Pictured above: (L-R) Deb Rox, who blogs at Deb On The Rocks and pretty much obscured by L-Word creator Ilene Chaiken (foreground, in white jacket), LesbianFamily.org founder Liza Barry-Kessler, who blogs at Liza Was Here, Paula Gregorowicz,who blogs at The Paula G Company and at BlogHer as a Contributing Editor, and Zoe Gaymo,who blogs at gaymo and at BlogHer as a Contributing Editor.

Chaiken spoke at one of the keynotes at this year’s BlogHer conference in Chicago (here are some Twittered notes on it).  Liza is giving Chaiken a piece of her mind, but the question is: what piece is it? You tell us.

P’ito tells the New York State Senate what he thinks

This was the first time I have been at Pride with my kid, and it was so different. Different from going as a non-parent, different from my expectations…

When we were TTC and then waiting for P’ito to come home, I watched the families with kids with pride and a hefty side dish of envy. I wanted what they had and I wanted it NOW. I had this vision of us all walking along, holding hands as a family, with the local lgbt families group… and instead it felt a little bit like herding cats.   At the same time, I was free to browse in the information tents, snag all the swag I wanted, chat with friends, yell raunchy comments at the ladies, watch all the groups go by and cheer…

My parents were there with us – which was awesome – I have the most supportive family ever – but I was hot and cranky because P’ito was sleepy and cranky and because I kept feeling like I was losing people along the way. Tons of half-finished conversations because where did they go? Are we losing the group and falling in with the loud bar group behind us?

But when I finally pulled him out of the stroller and sat him on my shoulders, it was perfect. He waved and smiled and held his sign, and I managed to relax a bit and enjoy myself.  I like our small(er) city pride – a managable parade without hours of smiling politicians and liquor floats – but lots of people both gay and straight out on the streets cheering us on.  Add in a beautiful sunny day, and you’re there.

So:

What does Pride mean to you?  What are your personal Pride traditions and memories?  Do you dream of marching with your kid someday?

And how do you explain all the fabulousness of drag queens and leathermen and PTA presidents to your kids, if you’ve got kids old enough to say “’cause why, mama?” I didn’t have to do much explaining this year, but I’m puzzling over how to explain to P’ito what exactly it is that we’re celebrating.  How do you explain Pride to a preschooler without getting too deep into the ugliness of homophobia?

And don’t forget to add your family pride photos to the LesbianFamily.org flickr group…

On a totally different note – please welcome to the ranks of LF.org:

TTC:

Figboiler

Non-Bio:

Butchmama

Young Kids:

Lavender Tales

Our gals from Hydrangeas Are Pretty, Shelli and Narda, got official in Connecticut, with mega-adorable Noah Matan getting a ringside seat. Malka is reclining on the step behind them. You know, with slight changes in the scenery, this is pretty much exactly like what unfolded for my beloved and me on the other side of the country (geographically and politically speaking) last July. Little boy child in arms, girl child blazé on the steps behind.  

Much love and hearty congratulations to an old couple knee-deep in kids. 

New additions and updates await posting here at LesbianFamily, and they’ll be forthcoming soon.  Thanks for stopping by.

Samantha O’Connell, Angie Matt, and their son Henry O’Connell, at the rally in San Francisco following the California Supreme Court’s upholding of Prop 8.  Clearly, no one can vote or rule our love away.  State by state, coast to coast, that’s what’s going to keep us going.

Lesbian mothers, lesbians with mothers, mothers with lesbians, family with lesbians or mothers in ‘em, past, current, future, and hoped-for: love to you all.

No new postings requests this week! First such quiet week in a while.

Meanwhile, we’re still stumping for co-conspiritors here at LesbianFamily.org (see Liza’s post in late March), and we’re still planning on having a Lesbian Family Blogger Meet Up in Chicago in late-July, the Sunday morning following the BlogHer conference (see my post as of late March, here).

Warmest wishes that spring is springing where you are. If you are a practicing Judeo-Christian (either or both!), may the upcoming holidays of Easter and of Passover renew your faith.

Of course if you look a few pictures further in ohchicken’s photostream, you’ll see that the spaghetti’s appeal was time-limited. Go check it out. She writes about her family and her life at  we are fambly. where you’ll find more Jude! Jude! Jude! with and without spaghetti.

Now to the new  or updated listings news: LOVE IS LOVE has both moved to a new blog, and become a combined project of both gals, Bebebaba and Bebemama.  Perhaps an even more thrilling move was from TTC to Expecting.

Shrike & Whozat went from Expecting to Babies!  About five months ago in real life, and just recently at LesbianFamily.org. Congrats, and happy recent five month birthday to Peeper!  Yowza what a doozy of a month she just had.  And her mamas.  

Mother Issues, has recently listed in Foster and Interracial Families. Welcome to Lee and Thorn, who describe themselves as “at the very beginning of our journey to become mothers via special needs adoption.”

New to the TTC listings is metal stork , written by two nomadic gals who will “continue their nomadic ways forever and are looking forward to a gypsy baby to make their travels that much more interesting.”

And Robin, blogging at Here’s What I Don’t Get, just proposed we start up a page for separated/co-parenting blogs.  Good point.  We’ll put that in the LesFam editorial group hopper, and meanwhile — while we wait for a revised or new page for her blog — at least we’ll get started with a nod here.  When you’re there visiting her, congratulate her on polishing off an entire month of a post every day, as part of National Blog Posting Month. Wheew!

Ah! And one more thing!  I just wandered around a bit, as one tends to do online, and from Shrike & Whozat checked in on Vee and Jay and what should I discover but that they went and  had their baby!  So! First, many enthusiastic congratulations to them, and second, they can now be found NOT in TTC, where they were, or Expecting, where they could well have been for the previous 9 months, but Babies!

This photo, entitled “beach,” is from kristyanddonna87’s Flickr photo stream. It’s from their wedding, and there are a bunch of wonderful other pictures there. Go take a peek, and wish them well.

This picture, “Top of the Rock. Date Night!” was submitted by longtime LesbianFamily.org lister gal Shelli, who writes about her beautiful NYC family at Hydrangeas are Pretty. A new baby brother has just joined the family, and big sister Malka is “smitten”! Go on over and give ‘em all congratulations.

If you photograph your family and would like to share those images (to the whole entire world wide web!), consider joining up with the LesbianFamily.org Flickr group! Photos set to “public” and with the “blog this” option enabled are among those we can post here. We’d love to plug your blog, and share a picture of your family!

In New Listings news, Trying again, Story of a Lesbian Family in the Making now titled Serendipitously yours  has been added to the TTC list. Welcome!

And thanks for checking in.

holding onto mamma

Originally uploaded by lisapicante

This image is from a member of the LesbianFamily.org photo pool at Flickr. Check out her fantastic photography!

[And keep holding your breath for a seasonal update of new blogs here. It's been a long wait, but I continue to eyeball the item on my To Do list make progress on the task, incremental though it may be. Thank you for waiting, those of you who've long ago submitted a blog to list! Meanwhile, join up with the Flickr group and we can feature your photos here!]