Your Help Needed in Alameda on Monday

Dear OFC Friends,

LGBTQ families of the Alameda Unified School District need your help! On Tuesday May 12th the AUSD held a public hearing on the proposed supplemental adoption of Safe Schools Curriculum Addressing Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

Although many from our community came out in support of the inclusive curriculum, we were outnumbered by those opposed. Because there were 175 speakers requesting to speak, a continuation hearing has been scheduled for MONDAY May 18th at Kofman Auditorium at 6:30pm. For more information on the safe schools curriculum please go tohttp://www.mikemcmahon.info/LGBTCurriculum.htm

How Can You Help?

1. Write an email letter of support to the Board of Education. For a list of email addresses go to www.alameda.k12.ca.us

2. Join the C.A.R.E community. A website in support of the curriculum called Alameda Community Alliance Resource for Education (CARE) www.alamedacare.org

3. Attend Monday May 18th 5:00pm a peaceful vigil in front of Kofman Auditorium 2200 Central Ave at Oak Street in Alameda. Wear bright tee shirts, pick a color of the rainbow and wear your rainbow ribbons! Bring your signs with positive messages!

4. Attend Monday May 18th 6:30 pm the Board of Education public hearing held in Kofman Auditorium. The PRESENCE of supporters in large numbers is critical.

Help keep ALL of our children safe!

Sincerely,

Lisa Orduno-Arcia
Community Program Director
Our Family Coalition

A family place to eat on Tuesdays

-From Kevin

Family Night Reinvigorated!

"Come join Supervisor Bevan Dufty and his daughter Sidney and Kevin Wakelin and his daughter Hana at the Castro's Squat & Gobble restaurant for Family Night! This tradition is being reinvigorated so that we can keep in touch with other gay moms, dads and their kids. The only information you need to know is to join us every Tuesday evening at 600pm at Squatt & Gobble located at Market/16th Street. Please spread the word amongst all your LGBT mom's and dads. We look forward to seeing you all there, starting this Tuesday May 12, 2009 at 600pm. For more info please email kevin@VITALITY-sf.com

Handling gifts that don't reflect our values

How do you handle a situation in which a casual acquaintance (who is not aware of your views regarding appropriate toys for your child) gives a gift that conflicts with your ideas regarding an appropriate toy for your child(ren)? A neighbor recently gave my twins a set of toy guns for a gift. We don’t allow toy weapons of any kind so I quietly re-packaged the gift and donated it. Fortunately, the boys are still young enough that they forgot about the gift and never noticed its absence. I’m curious if any other parents have experienced a similar situation and how did you handle it? Did you say something to the casual acquaintance or did you just let it go? Did you let the kid(s) keep it?

Thanks,

Kendall

Theater for Young People

The play, "Anansi the Clever Spider" is playing at the New Conservatory Theater Center (NCTC) this week-end and next. Tickets are normally $10 for kids and $15 for adults but we found them for free on events@goldstar.com or www.goldstar.com There is actually a $3.50 or $4.50 per ticket service charge but it's still a good deal. We saw the NCTC production of "The Wizard of Oz" a few months ago and it was really fun. The cast and crew are all young people -- teenagers, I think. They are definitely not high gloss productions but they are clever and fun, the kids are talented and our 5 year old loved the production we saw (in fact, she went back the next day to see it again). It is a good group to support, too...so get your cheap tickets, then donate whatever extra you can afford when you get to the theater.

(posted by Michael)

Love and Intimacy

Thanks to all who came to the second Saturday meeting. A great discussion on love and intimacy was had by all, I think. Even with most of us knowing each other, the topic still brought out the shyness in some of us so we did a small "ice breaker" activity to help the discussion get started.

This got me thinking of two things. First, how at ease I am in reality with discussing this topic with our child and second, what beliefs I want our child to associate with love and intimacy. So many of us adults have had to un-learn shame-based and conservative values when it comes to this subject. While I was lucky in that my parents did not saddle me with very much of these beliefs, I am coming to appreciate how challenging it must have been for my parents to accomplish this in a society that is so restrictive and puritanical.

When I look at Sadie who is now 3 and a half, I can't imagine her turning into a teenager and then a young woman but I know it is sure to happen and I know that her attitudes towards her body and of love and intimacy will develop based on the principles we teach her starting now. By respecting her privacy, helping her develop a positive self-esteem and body image and by answering her many, many, many (!) questions in an age-appropriate and honest way I hope that we can provide a foundation that allows her to have a healthy lifetime of love and intimacy.

I am glad to have the Mamas and Papas community to help me navigate these challenging topics in a thoughtful and constructive way.

(posted by Shelli)