Pride Guide 2007 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Family photo exhibit to tour seven Ohio cities

GIGI KAESER

by Andrea Wood

A

Columbus-A number of groups around the state will partner with the Equality Ohio Education Fund to bring "Love Makes a Family: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People and Their Families" to cities across the state throughout June and July.

The touring photo-text display created by the award-winning Family Diversity Projects of Amherst, Massachusetts invites viewers to come face-to-face with LGBT people, and makes visible in a positive way, the love and caring in their families.

"Ohio is not a welcoming place for LGBT people and their families," said Lynne Bowman, executive director of the Equality Ohio Education Fund. "We hope these photos will help cut through all the political arguments right to the heart of the issue by showing the love, caring, and connection that are so basic to all families."

There are seven stops on the Ohio tour of the exhibit including Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center in Youngstown (June 4-8), the Unitarian Universalist

The Bellavance-Grace family

Society in Wooster (June 13-17), public libraries in Hudson and Twinsburg (June 18-25), Otterbein College in Westerville (June 26-29), Chillicothe (July 1-7), and First Baptist Church of Granville (July 8-15).

"There are LGBT people and families in every Ohio county, not just in our big cities," said Bowman. "We hope the exhibit will encourage discussion about what life is like for them.”

Photographs by Gigi Kaeser depict a variety of LGBT people and their families of all races in familiar family settings. The photos are accompanied by text edited by Peggy Gillespie from in-depth interviews she conducted with each family member.

Family Diversity Projects of Amherst, Massachusetts, a non-profit educational organization, created Love Makes a Family. Since it began touring in 1996, the exhibit has traveled to over 1,000 communities.

Equality Ohio Education Fund envisions an Ohio where everyone feels at home. The organization has a web site at www.equalityohio.org.

Andrea Wood is the manager of new media and engagement for Equality Ohio.

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