1st International Family Equality Day, May 6, 2012

By Angeline Acain

On a beautiful sunny spring day in New York City, the First International Family Equality Day was held, May 6, 2012. This day brought together LGBT families and their children from across North America and Europe for the first time to celebrate the millions of families with parents who are LGBT. Events were held in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Canada, South Africa, Finland, Germany, and Switzerland. Festivities in New York City included a group photo shoot in Times Square – participants were given pinwheels to hold – followed by a press conference, luncheon, crafts, and family dance at NYC’s LGBT Community Center. The event was organized by the Family Equality Council (FEC), R Family Cruises, and Center Families in partnership with LGBT parent support groups outside of the USA. FEC executive director, Jennifer Chrisler, led the press conference introducing speakers, George Fesser, director of Center Families, Ella Robinson, daughter of Bishop Gene Robinson, actor Denis O’Hare, and comedian Judy Gold. Kelli Carpenter, owner of R Family Cruises, O’Hare’s husband Hugo Redwood and Ron Poole-Dayan of Men Having Babies were also in attendance. For more information about the International Family Equality Day visit www.familyequality.org/get_involved/events/annual_events/international_family_equality_day/.

Here’s a short video of the photo shoot. View the photo here www.gayparentmag.com/1st-intl-family-equality-day