Greetings! Today, I wanted to highlight the excitement surrounding a baby shower for two of my closest friends. This past Saturday they safely hosted us at Triple Bottom Brewery, in Philadelphia, for a private event to ensure the health of mom-to-be and the small gathering of friends and family. We all came together to celebrate and shower Beth, Nicole, and baby Theo with love and affection from our community and their "chosen family."
Aside from the beauty of this day, and the joy we all felt celebrating the soon to be addition to our community, I wanted to highlight the importance of community and our "chosen family." As members of the LGBTQ+ community, many of us have confronted systemic and familial issues. As a result, we tend to build a chosen family of close friends to create a support system as a protection for ourselves, our families, and our community. I use the word protection, because although there have been vast advances towards equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, there are still many systemic barriers, especially facing LGBTQ+ parenthood and parenting. Through these posts, I want to highlight obstacles that confront LGBTQ+ and queer identifying iduviduals, with the hope of education to facilitate better understanding and spark engagement in these critical conversation.
Some of these barriers include displacing or disadvantaging the children of LGBTQ+ parents or removing the protection of a parent. I'm not going to go into detail, but Beth is the biological mother and Nicole is carrying our sweet Theodora. Since Beth and Nicole are not married, they will not both be listed on Theo's birth certificate, regardless that they are both her mothers.
As the afternoon continued and socialization turned into some cherished and humorous baby shower activities, a surprise awaited! Our celebration of Theo turned into a gorgeous surprise wedding for our dear Beth and Nicole! With about 30 of their family and chosen family gathered, they decided to surprise us all and sign their marriage certificate that Saturday, the 22nd of January. They took turns reciting their heartfelt vows, with each of their sisters as witnesses. We cheered and took a toast and a vow as a community. We vowed to cherish Beth and Nicole's love to each. We vowed to celebrate our friends in both times of triumph and of heartbreak. We vowed to the many adventures that await both them and our community. And we vowed to protect their baby Theo, with all of our hearts. Baby Theo, Beth, & Nicole, we all love you more than we can put into words, and I can't wait to meet Theo, and protect her with our whole community! Love you always!
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