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A recurring concern that we hear from parents when their child comes out as LGBTQ+ involves family, and more specifically the fear of losing the possibility of future family. Parents are sometimes worried when they find out they have a queer child, because they feel like they’re losing their chance to be a grandparent, or they just really knew their child would make a great parent, but they don’t think they’ll get to actually experience parenthood as a queer person.  So, in an effort to dispel that myth that LGBTQ+ people don’t have families, our guests today join guest host Shauna Jones to talk about their experiences as queer parents. 

Special Guest: Guy Berryessa

Guy grew up mostly in conservative Provo, Utah, the fourth of four boys, and attended schools in Provo and briefly in Bangkok, Thailand, before attending college at BYU.  He came out at 26 to his father and a year later, after a year of volunteer service in Nigeria, to his mother (who immediately threw up!) and almost everyone else. His parents eventually became great, supportive allies. Guy and Trey, his husband of 26 years, moved to San Francisco in 1997. They adopted their first child in Germany in 2002 and a second in San Francisco in 2010.  They currently live primarily in Hawaii, but are often back to their San Francisco home, as their elder daughter attends Sonoma State. 

Special Guest: Sean Childers-Gray

Sean Childers-Gray is a transgender man who grew up in Kearns, Utah, and co-founded a charity drag troupe called the Salt City Kings. He has a BA in graphic arts from Stevens-Henager and holds an MFA in media design. He has served as the President of Ogden Pride since 2020. In October 2021, he was honored with the Equality Utah Impact Award for Advancing Transgender Equality. Sean is a graphic designer and writer. He and his wife Sara are raising two queer teenagers, two huskies, and a cat named Todd. As an Educator in Higher Ed for over 15 years, Sean finds advocating for his students at Davis Tech College a priority as he continues his work for the LGBTQ+ community at large.

Special Guest: Emily English

Emily is a writer, teacher, and grant program specialist who lives in Bellingham, Washington.  She is passionate about the rights and lives of young queer people.  She adores her 5 boys and considers being their mother to be one of the great joys of her life.  In her free time, she journals, writes, reads, and loves to go on adventures to odd and obscure places.

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