This year, Pride Is More than a Celebration. It’s a Wake-Up Call

Family Equality CEO Darra Gordon on what it really takes to protect LGBTQ+ families

It’s June! Happy Pride! This year is extra significant. It marks the ten-year anniversary of marriage equality. I can’t begin to explain how significant that has been for me and for my family.

Most of you know that my wife and I are raising two kids together—kids who do KID things. A few years ago, Jude fell on the sidewalk and cracked his forehead open. I scooped him up and Frances and I got to the ER in time for a doctor to sew three tiny stitches across the cut. In the midst of our small emergency, no one ever questioned that I was his mom.

If they had, that legal question would be resolved: Frances and I are married. I’m listed as “parent #2” on his birth certificate.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how far the LGBTQ+ movement has come. When I was coming out at 19, I also came to terms with the loss involved in accepting I’d never get married, and probably never have children. Those options weren’t available to people like me. That was the 1990s. The past three decades have brought marriage equality, broader social acceptance, and stronger legal protections for our children.

But woah, 2025.

This year, that progress feels increasingly precarious. Laws and policies that once moved steadily toward justice now feel like they’re slipping backward. Like many queer parents right now, I’m taking steps to protect my family. I’m completing a second-parent adoption, just to ensure that my legal rights to my own children are undeniable even if gay marriage is eventually struck down. I want to make sure that my kids can always rely on me to make medical decisions for them, among many other things…

For this year’s Pride episode, the Hello Monday team collectively has decided we want to go deep on how to support queer families. Whether you are a part of one, you aspire to start one, or you’d like to know how to show up for families in your own community, this episode is for you.

Meet Darra Gordon

Darra Gordon is the CEO of Family Equality. Darra and her wife have Irish tripliets; for a brief period about a dozen years ago, they had three babies under a year old. So, you can be sure she has tenacity. She has spent her entire professional life working to make sure that LGBTQ+ people can come out; that we see ourselves reflected in the world around us; and that we can create and sustain families without fear, without barriers, and with full recognition under the law. Darra and her wife have Irish tripliets; for a brief period about a dozen years ago, they had three babies under a year old. So, you can be sure she has tenacity. And I should say: we’ve been friends since long before either of us had wives or kids.

Here are just a few of the things we’ll get into:

• The Power of Authenticity Living and working as your full, authentic self can be transformative. When you stop masking and start sharing your true identity, including your family and personal life, you thrive.

• Community Is Essential for Belonging and Strength Finding and building community that reflects your identity will create a vital mirror for your children, strengthen your own sense of self, and empower you to navigate and influence broader, more mixed spaces with confidence and resilience.

• Progress Requires Persistence and Advocacy While legal protections for LGBTQ+ families have improved over time, they are still vulnerable. Continued advocacy, both federally and state-by-state, is crucial to ensuring safety, equality, and the right to form and maintain families without discrimination.

From my family to yours, whoever you love, Happy Pride!

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