, single-parent, divorced parents, etc.) share the same freedoms, rights and benefits.

Until then, on behalf of Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler and the entire Family Equality Council staff, here’s wishing you a Happy Family Day filled with love and laughter.

Steve Majors
Communications Director of the Family Equality Council