Eliot and Emma

Thanks for taking the time to meet us. We’re sisters. We live with our mom and her girlfriend.

My name is Eliot. I'm on the left in the picture above, and I’m 8 years old. When people use the word "gay" in a mean way it makes me tingly and mad.

My name is Emma. I'm on the right in the picture above. I’m 7 years old. There’s this boy that will call me gay. It makes me really sad and I tell him, “You’re making fun of my mom right now.”

People where we live use the word "gay" in a mean way. At school it’s brought up so much. Kids use the word "gay" if something or someone is weird or nasty. People just calling other people gay and they don’t know what it really means.

When we get home we like to go to the Rainbow Rumpus site and see the pictures, download the coloring pages, and read the interviews of other kids. It’s exciting—and a relief—to to see that lots of kids have families like ours.

If everyone knew that lots of kids have lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents, and that it’s ok to be gay, then we would feel a lot better. People would stop using "gay" to mean something bad. There wouldn’t be so many people judging our family. It would give us the chance to be 100% happy. It would be a better life.

Please help Rainbow Rumpus keep connecting us to friends, pictures, and stories about families like ours. You can help other kids learn about kids like us, too. Thank you!

P.S. LGBT families continue to be maligned and marginalized by well-funded organizations created to deny equal rights to our community. Minnesota's anti-marriage amendment and Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" law will generate national debate in the coming year. Rainbow Rumpus’ role in providing kids like Eliot and Emma with positive stories, images and information about families like theirs is critical. Please consider giving $10 a month to ensure that Eliot and Emma have a safe space to thrive. With your support we will raise $5,000 by the end of July to publish and publicize at least six interviews, five illustrated stories, four comics, and three new titles in our educational book series this year. You can view our progress here. Thanks for your generosity!