Family Equality is thrilled to introduce the Family Equity Justice (FEJ) Survey, which is a crucial part of the Family Equity Justice Program!
About the Family Equity Justice Program
The FEJ program is a research-focused initiative that seeks to understand how BIPOC, economically alternately- and under-resourced, and/or geographically remote families who live outside major urban centers experience the LGBTQ+ family journey. As a national nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that everyone can experience the unconditional joy and belonging of family, maintaining a full and complete picture of what all our families experience is essential to serving them better.
The goals of the program are to:
- Empower our organization to better respond to and include BIPOC families
- Expand the Family Equality community to include more geographically, structurally, and socioeconomically diverse individuals and families
- Strengthen our organizational capacity to respond to emerging opportunities and threats at local, state, and national levels
- Provide actionable, ethical research to advance the work of our organization and our movement partners
About the Family Equity Justice Survey
The FEJ Survey is an essential component of this program, as it will allow us to answer the following questions:
- How do the experiences of LGBTQ+ BIPOC families differ in relation to family creation, conception, housing, choice of residence location, economic challenges, discrimination faced, child-rearing, partner selection, religion, education, healthcare, identity development, mental health, substance abuse, body size/image, and relationships with families of origin?
- How has being an LGBTQ+ parent or child impacted your relationship with your community and do you feel empowered to pursue your goals and objectives in the current political and cultural moment?
- What are the barriers to engagement and participation in the broader LGBTQ+ family rights and advocacy community for BIPOC people and families?
We are currently piloting the FEJ survey with caregivers and parents where at least one caregiver/parent identifies as BIPOC. Prospective parents who are BIPOC are also of interest to our research. The parent(s)/caregiver(s) need to have had at least partial custody of their children during their childhood. The current age of the child is not relevant nor is the race of the child. BIPOC means any parent/caregiver that does not identify as white non-latinx. We would like for at least 50 percent of our sample to be from families that are alternately-resourced and/or living in non-urban areas.
Why should you participate in the survey?
It is our hope that by participating in this survey, participants will:
- Contribute to the visibility of BIPOC LGBTQ+ families
- Learn more about how Family Equality works to support their families
- Develop new self-advocacy skills
- Uncover new narratives and perspectives surrounding our communities
- Impact how Family Equality creates programs and events so that they serve and reach more communities
- Provide valuable data to Family Equality that will be reported to movement and community partners, thereby strengthening national advocacy efforts
In short, we want to get to know BIPOC LGBTQ+ families around the country and we are especially interested in having conversations if you live outside major metropolitan areas and in the southern and midwestern parts of the United States!
Ready to get started?
Please fill out this screening document and provide us with your contact information. We look forward to talking with you sometime during 2023 even if you are not selected for the pilot. Participants will receive a $75 visa gift card for participating in the survey.