During the last VQ Chat on Twitter on Monday, we chatted about many topics related to the New Year. There were success stories from 2013 and goals for 2014 and plenty of support for our VillageQ community. Next chat, by the by, is Monday January 27th at 9PM EST. Mark your calendars!
The topic that spoke to me most during our chat was reviewing highlights in 2013, personally and otherwise. 2013 was certainly a banner year for queers in the U.S. That’s not to turn a blind eye to the injustices and tragedies here and abroad, but we cannot deny the incredible steps towards equality that many of us thought we’d never see in our lifetimes.
Personally speaking, the resurrection of Lesbian Family and revamp to what is now VillageQ has been one of my proudest shared accomplishments. Reading Polly’s recap allowed me to put the year in perspective, and pat myself on the back while feeling boundless gratitude and pride for the people who have shared our vision and participated in its development. Contributors, designers, technicians, networkers and business developers have all thrown a vegetable into our stone soup and created something delicious. And what kind of virtual home would we be if we didn’t serve up some organic, vegan, sustainably farmed vegetable soup?
VillageQ is still in its infancy. There is much to be done to fully realize our vision for queer families.
The word FAMILY is like the word LOVE. There are many meanings and uses of the word. FAMILY could refer to the people who nurtured you to adulthood or the people with whom you live or the animals who curl up at your feet or the coworkers with whom you spend crazy hours or the relatives in far away places or all of the aforementioned and then some. Whatever FAMILY means to you, we want to be a place where you can share, learn and enjoy each other’s experiences, through a queer lens, of course.
In order to become the home of information, entertainment, resources, and community-building for our LGBTQ families and allies, we need to welcome new voices and create new spaces for conversation and find our community wherever they may be. We need more veggies for our soup – and probably a bigger pot.
We sure would LOVE to see your continued support and participation of our FAMILY so that we can be more things to more people in 2014. It takes a village to make stone soup – and a super amazing queer village to make gourmet consommé.
PHOTO CREDIT: DEBORAH GOLDSTEIN
Throw your proverbial veggie into the soup and consider some or all of the following actions:
- Read, comment on & share posts!
- Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
- Subscribe to the Mailing List to receive our newsletter (see that text box there, top of the right column?).
- Contribute a piece about your family.
- Contribute another one.
- Make Amazon purchases on the VillageQ affiliate link (see it down there, bottom of the right column?). Because soup pots cost money!
- Let us know what we can do to make VillageQ your home, too.
I thank you and wish you all a healthy 2014 filled with love and laughter and happy surprises.
Tag your pics #villageq to be included in the family album at 