Gay families among thousands participating in White House egg roll

[brooklynite]

Monday, April 17, 2006; Posted: 3:43 p.m. EDT (19:43 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thousands of children, including some brought by gay and lesbian parents, braved chilly rain at the South Lawn of the White House Monday to roll colored eggs across soggy grass as part of an event dating to the 19th century.

About 16,000 tickets were distributed for the day-long event, and about a hundred gay and lesbian parents lined up for the passes handed out on a first-come-first-served basis.

The gay and lesbian couples, who wore rainbow-colored leis, said they wanted to give their children an opportunity to have fun while making a political statement that they should be welcome.

"We just wanted to come out to be visible and present and to let people see we are families, too," said Alisa Surkis, 42, of Brooklyn, New York, as 3-year-old-daughter Ella clamored for her partner, Colleen Gillespie, to take her over to see the Easter Bunny.



http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/17/eastereggroll.ap/index.html

[Kutjara]

1. The report about this...

...on Faux News looked like it was going to simply note the attendance of gay/lesbian couples and move on. Then, of course, it reverted to type with the comment, "gay and lesbian couples attended, despite criticism that their lifestyles undermine family values." Really? Criticism from whom? Not Faux News, surely.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. There have almost always been gay families at this event

The one and only difference is that, this year, they were there openly.

That, of course, makes all the difference. As long as we shut up, keep to our place at the back of the bus and don't ask to use the heterosexuals only water fountains and lunch counters, we are tolerated.

[David Zephyr]

4. Excellent point.

:thumbsup:

[ThingsGottaChange]

3. Just want to make sure...

that the gay families were the ones who decided to wear the leis. My first thought was that they had to have the proverbial "red x" on their foreheads so everyone would know they were "different". Would that surprise anyone with this misadministration?

[sofa king]

5. Wait a minute. What about the screwing them out of their tickets?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x939117

What happened to that?

[trapper914]

6. Did you see the Yahoo headline?

"Gay parents quietly crash White House Easter party"

Ridiculous. How did they "crash" an event that is open to families?