buy disulfiram disulfiram Guest author Issa is a native New Yorker but an advocate for single moms everywhere. As a single parent life coach, Issa offers support to newly single parents facing a myriad of feelings and challenges, as well as to veteran single parents who may have hit a bump in their roads. Issa is a life coach, a published essayist, a NY Daily News featured blogger, writer of children’s books for her son, and founder of Your Single Parenting, a resource website inclusive of all single parents.
Hello Everyone! My name is Issa, pronounced Ee-sah (you’re welcome).
I am a single mom (of an amazing 5-year-old boy, Theo), I am a freelance writer, I am a native New Yorker, and I am a blogger who focuses on inspiring single mothers to be fully present so that they may embrace the struggles, joys, challenges, and triumphs, that are unique to the single motherhood experience. I also write a lot about mental health because I have lived with Depression for the better (hah, better) part of two decades now and I think that it is ridiculous that it is 2012 and there is still a pervasive social stigma when it comes to mental illnesses.
I have been a single mother since I was two months pregnant when I called off my engagement to my son’s father, which allows me to straddle the line between being a Choice Single Mom (which I became at the exact moment I said, “I don’t” instead of “I do”), and a single mom by circumstance.
I have been an ally of the GLBT community since I was 14, when my cousin (who is like a brother to me since I am an only child), got kicked out of his home for being gay and came to live with my Grandma. I have fought for the civil rights of the GLBT community in every way possible, always as an ally. Everyone who knows me knows this. What everyone doesn’t know, however, is the deeper reason I fight so hard: I am the B in GLBT.
I’ve always been Bisexual (or, more accurately, pansexual, but I’ll get into that in my next post), and yet only two or three people know this about me. My own parents don’t even know (Hi Mom!). So, why have I been such an obnoxiously loud ally for GLBT rights and yet never openly identified as such? I guess you’ll just have to come back here and find out (yes, that’s a cheap ploy to get you to return to this site and read my work; whatever).
I’m deeply grateful to be here, especially among some people that I have been fortunate enough to meet in real life and actually like and respect. I’m always amazed when that happens, and even more so when the feeling is mutual.
Please feel free to stop by my blog, Single Mama NYC, or find me on Twitter at @IssaMas.
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So happy to have met you at VOTY, so happy to spend time with you on twitter and so happy to have your voice here.
Same here, Vikki. Thank you!
Beautiful post from a truly beautiful woman. xo
Thank you, Mama. I’m grateful to know you and share all that we have shared together.
Couldn’t agree more! What Vikki and Dresden said, times a million. Can’t wait to read the next installment! And the next, and the next…
I wouldn’t be out here right now if it weren’t for you, Polly. I’m ever grateful to you, Sister.
I love that the time is right for you now to come out. May we continually increase our understanding of each other, dissolve barriers and assumptions about each other and truly support all of our community. Your post reminds me that I’m sure I haven’t seen bisexual men and women, have maybe appreciated them as allies without making room for other possibilities. Thank you for that. And cheers to your Coming Out Day!!! Hello, Sister Issa!
Thank you, Deb! I’m truly grateful to be here.
What they all said — and I want to talk to you about queer perceptions of beauty at some point …
Amazing what grows from online and personal connections!
Looking forward to that conversation; thank you, Susan!
Such a beautiful post! And it’s great to get to know you a little better. Thank you for being a fighter for us, and yourself.
And HI!!!!!
Thank you, Casey! I’m grateful to be here with you all.
Oh, and HI!!!!!!
Happy coming out– what a way to do it. There is, however a larger identity issue you touch on that I have struggled with. I am bisexual. I have a daughter with my husband. Marrying a man and later having a child has made me all but invisible as LGBT. And yet, I strongly self identify as part of the community. Am I am ally? Yea. Am I part of LGBT? Yea. Except a lot of people don’t see me that way.
Thank you! I totally understand what you mean. I think Deb above makes a good point about Bi women being slightly invisible in the GLBT community. Perhaps it’s time for us to raise our voices and make ourselves more visible! 🙂
Hi! Excited to follow your journey. What a great way to come out! 🙂
Oh and my daughter’s name is Isa as well. Pronounced the same way.
Agreed! I said to a friend, “Who comes out like this? Oh, yeah, a blogger does, that’s who.” Heh.
And you picked a wonderful name for your daughter, by the way! Not that I’m biased or anything. 😉