Chosen families” are an important and central concept in the LGBTQ+ community.

Our families often don’t look like the typical nuclear family. Many of our closest relationships might not be with our biological relatives, but with the friends and loved ones we’ve connected with since coming out.

These are our chosen families who help us co-parent, care for us when we’re sick and on whom we rely.

This year, as COVID-19 ravaged our communities, too many of us couldn’t afford to take time off work to care for the people in our lives who mean the most to us.

That’s why we support AB 1041, which would modernize job protected sick leave and family leave laws to include OUR families and reflect the reality of today’s family structures.

Please join Equality California and Assemblymember Wicks and sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of AB 1041:

The sad truth is that far too many LGBTQ+ people still struggle with family acceptance and don’t have the support of their biological or legally-related families.

When nearly 40% of all homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+, it’s no surprise we go the extra mile to rebuild our families with the people who show up to support us each and every day — whether they’re related to us or not.

But our current leave laws make it impossible to be there for our chosen loved ones in times of crisis:

A 2020 study found that one-third of LGBTQ+ people would rely on friends or chosen family members as caretakers during a health crisis, which doesn’t fit within the outdated definition of family under current leave law.

Gary, LGBTQ+ families may not look like a “traditional” family, but they are ourfamilies nonetheless.

And this month, as we celebrate being Proud Together, it’s important we continue to advocate for laws that recognize the ways we live and allow us to support and care for our loved ones.

Will you take a minute to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor of AB 1041 and help us modernize leave laws leave to include our chosen families?

https://go.eqca.org/a/Chosen-Families/