New Relic Senior Software Engineer Lauren Voswinkel on the moment she came out to her father as a transgender woman That moment of openly sharing myself and received nothing but acceptance was the most powerful thing that I have ever experienced from my family.” That was the first time I really started to respect my father. But my dad’s response was, “What’s wrong?” And at this point I was so choked up with tears that I couldn’t really relate anything to him, except to say, “I want to be a woman.” My dad let out a sigh and then looked at me and said, “The only thing that I have ever wanted, really the only thing that any parent should ever want for their children, is for them to be happy.” At that point I started crying even more and he started crying, too.
One day, I was dressing in clothes that you wouldn't expect a young man to wear … my dad walks right in and I started crying on the spot, I was so worried about what he would say or what he would do. “For years, I was terrified of telling my father. Kristen Ortega (left) and Kerry Haider sharing their stories during the queer parenting panel. Infrastructure and Operations Security Engineer Kristen Ortega on how she and her wife plan to talk to their young son about being a queer family. We are going to try to let him know that ‘it takes a village’ and that there is a wide range of families.” Every family is different some families look alike, and some families look like their dog. My son’s family has him and his two moms. I have my New Relic family-I’m not blood related to them, but I enjoy talking to them and confiding in them. “We try to have a lot of books around that identify family as a group of people that love each other and care for each other. But I wanted to share some quotes that I found particularly powerful: There were so many great moments in the different talks that it would be impossible to include them all in a single post. One of our cherished values here at New Relic is that we strive to be “authentic” with one another, and this value was on clear display as person after person opened up and spoke with honesty and vulnerability about the challenges they have faced in their lives. I was struck by the bravery of the speakers who got on stage to share their most personal stories with their colleagues. The diverse talks covered a number of themes: the challenges of queer parenting, coming out stories, attraction as a spectrum, the struggles of LGBT activism in the Middle East and North Africa, and even a lively presentation on the “hidden” queer history of superhero comics.Īll Relics were welcomed to join these events in person or remotely the turnout was large and the reception enthusiastically supportive.
Another big highlight of Pride Month was our speaker series featuring New Relic employees from all across the company as well as outside speakers who visited to share their stories with us. It’s OK to take your time.In honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) this past June, the Rainbow Relics, New Relic’s LGBTQ+ affinity group, hosted several special events in our global offices, including teams of Relics marching in the pride parades of many cities. It’s OK to change your mind a million times and figure out what works for you. ‘This world would be a whole lot better if we just made an effort to be less horrible to one another.’ – Elliot Page There were so many different ways to be beautiful.’ – Michael Cunningham ‘So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.’ – Tom Cook We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love.
‘We are not what other people say we are. ‘If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself.’ – Zanele Muholi It takes no survey to remove repression.’ – Harvey Milk It takes no political deal to give people freedom. ‘It takes no compromise to give people their rights … it takes no money to respect the individual. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web