Family+Love Archives

Liberated Love

By : Ashmi Singh January 7, 2021 Comments Off

I used to get sick to my stomach whenever I heard her name or saw the back of someone’s head with curly black hair that the sun made brown. When I was younger, I had longed for a relationship. Me and another person, totally immersed in one another. I never thought about the wheel of fortune and the downfall of love. The loss of the honeymoon phase is bitter and sudden like the winter air on my face after leaving my mom’s house. I knew it was over before she said it. Before she was intimate with another girl on our bed. Before she had the cops send me to the psych ward, a $3,500 bill just for the ambulance ride. Before she drove away in her compact car barely

Not Always Thicker Than Water

By : Daniel Evans January 4, 2021 Comments Off

If you’re anything at all like me, you might view the concept of family as one, big, nebulous, complicated substance of nonsense and multifaceted anxieties. Hearing through the grapevine that my family collectively voted for conservative candidates, ones who openly vilified trans-positive legislation, was a blow to the chest. How on Earth was I supposed to come out to these people now? The ostrich-style solution I came up with was to simply not do it, and I opted for avoiding them all instead, indefinitely. That takes a toll on you, though. At least it did for me. It’s so much easier said than done to cut off family members who you know would give you the, “Well, we love you, but we can’t support this lifestyle choice,” spiel. For better

Questioning Happiness

By : Ashmi Singh December 21, 2020 Comments Off

What does it mean to come out if you’re not sure who you are? I spent two years chasing after a boy who didn’t like me back when I was in middle school, all the way into my freshman year of high school. In my sophomore and junior year, I “fell in love” with another boy. During my senior year and in college, I experimented. In my head I kept thinking, I don’t like girls, I’m just a hormone-harboring teenager, what’s new? I ended my freshman year of college with a girlfriend. A serious one, too. I mean, we fell in love, hard. Facetime calls never-ending, I was totally immersed in her. I thought she was immersed in me, but that’s a whole other story. Both of us were convinced

Amorphous

By : Elija Ichabod November 14, 2020 Comments Off

Despite having not spoken to her in months, my mother had found out about my engagement. I remember not even being surprised. My family collectively has a big mouth, which first became evident when my mother outed me to every person who would listen to her once I came out as bisexual my freshman year of high school - and every iteration of my coming-out since - and later was solidified when my entire extended family found out about my suicide attempt before I was even out of the hospital. I hadn’t spoken to my mother in several years at that point. I wonder if she knows about the attempt. But when she came to my graduation, she congratulated me on my engagement, even though that was the first time

(Kids) Queer Friendly Extracurricular Activities

By : Alyssa Sileo November 1, 2020 Comments Off

*Note: This article was originally published on Pride Pocket prior to merging with MyUmbrella* Extra-curricular activities provide essential developmental opportunities for youth: socially, creatively, and even health-wise. Community service organizations build character, theatre activities encourage teamwork and originality, and sports impart values of hard work and perseverance. One can see these are positive things every young person would hopefully encounter. When any extra-curricular activity leaves out a certain population, kids are missing out on these singular chances. There is an overarching fear that making activities accessible or accommodating to certain participants harms the integrity of the activity or makes it an unequal measure. The truth is, failing to make accommodations is what makes an activity inequitable. We all have the power to rewrite the rules of games, clubs, and competitions

Sperm Banks 101

By : Britney Achin November 1, 2020 Comments Off

*Note: This article was originally published on Pride Pocket prior to merging with MyUmbrella* So you’re ready to be a parent. Or you think you might be. You know that your heart is full, but biology is not on your side; you’ve heard about sperm banks, the jokes, the horror stories, the cliches. How can you know if this is the right path for your growing family? We recommend a lot of research. And we’re ready to help you get started! What exactly is a Sperm Bank?Pride Angel has a wonderful working definition of Sperm Banks (among the host of fantastic fertility and family planning information on their site) Sperm banks or cryobanks are facilities that collect and store human sperm from sperm donors, for the purpose of achieving pregnancies

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