By Meema Spadola
"I've spent my entire life explaining my family to people who just don't get it." - Ry, age 17
"I have a lot of my own issues like school, friends, and sports. It annoys me 'cause time after time I have to keep on talking about [having gay fathers]. It would be so much better if everybody that asked me would be in one big room and I'd tell them and after that I wouldn't have to say it once more." - Daniel, age 13
Today, there are millions of children in the United States being raised by gay and lesbian parents. These families are at the heart of debates in courtrooms, schools and places of worship around the country as Americans struggle to define family values.
OUR HOUSE is a groundbreaking documentary that explores what it's like to grow up with gay or lesbian parents. Traveling to urban, rural and suburban communities in Arizona, Arkansas, New Jersey and New York, OUR HOUSE director Meema Spadola (the daughter of a lesbian mom) profiles the sons and daughters of five families - African American, Latino and white; Mormon, Christian, and Jewish - who illustrate some of the diversity of America's gay and lesbian families.
Reviews
~ "An uplifting portrait of a situation clearly more common than some might think." - Entertainment Weekly
~ "What is refreshing about this series of interviews is the absence of politically correct answers. Both children and parents appear to speak from the heart, saying what they really feel rather than what they think the filmmakers might want to hear." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
~ "What Spadola mostly shows is how much these kids are real kids, romantic and smart and fun and bratty, and how much they are forced to think about what other kids don't have to and how they hate having to deal with the world's ideas about their parents." - San Francisco Examiner
~ "The kids and parents interviewed here are well-spoken and engagingĦ This tape could find a home in flush gay-issues collections, especially in light of its nice little viewer's guide. Recommended." - Video Librarian
~ "EnlighteningĦ An excellent discussion prompter in school and other settings." - Booklist
~ "Highly recommended!" - Library Journal
Awards
~ 2002 Outstanding Achievement Award, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
~ Best Documentary, 2000 New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
~ Best Documentary, Outfest 2000: Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
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