Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere
COLAGE logo
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| Founded | 1990 |
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| Type | LGBTQ, peer support group, virtual organization |
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| Website | colage |
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Formerly called
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Just for Us, Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere |
COLAGE (originally abbreviated from Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) is an organization created in 1990 by the children of several lesbian and gay male couples who felt a need for support.
COLAGE is run and operated by people of all ages who have a LGBTQ parent or parents. Older Colagers mentor younger members, preparing them for challenges that a child may face having same-sex parents. Every summer COLAGE comes to Family Pride annual Family Week in Provincetown on Cape Cod. There, hundreds of gay families attend COLAGE meetings and workshops.
COLAGE is currently a virtual organization and has a small paid staff. Its executive director is Annie Van Avery who has a gay father and a lesbian mother. The national program coordinator is Robin Marquis who was raised by her lesbian mom and bisexual mom with the help of her two gay dads.
COLAGE is the first organization of its kind and was originally called Just for Us. Just for Us began as a newsletter of the main six members of COLAGE. Later, six other chapters around the United States adopted that name. The ancestry of COLAGE can be tracked to an annual conference that is sponsored each year by Gay and Lesbian Parents Coalition International (GLPCI). In 1992, the group met for three days, outside of its annual meeting, to compose a mission statement and long-term goals. Amity Buxton represented the Straight Spouse Network (SSN), which has close relations with the Family Pride Coalition (FPC), at the conference and gave presentations for the GLPCI/FPC concerning her heading of the Task Force for children through the PFLAG. Her presentation proved successful in contributing to the origins of COLAGE.
In 1995, COLAGE opened a volunteer-run national office in San Francisco. This office operated for the primary purpose of providing "support, research, media, and advocacy" for over 500 families on a mailing list of children with GLBT parents. Beginning in 1996, COLAGE included children of transgender parents and designed specific resources not available anywhere else.
In 1997, the organization had their first director on payroll with a minuscule budget. The director, along with a determined team of youth-led volunteer committees, was able to commence a nationwide campaign that would allow them to hire another staff member in 1999.
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Wikipedia