AMHERST BULLETIN, June 4, 1999

LOVE MAKES A FAMILY EXHIBIT AND BOOK
NON-TRADITIONAL FAMILIES GETTING BROADER ATTENTION:
Local women's photo exhibits carry message of diversity

by Nick Grabbe, Editor-In-Chief, Amherst Bulletin

More people wrote letters to the Amherst Bulletin about the LOVE MAKES A FAMILY exhibit three years ago than about any other issue in the newspaper's 30 year history. The exhibit, composed of photos and text about families headed by gays and lesbians, survived a court challenge and was shown in Amherst's elementary schools.

Now, writer/interviewer Peggy Gillespie and photographer Gigi Kaeser of Amherst are poised to take on the entire country. They already have ll copies of LOVE MAKES A FAMILY: LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, and TRANSGENDER PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES crisscrossing the U.S. being shown in schools, colleges, libraries, galleries, churches, workplaces, and corporate headquarters. This month, they will go on the first of two nationwide tours to promote the book version of the exhibit, which has just been published by the University of Massachusetts Press.

And what better way to teach children to respect the diversity of families than on television? On June ll, a film crew from the Nickelodeon children's TV network for NICK NEWS is scheduled to visit the area to interview two families who were part of this exhibit and book for a TV show on adolescents who live with gay and lesbian parents.

On June ll, there will also be a reception, reading and booksigning at 6:30-9 p.m. at the Unitarian Society in Northampton (Nick News will be there as well).

LOVE MAKES A FAMILY, which tells the stories of many non-traditional families in the Pioneer Valley (and from all over the United States as well) is still upsetting some people. Last month, there were protests when it was shown at a community center outside of Boulder, Colorado, by residents who were uneasy about its accessibility to children, Gillespie said.

"It's sex when it's connected to kids" that gets people worked up, she said. "they think showing a picture of two women in a back yard with a dog will make kids become gay or learn about sex too soon just by looking at the pictures." But such controversies can be helpful in "exposing underlying homophobia," she said.

"In Amherst, some people didn't want to have to tell their children about this," said Kaeser. "What was in their minds was 'Will I have to talk to my children about gay sex?' There was a general prejudice against gay people. It's very scary and potent."

While protests receive a lot of media attention, many letters attest to the potential for LOVE MAKES A FAMILY to change lives. One came from a lesbian in Maine who saw the portraits of happy, thriving gay families and used the exhibit as an opportunity to come out to her parents, Gillespie said. Another came from a teacher who described a mother who felt able to accept her gay children's sexual orientation after seeing the exhibit.

"One by one, these stories come in and it inspires us, " Gillespie said.

LOVE MAKES A FAMILY has been exhibited at Microsoft Corporation and several LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES offices around the country. IT is about to appear at Dupont and the Chubb insurance company, Gillespie said.

The coffee-table book, which sells for $40 hardback and $19.95 paperback, will extend the reach of their message. The title is LOVE MAKES A FAMILY: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents and their Families.

Bruce Wilcox, the director of UMASS Press said that BOOKLIST has named LOVE MAKES A FAMILY one of the l0 outstanding gay and lesbian books of the year. He noted that the Washington Post has had a feature story on it, and the national gay publication, THE ADVOCATE plans one in their June issue.

LOVE MAKES A FAMILY is one of four photo/text exhibits distributed by Family Divresity Projects. NOTHING TO HIDE is about families touched by mental illness, OF MANY COLORS is about multiracial families (also a book published by UMASS Press) which includes gay and lesbian families, and IN OUR FAMILY, which presents a wide variety of all kinds of families.

Gillespie and Kaeser like their exhibits to be shown in schools because they believe that open discussion of the daily lives of non-traditional families can help reduce hurtful name-calling by children. And that is a problem that could have played a role in the tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. The teenage boys implicated in the shootings there were apparently tormented and called names, Gillespie said....She and Kaeser said they see their exhibits as opportunities to combat violence in schools and bring diverse groups of teenagers together.

"Children need to learn early on that people who are different are to be respected and cherished," Gillespie said.
(NOTE: To see where the exhibit will be in the next few months, or to get information about the June book tour, email famphoto@aol.com or visit their website at http://lovemakesafamily.org )

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