Queer families exist on spectrums, and form in a vast array of configurations. Queer families have a rich history. We are blessed by the nurture of grandparents, guncles and aunties who themselves don’t fit in. Our marriages and partnerships defy cultural conditioning. The legal steps we have to take to claim our children can be absurd and are necessary. We regularly overcome and break barriers in education, health care and social settings. LGBTQ+ families challenge the status quo through every part of bearing and raising up little humans who are full of promise and possibility.

This generation is not the first to have to figure out how to birth, parent, educate, and support as queer parents, while raising LGBTQ+ kids, while living under hostile political regimes. We offer thanks to our LGBTQ+ ancestors who’ve provided reproductive care, abortions, education, and family support. At this gathering, we will honor how their contributions are still alive today as we look at birth and the next generation of the LGBTQ+ community.


Get your tickets today for our upcoming gathering!


All ages. Substance-free event. ASL interpreted. This is a hybrid in-person and livestreamed event. In person, masks will be required, and childcare is provided.


This event is presented in partnership with the University of Minnesota's* Liberal Arts Engagement Hub and the Tretter Collection. Some funding for this event is provided by the Women's Foundation Community Response Grant, and by Pfund. We are grateful to our partners and funders, and to all of our donors, for supporting this gathering and our work.

STORYTELLERS

Nick Metcalk is a brown-skinned person with an orange and gray plaid shirt on. They are looking with open brown eyes off to the right of the photograph and gesturing with a couple of fingers on their right hand. There is a microphone in front of them

Nick Metcalf (Cetanzi- Yellow Hawk)

We're thrilled to welcome back Nick Metcalf - Cetanzi (Yellow Hawk) - as a featured storyteller for our April 6 Birth, Family & the Next Generation event! Nick has been a storyteller at a previous TQH gathering. You can get your tickets at the link in our bio. Join us!

Nick (he/they) is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Sicangu Oyate (Burnt Thigh People). He is currently an assistant professor of social work at Metro State University. Nick has been recognized with multiple awards, including Student of the Year from the Minnesota Board of Social Work and community service awards from the Twin Cities LGBT Pride Board, the Minnesota Black LGBT Pride organization, and the Twin Cities People of Color LGBTQ organization

Nick was born and raised on Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. In 1990, Nick left the reservation to pursue his undergraduate degree from the University of South Dakota in Psychology/Math. Nick was joined by younger siblings in the move to Vermillion, SD then to Minneapolis, MN after graduation. As the 2nd to the oldest of 14 children, Nick has been responsible for younger siblings throughout their life.

Nick has been active in the local community with involvement with Two Spirit organizing, LGBT organizing, HIV/AIDS planning efforts, Native American child welfare, and Native American community mobilizing efforts.

Nadine Ashby has light-ish brown skin and is a Black person with curly short black hair, brown-tortoiseshell glasses, looking with open brown eyes right into the camera. They are wearing a white turtleneck shirt and a beaded necklace.

We are grateful to welcome Nadine Ashby (they/them) as a storyteller for our April gathering! They are a queer, trans birth worker and birth educator. Using a foundation of social justice, they work closely with families to create environments where they can thrive in their birth space and beyond.

They are a holder of space, a builder of community, and a student of Black American cultural traditions. When they’re not attending births or doing bodywork, you can find them cuddled up with my two children.

Nadine is excited to support aspiring and established birthworkers and businesses to create a world where we all can thrive.

Siuho Gong is smiling with teeth and partially-closed brown eyes, looking through black-framed glasses right into the camera. Siuho is ewaring a reddish shirt and has their dark long hair pulled back into a ponytail.

We’re grateful to welcome Siuho Gong (she/her) to our April gathering! Siuho is a queer, transracial adoptee who was adopted by two moms. She is active in the adoptee, queer, and Asian communities, and she believes her identities and upbringing have given her a unique perspective in BIPOC and queer spaces alike. As she has become more educated about the unethical practices of the adoption industry, she has felt empowered to speak up about her own experiences as a child of complicated—but common—beginnings. Knowing that same-sex couples are 7 times more likely to raise adopted or foster children than different-sex couples, she is excited to start a discussion in the queer community about what child-centered child welfare practices can look like.

Carol Bell is a light-skinned person with close-cropped silvery-white hair. She is looking just offcenter from the camera with dark open eyes through gray-tinted glasses that have metal frames, and smiling with teeth.

We’re grateful to welcome Carol Ball (she/her) to our April gathering! Carol is a retired obstetrician/gynecologist who provided abortion care in multiple states in the upper Midwest and elsewhere for over 40 years. She was the Medical Director of our regional Planned Parenthood affiliate for 13 years.

*The University of Minnesota is not endorsing or sponsoring the activities conducted by Telling Queer History on the University of Minnesota campus. The relationship between the University of Minnesota and Telling Queer History is solely that of licensor and licensee.