Episode #7: Family Week 2017
This month Outspoken Voices is all about FAMILY WEEK! Family Equality Council and COLAGE check in with past participants to learn what is in store for Family Week 2017.
Family Week in Provincetown, MA is the largest annual gathering of LGBTQ parents and their children in the world. This month Family Equality Council’s Emily McGranachan is joined by Family Week partner COLAGE, and some new and veteran participants to hear about what is in store for 2017 and what Family Week means to us.
Important Links:
- Family Equality Council registration: www.familyequality.org/familyweek
- COLAGE registration: www.colage.org/familyweek
- Join the Family Week community on Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/FamilyWeekPtown/
Meet Our Guests
Mary Foulk is Director of Donor Relations at Amherst College. An educator at heart and in professional practice, she has been in the field since 1994. Prior to Amherst, she held positions as a development officer at Catlin Gabel School, an independent PK–12 school in Portland, Oregon, and as a writer/project manager/instructional designer for Intel. She holds degrees from Princeton and Columbia Universities. She lives with her wife, Alyson, and their two children, Grady and June. New to Family Week, they are excited for the adventures ahead and the opportunity to meet new friends.
Kaley Fry is a fierce southern genderqueer organizer who has been involved with COLAGE for the past four years as Family Week volunteer staff and 2015 Board Fellow. Raised in North Carolina, Kaley was brought to America by two loving moms, when they were 6 months old, from Lima, Peru. Kaley has a large amount of pride for their family and has been organizing in their local communities since 2009 with an emphasis on youth empowerment, social, and racial justice. Kaley graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and completed a Non Profit Management certificate program at Duke University. They consider COLAGE a second family and aim to build more networks and connections within COLAGE and LGBTQ communities to promote and develop resilient youth leaders. Kaley and their black lab currently live in Asheville, North Carolina.
Courtney Faria has been involved in COLAGE programming since the year 2000. She started coming to COLAGE programming at Family Week in Provincetown, MA when she was 10. Her mom had just came out as a lesbian, her biological parents got divorced, and she moved to a new town with her two younger siblings and her mom to live with her mom’s new partner. She didn’t realize at the time, how much having two moms and her biological mom coming out would effect her life in really important ways. COLAGE became (and still is) a huge part of her life. She became a volunteer Family Week staff member as soon as she could and was also an intern twice. COLAGE is where she learned the value of community, social justice, her story, her voice, & how to hold up other people’s experiences & voices as well. Courtney is second gen and grew up on Cape Cod and went to Smith College in Northampton, MA. She currently lives in Seattle with her partner who is also a second gen COLAGEr! She is hoping to pursue a career as a social worker and workplace equity trainer but is currently working as a cookie baker and gardener as well as in her administrative role with COLAGE.
Samantha Price is a high school sophomore from Massachusetts. She has two wonderful mothers and has attended family week for eight years now. Samantha is also a part of COLAGE’s Youth Advisory Board. She am so grateful to be a part of Family Week and for all the amazing families she have met!
Tonya Agnew, chair of Family Equality Council’s Midwest Advisory Council, and her family live in Lafayette, Indiana. She and her wife of 4 years — but 19 total years together — have two children, Jesse, a Marine, 24 years old and 13 year-old Leo. The family first experienced the life-changing magic of Family Equality Council events and programming a decade ago on an R Family cruise and have been involved with the organization ever since.
Originally published at www.familyequality.org on July 11, 2017.
