Now in its 17th year, Family Week 2012 is being presented as part of a series of community events that will honor Family Equality Council’s 30th anniversary—a year-long national celebration during which we will unveil a renewed commitment to create a better world for our community of LGBT families.
During Family Week 2012, July 28 – August 4, hundreds of LGBT parents, their children, their extended families, prospective parents and friends will gather at the tip of Cape Cod in gay-friendly Provincetown, to relax and enjoy this amazing event.
The event draws hundreds of families from across the country and beyond to the sun-splashed, sandy shores of Cape Cod.
Traditional Family Week favorites include the Parent and Youth Café conversations, the Family Unity and Pride Parade, Family Movie Nights, the Family Dance and the exciting children’s and youth adventure activities focused on the arts, environment, and fitness—just to name a few! To see the variety of events we offer each summer.
Family Equality Council is changing attitudes and policies to ensure all families are respected, loved, and celebrated - especially families with parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
http://www.familyequality.org
Saturday, July 28th
3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Family Week Check In and Registration
Even if you have registered online. Stop by to get your program book, which includes a complete schedule of events and other Family Week support materials.
3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Let the games begin. Welcome to mingle and relax or join the fun. This is a great way to start the week, reconnect with old friends, and meet new families. All are welcome!
Partner Fair
Meet the organizations that have come to help us welcome you to Family Week and learn what they are doing to support your family.
3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Family Equality Storefront
The Crown & Anchor welcomes Family Week families to enjoy the pool daily from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.! All children must be accompanied by an adult.
247 Commercial Street
Special Guest Announcement
Zach Wahls, co-chair of Family Equality Council’s The Outspoken Generation program, will be leading our Outspoken Generation Kick-off Gathering at Family Week this summer. Due to his impassioned speech before the Iowa Legislature in 2011, which quickly went viral on Youtube – twice, Zach is proof positive that young adults can be AMAZING national LGBT family advocates. Zach joins us for Family Week 2012 along with his moms, Terry and Jacqueline.
Double the impact of your donation
Thanks to a generous challenge from the makers of Children’s TYLENOL®, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $5,000 total … but only when you give by the end of Family Week on August 4. Please, support our most important work, and double your impact with a gift right away! http://www.familyequality.org/
Children of LGBT Federal Workers Covered by Health Insurance
This morning, thanks to over a year of advocacy by Family Equality Council, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM, the government agency regulating federal employment) proposed one landmark rule and finalized three more, all benefiting LGBT families.
The proposed rule would extend health, dental, and vision insurance to the children of federal employee’s same-sex domestic partners. With the expansion of coverage under the Affordable Care Act, this newly proposed rule means that all federal employees’ children up to age 26 are covered, regardless of their marital status, dependency, residency, student status, lack of insurance coverage and now – due to the OPM rule change – their lack of a legal relationship to their parent.
Children with Gay Parents Denied Equal Protections: State parenting laws protect some children, exclude others
Washington, D.C., JULY 17, 2012 – Current state laws put many children in our country at risk and undermine their family stability, according to a new report released today.
Securing Legal Ties for Children Living in LGBT Families: A State Strategy and Policy Guideshows how in more than 30 states, discriminatory state parenting law means it is likely that children being raised in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) families will be legal strangers to at least one of their parents. The report was co-authored by the Movement Advancement Project, Family Equality Council and the Center for American Progress in partnership with Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and the Equality Federation.
“The best interests of children should always be paramount, “said Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. “With more than 400,000 children in foster care and more than 100,000 children awaiting adoption, it simply makes no sense—and certainly isn’t to their benefit—to deny children a forever home with qualified and loving parents simply because those parents are gay or unmarried.”
Securing Legal Ties for Children Living in LGBT Families details these and other concrete harms of archaic and discriminatory family law—harms that affect the two million children raised by LGBT parents, children awaiting adoption and, often, the millions of children being raised by relatives, family friends, or unmarried parents.
• Laws deny children loving families. When LGBT families are banned from being foster parents or adopting, children are denied permanent homes and remain in state care instead.
• Laws put children’s health at risk. When the law prevents a parent from securing legal ties to his or her child, that child is also denied coverage under the parent’s health insurance, and the parent can be prevented from making medical decisions or visiting their child in the hospital.
• Laws undermine children’s security and place children in jeopardy when a parent dies or when parents’ relationships dissolve. When a parent raising a child is not recognized under the law, that child can be wrested away from the parent best suited to care for them, be denied child support, or lose inheritance and other protections designed to keep them safe during times of crisis.
“There are two million children being raised by gay parents, most of whom live in states where they are excluded by family law,” said Jennifer Chrisler, Family Equality Council Executive Director. “The impact of these laws is wide-ranging: our children are denied health insurance coverage; we face higher economic burdens that put our families at risk; our families aren’t protected when a parent dies; and our children live with the insecurity of knowing that one of their parents isn’t considered a parent under the law.”
“We must act now to change the laws that place children in jeopardy,” said Rebecca Isaacs, Executive Director of the Equality Federation.“Parenting and family laws needs to protect all children, not just some children, and this report serves as a roadmap for policymakers who want to address and update harmful laws in their state.”
