Gina, 39, and Heidi , 39, and their sons, Avery and Quinn, make their
home in Northampton and participate in a local Quaker Meeting. Both
women are active in community life, volunteering on such projects as
adult literacy, housing discrimination, and mentoring a Springfield High
School student.
Heidi and Gina have been in a loving, committed relationship
for 14 years, and held a ceremony commemorating their union in 1993 that
was attended by 100 family members and friends. Both women always wanted
a family, and after careful planning, Heidi gave birth to Avery, now seven
years old, in 1996, and Quinn, who is four. Gina took several weeks
off after each birth, and completed a second-parent adoption making them
both legal parents of the boys. In addition, Gina reduced her work
schedule in 1998 so that she could spend more time with the children in their
formative years.
Avery and Quinn are strong and spirited boys who enjoy active ties to both Gina's and
Heidi's families. The family travels to Baltimore four times a year to
visit Gina's family. Heidi's father, step-mother, and extended family
are nearby and play an important and supportive role with the boys.
In fact, Heidi's mother and step-father started a PFLAG -- Parents and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays -- chapter in Hanover, N.H., while her
father and step-mother supported a resolution in their own Quaker
Meeting affirming the right of gay and lesbian couples to be united
under the care of the Meeting.
At their 1993 ceremony, a speaker noted the public recognition Gina and
Heidi chose demonstrated to others that "we're proud of who we are, that
our goals and motivations -- to love and be loved, to share our lives
intimately with another, to have children and create families -- are
things that we have in common with all humanity."
Gina is currently not working, while Heidi is now the Executive Director of the Northampton Survival Center (since May of 2004)
|
