The Queering the Family Tree Poster was conceived and designed in 2005 to celebrate the diversity of families within which children live and thrive. This bilingual (English/French)  poster was inspired by stories from children living in LGBTQ-led families about the “Family Tree” exercises they do in school. Typically these exercises assume that all children live in conventional nuclear families. The fill-in-the-blank format with spaces for a “mom,” “dad,” “maternal grandparents,” and so on, often exclude children of LGBTQ-led families.

Funded in part by a grant from the Lesbian and Gay Appeal of Toronto (now The Community One Foundation), the poster was designed to bring visibility to LGBTQ-led families and to generate discussion about homophobia and discriminatory attitudes towards LGBTQ-led families in schools.

The story I often tell,” say Rachel Epstein of the LGBTQ Parenting Network, a member of the initiative that created the poster, “happened in my daughter’s class. They were doing family tree exercises and the kid of a lesbian put up her hand and said, ‘What if you don’t have a dad?’ and the teacher said, ‘Of course you have a dad, everyone has a dad,’ and the kid said, ‘Well, what if you don’t have a dad?’ and the teacher said, ‘What, were you born in a jar?’”

Brightly coloured and emblazoned with a range of terms to describe sexual orientation and gender identity (terms like “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual”, “queer,” “straight” and “transgender,”) the poster represents and celebrates the diversity of families. The poster’s border translates the word “family” into 35 languages. To date, more than 30,000 copies of the poster have been printed and are on display in schools, community centres, health centres and hospitals, daycares, libraries and homes across Canada, the United States, and as far as Australia.

* The Queer Parenting Initiative is a collaboration between the LGBTQ Parenting Network (Sherbourne Health Centre), Family Service Toronto, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Gay Fathers of Toronto, Chinese Family Services and TGStation.