Sophie Pointer's Blog (6)

Well it's a new year and I have noticed that I need to finish last years blog on my daughters IDAHO Day experience. But before I do I thought I would share with you what happened on a 'family' outing to Victor Harbor during the school hols.

Three same-sex families went to lunch at the Victor hotel....three sets of mummies with three kids between us aged 18 months, 5 years and 6 years, Riley being the oldest. There was a playroom and Riley got chatting to some slightly older…

I realised I hadn't finished my series of blogs on trying to inject a bit of the rainbow into Riley's primary school. We last left off with the teaser of what happens when you try to bring a little bit of IDAHO to a primary school.

IDAHO day in our house has taken on much more meaning these days as Jo and I are involved in celebrations at the high school and at the Uni where I work. It is also more prominent with the push to legalise same-sex marriage so from our perspective…

Personally I think it is looking increasingly likely that a change in the marriage laws would be defeated in parliament. Despite wide spread support among the general public and a whole bunch of state labor party people lobbying for a big debate at the National conference in Sydney I think we will be offered the more politically pallatable option of getting civilly unioned.

So if the law is changed to allow civil unions would you want one? Would you get one? Why and why…

Another gay marriage rally on Saturday. I remember the last one, the memories are not pleasant.

We have been attending the gay marriage rallies regularly of late. Sometimes our 6 year old daughter is with us and sometimes not. When she has not been at the rallies it has not been a conscious choice on our part more like a clash of social schedules (e.g. play dates, daddy days). But after what happened at the last rally I find myself unsure of whether to bring her along on…

So having decided on a school our next logical step was to attend the parent/teacher get to know you session. I have to say that the first meeting with Riley’s teacher did not go well. We asked what we thought was a fairly innocuous question about what resources the school had which would reflect Riley’s family structure. We didn’t know it then but as it turns out Riley’s reception teacher ‘doesn’t do parent teacher nights well’, apparently gets a bit nervous. The response to our question…

I have started to write about our families experience as a gay family sending our daughter to school for the first time and our experiences of being on the inside at a local high school where my partner teaches. The contrast between the two experiences is quite stark. At the high school our family is visible, celebrated even, but at the kindy and primary school level we are virtually invisible. This is our story as the invisible gay family at our local kindy and primary…