In 2015, we formed the Society of Lucky Mothers to celebrate queer people and normalize the language around queerness after an unfortunate encounter with a bible-wielding man at our church who proclaimed, “Homosexuality is wicked and I will believe it until the day I die.” Up until then, we believed the gay rights movement was doing a spectacular job without us. Our state had passed marriage equality in 2012 and had a robust LGBT anti-discrimination law in effect. We were so grateful to the activists who had worked so hard to achieve those milestones, but we certainly didn’t want to be activists ourselves, thank you very much. Bible Man changed that.
So, what would the Society of Lucky Mothers do? It wouldn’t be a support group. PFLAG, an outstanding organization, had that handled. We would be about celebrating queer people. We’ve done that in little and sometimes big ways through the years. We’ve marched in parades (and won awards), we’ve supplied doughnuts for our local high school’s Gay Straight Alliance meeting, made monthly dinners for the queer kids at Seattle’s Lambert House, helped facilitate Trans 101 meetings in our community, campaigned against anti-trans bills (one of our ads went viral), and sponsored a queer youth dance. We are ardent supporters of Lambda Legal, the Trevor Project, the Equity Foundation, National LGBTQ Alliance, Ingersoll Gender Center, Gender Diversity, the Reformation Project and Snohomish Pride.
Individually we’ve served on the board of Equal Rights Washington (ERW), which helped pass Washington’s anti-conversion therapy law and; through the years, we’ve baked dozens of pies for ERW’s annual fundraiser. Lynn has supported a local film, The Most Dangerous Year, and volunteered with the Gender Odyssey Conference. Meanwhile, galvanized by Houston voters’ rejection of the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance (HERO), Joan placed a coming-out announcement in the Houston Chronicle to celebrate her son Drake’s queerness. It went a little viral.
In 2022 we drove across America with other lucky mothers while Drake and best friend, Lily, documented anti-LGBT legislation for their YouTube series Queer Agenda—A Great American Road Trip. Since then, we’ve been working on The Coming Out Cookbook: Sweet Recipes to Celebrate with Pride, because even though we could find many rainbow-themed desserts online, we couldn’t find them in one place.
We hope that, if you’re a parent of a queer kid, you feel lucky, too. We are here to tell you that your LGBTQ child is worth celebrating. So, we’re asking you to celebrate your child, even brag a little. Talk about your child, talk about the value of gay marriage. Let’s make it our goal to help people evolve. Not every mind can be changed, but like Don says in Kinky Boots, “You change the world when you change your mind”
So, Lucky Mothers, let’s unite and let’s change the world!
Love Wins!
