In the 1970s, social workers in several states placed queer teens with queer foster parents, in discrete acts of quiet radicalism.
When Don Ward was a child, in Seattle, in the nineteen-sixties, his mother, each December, would hand him the Sears catalogue and ask him to pick Christmas gifts. By the time his parents filed for divorce, the catalogue had become a refuge, for Ward, from their shouting matches. Eventually, instead of looking at toys, he began turning to the men’s underwear section, fascinated by the bodies for reasons he didn’t really understand.
At Christmas, Ward would call his father. Every time, after recognizing his son’s voice, Ward’s father would hang up. Ward spoke with his mother from time to time, and he began visiting the Seattle Counseling Service, which had been established to “assist young homosexuals in meeting their personal, medical and social problems.” There, Ward met Randy, a volunteer counsellor with a distaste for gender conventions—Ward remembered him pairing red lipstick with combat boots.
Although few people were aware of it at the time, other states had also begun matching queer children with queer foster parents. A year before Marion licensed Robert, a gay social worker in Chicago named David Sindt had piloted a similar experiment. Later, at a conference, Sindt said that he’d licensed three queer foster families, including a gay man and a lesbian woman who were married to each other.
Determining the number of such placements from this era is next to impossible. At least thirty-five took place in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. There were at least three in Illinois and sixteen in Washington State. I’ve found references to others in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. The story of these placements, which happened without national coördination, has never been fully told.
Karen Hagberg and Kate Duroux also struggled to be good parents, Hagberg told me. Like Robert, when she wasn’t working, Hagberg was often attending protests and demonstrations. Duroux had a young son to look after. Both women were cisgender and possessed only a basic understanding of what it meant to be trans. But they were open to who Vera was. She “opened my eyes to that whole segment of the queer community,” Hagberg said.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
No turning back: A queer-story lesson from Generation XNow, in 2023, members of Generation X look back on their own defining eras, and the moments in which their identities were shared with and expressed to the world.
Lire la suite »
The Untold Story of the High Schoolers Behind the First Gender Sexuality Alliance“[Students] went from coming to school and sitting on their own in the mornings to having this huge group spanning three different tables by the cafeterias. They've gone from not wanting to come to school to excited every day.”
Lire la suite »
Practicing ‘Healthy Hedonism’: Experts on Keeping Queer Audiences Safe Year-RoundWith Pride Month drawing to a close, Billboard talked to owners of queer spaces about how event organizers can actively help make more inclusive environments for LGBTQ patrons.
Lire la suite »
David Archuleta's Mom Also Left Mormon Church to Support Son's Queer IdentityAmerican Idol winner David Archuleta revealed that while his mother Lupe Marie Bartholomew had a 'hard time' coming to terms with his sexuality after he came out as queer, she eventually showed serious support by leaving the Mormon Church.
Lire la suite »
25 Queer Films That Emerged From the Sundance Film FestivalIn honor of the festival's 40th anniversary, Kim Yutani, director of programming, spoke about some of the most important LGBTQIA+ films to debut there.
Lire la suite »
Netflix’s Fabulously Queer ‘Glamorous’ Lets Femmes Be Sex SymbolsNetflix's 'Glamorous'—starring Kim Cattrall and Miss Benny—might be the gayest show there is today—a celebration of feminine queerness that we’ve never seen on mainstream TV before.
Lire la suite »