Greetings LGBTQ Parenting Network e-News subscribers!
Family Pride is just around the corner! But first check out all the great things that are happening in June.
LGBTQ Parenting Network E-News
1. The Dads & Grads Fabulous Fathers’ Day Picnic: Sat. June 9
2. Dykes Planning Tykes - Drop-In Info Sessions: Tues. June 12
3. Queer Parents Who Have Adopted: Sat. June 16
4. Flamingo Rampant Book Launch and LGBT2Q Family Book Fair! Sun. June 17
5. The Children’s Aid Society Pride BBQ: Sun. June 17
6. The Queer Family Pride Party: Tues. June 19
7. New Film: Conceiving Family: Sat. June 23
8. Pride Toronto’s 12th Annual Family Pride: Sat. June 30 and Sun. July 1
9. Looking for Gay and Lesbian Foster Parents
10. Looking for Fathers for Documentary
1. The Dads & Grads Fabulous Fathers’ Day Picnic
Saturday, June 9, 2012, 10:30 am to 1:30 pm
The 519 Church Street Community Centre (Queer Parenting Programs)
Calling all GBTQ dads and prospective dads!
Come to our annual picnic where GBTQ dads, granddads, caregivers and their kids invite all GBTQ prospective dads, including graduates of our family planning and prenatal courses, and to socialize and celebrate. Play, learn and build community. Bring a nut-free food item to share and a towel for your kids to use after enjoying our park fountains.
For more information: phone 416-392-6874 email queerparenting@The519.org
2. Dykes Planning Tykes - Drop-In Info Session – Tues. June 12
June 12, 6:30 - 8:30pm at the Sherbourne Health Centre – 333 Sherbourne St. Room 2008.
Come with your questions about family planning, including fertility, home and clinic insemination, sperm banks, adoption, co-parenting, family configurations and family recognition. No registration required. For more info: parentingnetwork@sherbourne.on.ca
*TRANS WOMEN/TRANS MEN WELCOME *
NOTE: Please come for 6:30 promptly.
Dykes Planning Tykes is a joint program of the LGBTQ Parenting Network (Sherbourne Health Centre) and Queer Parenting Programs (The 519 Community Centre)
3. Queer Parents Who Have Adopted – Support Group for Adoptive parents and their kids: Sat. June 16
10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Sherbourne Health Centre - 333 Sherbourne St, 2nd floor
Queers who have adopted are meeting monthly to give support and info share with each other. There is childcare provided so the adults can have time for discussions on relevant topics of interest. Children can connect around their common issues in a playful manner - so, games, stories and drawing/puzzles are available at the meetings with qualified childcare staff.
As a mutual support group we hope to have a chance to socialize and play, getting a sense of community with each other, to bond and help each other out as we get to know each other as adults and kids as well. The group is open to those that are anti-racist/sexist/genderist/ableist/classist as well as being queer positive and open to all the differences we embrace.
A pizza lunch is provided.
For more information contact: Laura Coramai or Ana dos Santos (parents/group members): lcoramai@rogers.com or (416) 531-7977.
To register for childcare, contact Ginny Santos at parentingresources@sherbourne.on.ca or 416-324-4100 ext 5276.
4. Queer Your Father’s Day Sunday with Flamingo Rampant Book
Launch and LGBT2Q Family Book Fair!
Sunday, June 17
3pm - 5pm
519 Community Centre
519 Church Street, Toronto
Join us for fun, frolic, snacks and storytime as Flamingo Rampant launches two fabulous, trans*-positive children's books: THE ADVENTURES OF TULIP,BIRTHDAY WISH FAIRY and BACKWARDS DAY.
This free, family friendly event will give all kids of parents and all kinds of kids an opportunity to shop, play, and hear great stories in a gender-affirming atmosphere for all. Written by Toronto-based writer and storyteller S. Bear Bergman and illustrated by Toronto artist Suzy Malik (Tulip) and Maine native KD Diamond (Backwards Day), the two books represent a new era in kid literature for trans*, gender-independent, and gender-creative kids, caregivers, and families. Fantastical stories and colourful pictures draw the attention of young readers, while also delivering a message of respect for individuals and the value of trusting children to know themselves. We'll be reading both books aloud at the event, and offering free sets of colouring book pages to all attendees to colour there or take home and enjoy.
Local independent bookstores Another Story Bookshop and the newly rejuvenated Glad Day Books will be on-site with lavish displays of children’s books, parenting books, family-creation books and more.
The event will also feature the video BOTH/AND a project by TDSB teacher Lee Hicks of the Grove School. BOTH/AND is a tender, celebratory look at people who embrace or encompass more than one kind of gender or other identity. Stay tuned for news about celebrity book-readers.
ASL interpretation of all readings will be available, performed by the amazing Bonnie-Lyn Barker.
5. Children's Aid Society of Toronto’s PRIDE BBQ
If you have adopted from the Children's Aid Society of Toronto you are invited to our PRIDE BBQ on TUESDAY JUNE 19 from 4:00-7:00 pm at 30 Isabella St., Toronto.
There will be lots of KIDS ACTIVITIES for all ages! Youth awards! Service provider awards! Amazing PRIDE decorations (check out our west windows by the park on your way into the building!) ENTERTAINMENT, Music, great FOOD!
New this year -- make your own ROCK VIDEO with green screen technology and karaoke. Each person who makes a rock video will take home a copy of the DVD!
Don't miss out on all the FUN, FOOD, ENTERTAINMENT, PRIZES, AWARDS & SHMOOZING! only $5.00 adults; free for kids/youth!
RESERVE your ticket Call 416-924-4640 ext. 3099. If you don't reserve ahead you can't get in.
Let me know if you have questions -- 416-924-4640 x 2987
6. The Queer Family Pride Party 2012 – Sparkle!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012, 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Queer Parenting Programs - The 519 Church Street Community Centre
Our annual Pre-Pride celebration of our amazing queer families!
You'll find: our DJ’d dance party, sports in the park, free snacks, our annual Queer & Trans Family Pride Parade and more!
DANCE to the beats of DJ Nik Red and Devi8
JUMP and splash around in The 519 SplashPad
MOVE and groove with sports activities presented by The 519 Healthy TransActions Team
SPARKLE and razzle dazzle in the Arts And Crafts Zone with the Dyke March Crew
SHINE and show it off in our Queer Family Pride Parade
Food and refreshments provided.
For more information on this super fun and not-to-be-missed event:
phone 416-392-6874 email queerparenting@The519.org
7. New Film: Conceiving Family
Female Eye Film Festival
June 23, 2012
4 – 6 pm
Carelton Cinema (Carelton & Yonge
Conceiving Family follows (Director/Producer) Amy Bohigian and her partner, Jane Byers, as they adopt biracial 15 month-old twins, Franny and Theo. Their journey to becoming a family, like the other four same-sex couples, is laden with challenges, including confronting the Christian Fundamentalist foster parents who express fear that the children they’ve cared for since birth will now, “grow up to be gay” with parents who are “going to hell for their sins.” Required to live together for two weeks during the kids’ transition they confront their differences in the most surprising ways. Combining personal interviews, intimate footage, and family photos, Conceiving Family tells the collective story of what it takes to become an intentional family.
Conceiving Family’s official website: www.conceivingfamily.com
Facebook Page: Conceiving Family - The Film.
8. Pride Toronto’s 12th Annual Family Pride!
Fantastic family performances, face painting, and freezies. It’s all family fun under the sun at Pride Toronto’s 12th annual Family Pride!
Join us this year on Saturday, June 30 and Sunday, July 1 at Church Street Public School, where you and your family can mingle with other wonderful families, sit by our outdoor stage to enjoy interactive shows, relax under our Reading Rainbow to hear LGBTQ-inclusive book reading, learn about our Friends of Family Pride, engage in arts and crafts activities, play soccer with two of Toronto’s LGBTQ soccer leagues, and so much more!
For a complete Family Pride 2012 program schedule, visit www.pridetoronto.com/festival/family-pride Follow the magic of Family Pride on Twitter @FamilyPrideTO
9. Looking for Gay and Lesbian Foster Parents
My name is Krishna Rau. I'm a writer for In Toronto magazine, a gay and lesbian news and lifestyle magazine. I'm working on a story looking at gay and lesbian foster parents. Basically, I hope to profile a few people or couples who are or have been foster parents. I would want to talk about how and why the people came to be foster parents, what it meant to them to do it, how it changed their lives, the problems and joys of foster parenting. I'm more interested in foster parents who happen to be gay or lesbian than in gay issues, although if it's relevant (eg. having foster kids who were gay or lesbian, how being gay or lesbian affected foster parenting), I would be interested in talking about it.
If anyone is interested, I can be reached at krrau@interlog.com or at 416-929-7540. Thanks, Krishna Rau
10. Looking for Fathers for Documentary
I am developing a documentary with Fathom Film Group in Toronto called Father Figure’d Out, an exploration of the role of the father in contemporary society. The documentary will be a sort of quest to find the father archetype that fits for the modern man, from gay dads and single dads, to transgender dads and stay-at-home dads.
We’re interested in speaking with fathers who have an interesting story to tell – whether it be the pending or recent addition of a child to the family or a changing relationship between father and child. If any members of the LGBTQ Parenting Network are willing to share their story with me and possibly be part of the documentary, I can be contacted at erica@fathomfilmgroup.com. And if there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Erica Leendertse
Fathom Film Group
erica@fathomfilmgroup.com
www.fathomfilmgroup.com
