Part of the fun of publishing an internet magazine is reaching folks across the world. Juha Jämsa, an intern at the Finnish gay rights organization SETA, contacted me at the end of 2006 wanting to know more about the resources available to LGBT-headed families in the United States. I told him about the Rainbow Families conference that takes place here in Minneapolis and a variety of other resources and events. Imagine my surprise when he came up to me at the conference and introduced himself!
Left to right: Juha Jämsa from Finland, Cary Walski, webmaster, Laura Matanah, publisher, Joan Wing, volunteer, and, at bottom, Jeremy Heimer, Flash Features Coordinator.
It's been wonderful to see so many of you at events and to hear you sharing your excitement about the expansion of our site. An enormous thank-you goes out to Cary Walski, our volunteer webmaster, for all the work she put into its design. Please take the time to fill out our new survey and tell us what you think of the changes!
Expansion of the site is going hand-in-hand with expansion of our volunteer staff and board. These positions are a wonderful opportunity to have fun while creating literature and an online community for youth with LGBT parents and resources for parents, teachers, and friends. As this issue goes to press I don’t have names to share with you, but it seems safe to say that we have board member, writing, and possibly editorial volunteer positions still available. These positions take two to three hours a week. Writing and editorial positions can be for-credit college internships with a larger time commitment. If you know someone who would be interested, have them send a letter of interest and resume to the attention of Laura Matanah at editor@rainbowrumpus.org. The position descriptions can be viewed on the Contact Us page.
Below are photos of the fun we’ve been having together since April. Photos are from the Rainbow Families Conference (thanks to Sarah Farley!) and the Root Beer Floats and Fun fundraiser in Minneapolis. Photos from Pride and other events will be coming up in future issues. Thank you, as always, for your involvement and support.
