Mom

Mothers of LGBT individuals are the focus of this photo essay book from Windy City Times. The Chicago-based weekly newspaper solicited submissions from LGBTs in the Chicago area, or those formerly from Chicago, for this book. Some nationally known moms are featured, including: -Judy Shepard, mother of murdered gay activist Matthew Shepard. -Dorothy Hajdys-Holman, whose son Allen Schindler was brutally killed by military colleagues in 1992. -Go-Gos singer Belinda Carlisle and her son James Duke Mason. -Charlene Sonenberg and her son, actor/model Ronnie Kroell. The majority of photos were taken by Kat Fitzgerald of MysticImagesPhotography.com. Fitzgerald spent six years photographing LGBT events in Chicago and now resides in the San Francisco area. The book was designed by Kirk Williamson. Windy City Times sought a diversity of families to include in the book. "Both Kat and I have lost our own amazing mothers," said Windy City Times Publisher Tracy Baim, who coordinated the project. "We wanted to have a book as tribute to our own moms, but also to all of the loving and accepting moms out there. We hear a lot of stories of families who do not accept their LGBT children, and this book tells the other side of the story, with moms who are wonderfully supportive." The book ends with a heartwarming and anonymous essay by Huffington Post blogger "Amelia," to her son, who came out to her as gay at a very young age. She is only anonymous to protect her child, and her love is unconditional for all her children.