Themes:
family, family involvement, mental health, community, chosen family, support
family, family involvement, mental health, community, chosen family, support
Transcript
Ryan: Do you want to start with my family?
Max: Uhh. go
Ryan: So I was raised in a pretty liberal family. You know, my mom had never really flinched about anything anybody had ever said to her about who they are or how they feel they should present. She’s also worked in the mental health field, so she’s been exposed to a lot of the community because mental health issues are present in the community and…
Tara: When you say community, do you mean queer community?
Ryan: I would say a lot of disenfranchised communities. She was in the mental health field so she was exposed to a lot. And a lot of times disenfranchised folk can be part of our community. So I was just raised in an environment where you know people at the core I guess are valued, not how they present. But just who they are. So, to, create an intergenerational community, you know when we go to these communities queer friendly barbecues lets say, my mom will get invited and she’ll come and you know. We’ll have our kids, us, my parents, my siblings might come, their kids that kind of thing. So it’s very natural in that sense, to have multi-generations part of what we do. On Max’s side, the parents weren’t terribly supportive neither were siblings, so they’ve actually removed themselves. So they don't even have a choice, to have you know to have the intergenerational exposure in that sense.
Max: So that’s unfortunate. But it’s still fresh. I can only have hope. Through other emotions - I can only really try to focus on hope. For really for the benefit of our kids. So that’s still in progress. It’s a work in progress - in progress. I'm just going to leave it at that. However, to go back to the exposing the children to intergenerational aspects of it. I mean when we go to these events, there are people of all walks of life. All ages from all different communities and everything. So I mean, we’re… because, I go out and meet them. If they are with me, they are coming with me as I go out and meet these people. So it’s like “oh hi I'm Max, and this is my daughter,” and they are like hi, hey. So we try to create a link between the younger generation and maybe the generation older so we try to make that work.
Ryan: Do you want to start with my family?
Max: Uhh. go
Ryan: So I was raised in a pretty liberal family. You know, my mom had never really flinched about anything anybody had ever said to her about who they are or how they feel they should present. She’s also worked in the mental health field, so she’s been exposed to a lot of the community because mental health issues are present in the community and…
Tara: When you say community, do you mean queer community?
Ryan: I would say a lot of disenfranchised communities. She was in the mental health field so she was exposed to a lot. And a lot of times disenfranchised folk can be part of our community. So I was just raised in an environment where you know people at the core I guess are valued, not how they present. But just who they are. So, to, create an intergenerational community, you know when we go to these communities queer friendly barbecues lets say, my mom will get invited and she’ll come and you know. We’ll have our kids, us, my parents, my siblings might come, their kids that kind of thing. So it’s very natural in that sense, to have multi-generations part of what we do. On Max’s side, the parents weren’t terribly supportive neither were siblings, so they’ve actually removed themselves. So they don't even have a choice, to have you know to have the intergenerational exposure in that sense.
Max: So that’s unfortunate. But it’s still fresh. I can only have hope. Through other emotions - I can only really try to focus on hope. For really for the benefit of our kids. So that’s still in progress. It’s a work in progress - in progress. I'm just going to leave it at that. However, to go back to the exposing the children to intergenerational aspects of it. I mean when we go to these events, there are people of all walks of life. All ages from all different communities and everything. So I mean, we’re… because, I go out and meet them. If they are with me, they are coming with me as I go out and meet these people. So it’s like “oh hi I'm Max, and this is my daughter,” and they are like hi, hey. So we try to create a link between the younger generation and maybe the generation older so we try to make that work.