Gay, Lesbian Families
to Join
American Tradition En
Masse
By Petula Dvorak,
washingtonpost.com from the Web, April 14, 2006
Washington, Apr. 13 -- The
White House Easter Egg Roll, with its poofy, pastel dresses, cute little-boy
suits and squealing children chasing eggs, will take a turn for the political
this year.
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Jennifer
Chrisler of the Family Pride Coalition and partner Cheryl Jacques,
with their twins. "The message is that gay and lesbian
families are everywhere in this country," said Chrisler, whose group
is among those planning the event. (Family Photo) |
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Hundreds of gay and lesbian parents,
some from across the country, are planning to line up overnight tomorrow to get
tickets to the 128-year-old Washington ritual Monday, to blanket the White House
lawn with a realistic mosaic of their families.
"I don't think this is a protest. Showing up, participating fully in an
American tradition, showing Americans that we do exist, that in our minds isn't
a protest," said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Pride
Coalition, an advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents
based in Washington.
Critics have denounced the parents for politicizing such an iconic, American
event.
"I think it's inappropriate to use a children's event to make a political
statement," said Mark D. Tooley, who directs the United Methodist committee at
the Institute on Religion and Democracy. He wrote a column earlier this
year in the Weekly Standard saying gay civil rights groups were making "covert
plans to crash the annual White House Easter egg roll."
Other critics have dubbed this year's Easter mobilization "Brokeback Bunny" in
online message boards, a reference to "Brokeback Mountain," the Oscar-winning
movie about two gay men.
The springtime rite also has been targeted by the Humane Society of the United
States, which asked the White House to put the chicken before the egg and use
only eggs laid by uncaged hens. The White House nixed the cage-free idea
pretty quickly, saying that free-range hens are few and far between and that
officials want to get their 14,200 eggs from caged chickens because of food
safety concerns.
There has been some hand-wringing at the White House over the planned gay and
lesbian mobilization. White House spokesman Scott McClellan has been
fielding questions about it since January.
The National Park Service finally laid out the rules yesterday. The Easter
tradition is open to the public, and tickets are given to people on a
first-come, first-served basis. The event is open to all children, but at
least one child in the group must be 7 or younger, and there can be no more than
two adults in the group.
First lady Laura Bush's office yesterday reiterated, "Mrs. Bush wants to make
sure all families are welcome to attend the Easter egg roll."
The egg roll has been a tradition since 1878, with its petting zoos, staff
members hopping about in bunny costumes and maypole dancing. The president
sometimes makes a brief appearance, and the first lady often reads a story.
The White House was silent about their plans for this year.
Usually, the only thing that separates the egg rollers from others is their
willingness to sit on a cold sidewalk for hours, in the dark, waiting to pick up
tickets. In the past, people have set up camp outside the White House as
early as 4 a.m.
To ensure their place on the lawn, gay and lesbian parents are queuing up about
8 p.m. tomorrow. They aren't going to carry signs or chant slogans.
"The message is that gay and lesbian families are everywhere in this country,"
said Chrisler, whose group is one of about a dozen planning the event. "We
care about the same things that all parents care about: providing our
children with every opportunity and every experience possible."
The parents considered wearing some of kind T-shirt that would identify them as
a group. But because all those T-shirts could look like a protest -- and
Washington weather isn't always T-shirt-friendly in April -- the group settled
on rainbow-colored leis as a unifying symbol, said Colleen Gillespie, a
professor at New York University who began the movement after visiting last
year's egg event with her partner and their daughter, Ella.
"It is ironic. If we didn't identify ourselves somehow, once again, we're
invisible, and our presence there, it loses its power," Gillespie said.
The idea came to her after standing in the ticket line for hours last year.
She began to talk to people in line. They weren't her Brooklyn friends or
her university colleagues. They were different.
"I met a family that was home-schooling eight kids, a guy reading a Bible on the
Palm Pilot. And they all met me, a lesbian parent," Gillespie said.
"Sure, there was a little hesitation, little awkwardness. But now, when
someone is on TV saying negative things about my family, they have a visual
picture of what that family looks like. It's just me, a mom. And I'm
waiting in the freezing cold so my daughter could get some Easter eggs."
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