well, the june 'pride month' edition of the newsletter i put together is about to come out. i'm really proud of my first interview. i've never done an interview before, and frankly i'm not sure the group has done one in its newsletter before either, but it occurred to me that it might be a fun way to make the newsletter more interesting than just having people write up their own things. plus, i really did have questions i wanted to ask the person i interviewed-- the new chair of the san francisco democratic party who is a member of our group-- so an interview seemed the way to go. we had such a good time talking and discussing that we went on way too long and i've now had to parse the interview into three segments over the next three editions of the newsletter. but in a way, that's fun too. see the link above for the full newsletter, with the interview, and then below is my own editorial from it:

"Mom and Ample Pride"

So I made my Mother a deal.

You see, I went home to Kansas City for the weekend of Mother’s Day. Well, my Mother really wanted me to come with her to our family church, a place I haven’t attended since high school. As much as I love my Mother and my family, going to church is not high on my list of things to do. It’s a nice enough church and was definitely important in molding me throughout my young years, from birth to adulthood. It’s a United Methodist congregation with a poor, white, Democratic-leaning background, but currently run by a right-wing Republican minister who often interjects her politics into her sermons, to the consternation of many of the people in attendance.

So, like I said, I made my Mother a deal. I would go to church with her for Mother’s Day, if she would go with me to our first ever meeting of the local chapter of PFLAG while I visited town. Well, she took me up on the offer, and wouldn’t you know PFLAG-KC was having a Mother’s Day potluck just a few hours after church let out!

So in a topsy-turvy day that began with listening to a right-wing Republican minister rail against the ‘attacks on marriage,’ ‘attacks on the family,’ pro-choice people, and by quoting James Dobson of the Focus on the Family, my Mother and I then found our way across town to a potluck meeting of the PFLAG-KC where the group discussed the wonders of my having seen same-sex weddings in San Francisco City Hall, the excitement over Massachusetts’s judicial decision, attending the recent pro-choice march in DC, and dealing with an openly GLBT family member for the first time for some of the new attendees who were learning and struggling. My Mother really enjoyed the meeting, as she is very social amongst a friendly group of people, and found ways to showcase her Pride for her son, to my own embarrassment and shyness, as Mothers are wont to do from time to time.

But the most incredible part of the day was the drive, as my Mother and I opened up more than before on these issues and my life. We talk all the time, but oftentimes not on issues of my Gay life or the intricacies therein. And to speak openly with her about how she and my Father are feeling much better on the subject these days, how she has even told her right-wing Republican minister about me, how she prays and hopes for the best for my life and our equality, and how I hope and pray for her happiness within her church and in life, was a great opportunity seldom had.

Going home for Mother’s Day reminded me of how far we have come and how far we still have to go, and the realities of the right-wing and of being openly Gay in the Midwest once again. But knowing that my Mother is behind me all the way, and behind us in our struggles for equality, makes me feel Proud on a whole different level. And that’s something I value deeply. Happy Pride Month everyone.