Rainbow Rumpus

[pegkerr]

From a press release received from a friend:

Dear Rainbow Rumpus supporters-

We've done it! The first issue is online. Thanks to all of you for your support. Click beneath my name to view the issue. Sit down with your kids and surf through it. Let us know what you think.

Then pass the word along. Send the press release below to your local paper if you're not in Minneapolis. Join us as a sponsor. Put content from our site on your own. Let's make sure every child in the country with LGBT parents, and all their friends, know we're here.

Laura Matanah
Publisher
Rainbow Rumpus
editor@rainbowrumpus.org
www.rainbowrumpus.org


MINNEAPOLIS- Rainbow Rumpus, a new on-line magazine for kids with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender parents, debuts today, Thursday, Nov. 10. Rainbow Rumpus features children's stories, poetry, drawings, cartoons, songs and videos. The magazine breaks new ground as it is the first publication by and for young children with LGBT parents.

"Rainbow Rumpus has attracted an amazing level of talent," says Laura Matanah, the magazine's publisher. "The members of our author advisory board--Marion Dane Bauer, Nancy Garden, Gregory Maguire, and Jacqueline Woodson--are all noted authors in the world of children's literature. The magazine also will feature music for children. The first issue will include a song by two-time Grammy Award winning children's musicians Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer."

How Rainbow Rumpus Began

Rainbow Rumpus was conceived when Matanah's daughter was looking at a small photo in the Human Rights Campaign's magazine Equality. She exclaimed, "Look Mommy! A picture of two moms and twins! It's just like us!"

Thus the light bulb went off for the need for a magazine for children of LGBT parents.

"I'm so excited to provide a venue for this work," Matanah said. "Our children want to see images of their families. So far there haven't been many places for people to publish. The controversy surrounding the 'Postcards with Buster' episode [a PBS television show featuring a cartoon rabbit who in one episode visits a Vermont dairy farm run by a lesbian couple and their children] shows how hard it is to distribute work featuring families with LGBT parents."

The first issue of Rainbow Rumpus contains an essay by Emma Riesner, one of the children featured in the Buster episode, about having her family be the focus of a national controversy regarding images of same-sex parents.

In addition to artistic content, Rainbow Rumpus will have a bulletin board for children to create a virtual community. "It will be a great way for children in rural areas or suburbs to connect without fear of being teased about their family," Matanah said. There will also be age-appropriate information on political issues affecting LGBT headed families.

Rainbow Rumpus has incorporated a non-profit in Minnesota. Board members are Matanah, Patt Ligman and Laura Rede. Matanah and Ligman have previous publishing experience. Rede is a children's author.

The magazine is soliciting work from both established and emerging children's authors and artists. Readers, authors and artists can get more information by emailing editor@rainbowrumpus.org.

Comments

[ravenspb.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this! It really is a great idea that should have happened sooner. These people seem to have put a lot of heart and thought into the project.

While my partner and I don't have any kids, I applaud anyone brave enough to raise such a family of their own. It's hard enough for heterosexuals to raise kids in this world (I don't have to tell you that), but there don't seem to be enough aids out there for LGBT families who may find it even tougher to raise their own families.

[la-belledame.livejournal.com]

Very cool--thanks for posting it. Except I read "triangular parents" in the first line. I think I need a nap.

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

This is most exceedingly cool, and I'm sure will leave the Dobsonites' "Family" advocates" spluttering in their swill-troughs. Do the creators of this know that a "Rainbow Rumpus" is a regular event among certain units of the U.K. "Girl Guides" (equivalent of our Girl Scouts)?

[ironymaiden]

thanks for posting this. i'm working on planning a concert around the concept of family and it may be a good resource.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

The editor of Rainbow Rumpus replied; see her comment aside to you here.

A thank you from Rainbow Rumpus

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Peg- Thanks for posting the email on your site! For the Seattle chorus (member? director?)- let me know if you do a family theme- we'd love to have a recording for Rainbow Rumpus. One Voice mixed chorus of Minneapolis did one a few years back (sadly unrecorded) for which they commissioned a composition of the children's book "One Dad, Two Dads, Red Dads, Blue Dads." You may want to talk to them. Also, I encourage all of you who are interested to get on our email list by writing me at editor@rainbowrumpus.org We'll have lots more interactive features for kids coming in the next few months. Please keep spreading the word!---Laura Matanah