The Family Pride Coalition

The Family Pride Coalition offers opportunities for same sex couples with children, and their extended families, to connect through travel around the United States.

For nearly 30 years, the non-profit Family Pride Coalition has supported lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families by organizing gay families around the United States into parenting groups, educational workshops, social events and Family Pride Weeks.

The coalition's signature event,  Family Pride Weeks were begun nine years ago in Provincetown, Massachusetts so families could get to know each other and explore the social, cultural, school and legal issues common to all of them. Now, with more than 400 families each year providing the second busiest tourist period after Independence Day, Family Pride Week and its myriad attendees are supported by the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce, the Provincetown Business Guild, local merchants and townspeople.

In cooperation with their "offspring," a children's advocacy group named COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere), these events provide organized activity programs for children of all ages with specific social, support and educational programs for youth ages 9 and older.  There are also community-building events for parents and family-together picnics and parties.

As same-sex families increased in number and visibility over the past few years, a surge in interest enabled Family Pride to expand their organized events beyond the well known Family Pride Week in Provincetown, Massachusetts.  In the summer of 2004, for example, the FPC organized its first Father's Day event with a Walt Disney World Weekend  in Orlando. "Disney has special appeal for our families," explained Aimee Gelnaw, FPC's former executive director, "most of whom endeavor to bring their kids there at least once." Typical for Family Pride events, the Disney weekend offered families workshops for gays, lesbians and their kids, in addition to a Kids Night Out and character breakfasts, plus other Disney programs commonly organized for family reunions.

Helping families to spend vacation time together in comfortable surroundings is very much a component of Family Pride's mission. During 2005, the Metro DC LGBT Family Conference will take place April 30 in Silver Spring, Maryland. A Family Camp is set for Newton, New Jersey (May 27-29 ), followed by a Family Week in Saugatuck, Michigan (July 9-14) and the 10th annual Family Pride Week in Provincetown (July 30-August 5). Later in the year, the popular Families in the Desert event in Palm Springs, California (see www.familypride.org for dates) and a Pride and Joy Families Weekend Conference in Binghamton, New York will take place.

Many families value the community experience Family Pride offers. "I absolutely think it's necessary for families who do not have much of a gay-parented-family social network at home, plus there are few places more beautiful than Provincetown in the summer," says mother of two, Anne Sweeney. "As our kids grow up, I think it will be great for them to be connected to a large community of kids like them." 

Ms. Gelnaw, who traveled with her two children (now 19 and 8) to both the Anaheim and Orlando Disney resorts, as well as to Legoland and San Diego, agrees. "At Family Week, our kids grow up with the same kids each summer, then IM each other all year. We don't yet know the long-term ramifications of these annual gatherings, but when our kids have their own kids, we'll finally see how important it was to them."
 
Jennifer Chrisler took over as executive director of the Family Pride Coalition in April 2005.  “As a married gay mother of twin boys, I am honored to be leading the Family Pride Coalition at such an important moment in our struggle for full equality for LGBT parents and their children,” Chrisler said at her appointment. “More and more LGBT people are becoming parents, and the Family Pride Coalition’s mission is vitally important to ensuring that those families -- numbering in the millions -- have the support and protection they need to remain strong.”

As a mother to 3-year-old twins Timothy and Thomas, with her spouse Cheryl Jacques, Ms. Chrisler is well positioned to expand Family Pride's vacation programs to appeal to even the youngest travelers.

Contact The Family Pride Coalition for more information about weekends away  in your area, and local resources, such as workshops and counseling groups, in most major American cities.