Managing Partner at Renna Communications, a public relations firm
based in Washington, DC, with an emphasis on meeting the strategic
communications needs of LGBT and progressive clients. Renna
Communications coordinated the incredible media coverage of LGBT
families’ participation in the 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll,
organized by Family Equality Council. Renna Communications will
coordinate media coverage of the event again this year. Cathy, Leah
(her wife) and Rosemary (their daughter) will attend the Egg
Roll–this time under much more auspicious circumstances! (Cross-posted at Bilerico.com)
Iowa. Washington, DC. Actually two things in the nation’s capital.
One, D.C.’s City Council had a preliminary – but unanimous – vote
to respect the laws of other states and countries and
recognize same-sex couples that legally married.
But I have to say my three and a half year old was much more
excited about preparations for
next week’s White House Easter Egg Roll. It seems that this
historic event is now a queer family tradition – and this time
we’ve been invited!
You might remember the bruhaha in 2006 when the Family Equality Council
organized a large group of LGBT families to attend the venerable
(and fun) event. The world’s eyes were definitely upon us and
despite predictions by Bill O’Reilly and others, the sky did not
fall. The Easter bunny did not spontaneously combust on the South
Lawn, either. In fact, it went just as we predicted. Our families
had a blast, we all got our picture with the White House in the
background and after about an hour, our kids were all at the low
end of a sugar high and it was time to get that gift bag and head
home.
Yes, it was quite fun to snatch the photo-op out of the Bushs’
hands in ’06, but this past week it felt much nicer and frankly,
more American, to know that the Obama administration asked us to
reach out to LGBT families and also provided a small number of
tickets to some LGBT groups. As my wife said in an AP story about
the egg roll:
“Under Bush, it felt a bit like we were crashing our
own party. But this year it feels like we’re equally honored
guests,” Leah McElrath Renna, 44, said. “It’s more
celebratory.”Rosemary is particularly excited to see the Easter bunny again and
already has planned her outfit: A yellow polka-dotted dress and a
new straw hat with a pink band.“I’m looking forward to seeing the joy on my daughter’s face when
she sees the Easter bunny,” she said. “And seeing the White House
in the background and knowing that America and the future that she
lives in will be a more perfect place than it is now.”
She could not have said it better. Are things perfect? No. But
closer than we have been before and we seem to be moving ever
forward.
For me, the real meaning of attending in 2006 will be on my mind
when we go this year. We put a face on our families that no one –
not the residents of the White House at that time, nor the right
wing extremists who said we were “using our children as political
pawns”- could deny or take away from us. Talk about irony, given
how they use our families and children like punching bags when it
suits their needs.
Two moments stick out for me at the Egg Rolls that I have been to –
one, a single African American Mom asking me to take a picture of
her and her son with the White House in the background, then
smiling and asking if she could do the same for us. “It’s nice to
get a picture with the whole family in it,” she said.
Then, in 2007 an older gentleman with White House staff ID came up
to my partner and whispered “I am glad you all keep coming back.”
Her response? “We’re here, we’re queer and we are still rolling
eggs.” So much for critics who say all the effort put into
attending the Egg Roll is superficial and assimilationist. This is
as radical as anything I did with Queer Nation. With more
chocolate.
Let’s face it, if we have seen anything from the victories – and
defeats – on marriage equality and other issues, it is that we must
tell our stories and demonstrate not that we are “like everyone
else” but that we have more in common than most people think. We
face similar challenges and unique ones. And that we deserve equal
treatment.
Having our families (in all their diversity and various structures)
attend this event is just one way to confront the tremendous
homophobia and ignorance our families face. But it is is an
important one, far less abstract than many of the messages we hear
coming from our side of the debate.
It will be interesting to see how it feels to once again feel
welcome on the White House grounds. I might get lost in the moment
– like when we scrambled to meet Elmo (the real Elmo, Mommy!!) or
in that quiet sense of awe at knowing you are standing on the South
Lawn by intentional invitation and thought. I bet it will also be
more fun.