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The American Fertility Association Blog
Happy Pride!
June 15, 2009 - Monday
Posted by admin
I had been looking forward to BrooklynPride Day for weeks. The AFA decided to set up a tent there so we could speak to people about family building and for me this was so amazing, because BrooklynPride takes place in my own backyard, along Prospect Park in Park Slope. I was really looking forward to having my friends, neighbors and especially my own kids stopping by The AFA tent, as well as the 5,000 visitors who typically come to Park Slope for this annual event. I strolled it last year with Connor and Caitlin but at that time, the three of us were much more intent on the baba ghanoush and costume jewelry available for sale, than on the information available. What a difference a year makes!
I knew I would want to write a blog entry about the event, but last week when I visualized my words on paper, I thought I would call this entry Gay is the New Black. Which I like as a title a lot. But the truth is, that title didn’t fit the spirit of this amazing day, which was simply, Pure Happiness.
Ken (Mosesian, The AFA’s Executive Director) had threatened to buy me a teeshirt with “Middle Aged Straight Woman” written on it to wear to Pride, but mercifully, he didn’t. Instead the four of us showed up in our regular clothes: Dr. Jessica Brown and Dr. Cristina Matera, both of Madison Women’s Health & Fertility, plus Melinda Micciola,The AFA’s Director of Operations and me. Madison Women’s has always been a safe, compassionate practice for single women, gay or straight, to go to and we were honored to have them sponsor our tent.
The whole neighborhood was out there it seemed. Lots of couples of every kind, proud to show off loving pda’s. I’ve never seen so many cute dogs wearing colorful bandanas. My fave moment? The cutest 6 month old baby boy wearing an “I Love My Two Moms teeshirt”, happily utilizing an AFA directory cd as a chew toy.
At the tent, we were knee deep in people who wanted to talk to all of us.
I have to tell you, Saturday made me so happy. I love talking to people, and so many stopped by our booth. Their faces were so eager and open, and gawd, so many of them were very young! At least to me. There was one young woman who was intent on freezing her eggs – until Melinda and I explained to her that as a 34 year old lesbian, freezing her embryos was a better choice. Another woman was grateful to hear from someone point blank that she should move onto IVF or IVM after 8 unsuccessful IUI’s. She said that no one had told her that before. And of course, we fell in love with Anthony and Ricky, what a handsome couple. They are currently keeping their fingers crossed that their adoption will come through.
We spoke to the earnest faced kids who go to Harvey Milk High School. Two of them in particular were glad to get specific info about their potential to be moms and dads someday, information that they were comfortable taking home to their parents that night.
I especially loved connecting with Rev. Elizabeth Alexander, the Pastor of The Church of Gethsemane. What a cool woman. I’ve never seen so many colors worn at once, so amazingly well. She spoke to me a little bit about how hard it was for her to come out – to the LGBT community - as a Presbyterian pastor. I could have spoken to her for hours, and am looking forward to her soon to come contribution to this page as a blogger.
There were so many more. They kept stopping by, even when the rain couldn’t hold out any longer.
You know it’s funny. We as professionals in this world of family building take so much for granted. We think that everyone out there is as up to speed on their baby making options as we are. But you know what? They’re not. Gay or straight, it really doesn’t matter. We have a lot of work to do to make sure – to make really sure – that people know and understand what they can do so that they make the right choices early on, and protect themselves and their futures.
Happy Pride everyone!
Corey Whelan
Program Director
The American Fertility Association
Categories
Adoption •
Egg Freezing •
Family Building •
Gay and Lesbian Family Building •
LGBT
Thanks Ken! It was an amazing day for me. I’m looking forward to all of the Gay Pride events The AFA will be attending next year - especially San Francisco! Is there one in Honolulu? If so, don’t worry, I’d be happy to go…...
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Corey,
Thanks to you, Melinda, Jessica and Cristina for having a presence at the festival. I was really touched by your post, especially Anthony and Ricky’s quest to adopt. And to your point, yes, we do make a lot of assumptions about what people know. Here’s to the basics!