Children of queers

>> Kid aficionado has dreams of a daycare
for the sexually marginalized family

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Giselle Codd

Age: 28

Occupation: Daycare worker/philosopher/gardener

Bio: When this delightful downtown damsel isn’t busy babysitting a six-year-old autistic boy, she’s volunteering her time with the Head and Hands Young Parents Program, minding the children of people under age 25 who leave their kids in her care while they go about attending job training workshops and the like. A sharp, articulate lass, Giselle emerged from university armed with a BA in philosophy, but like so many philosophers before her, found little work philosophizing and wound up paying her bills via her bang-up gardening/landscaping skills in summer and “through all sorts of things” in winter. As a chick who digs other chicks in the most delicious of ways, Giselle is now hoping to launch a “Queer-Positive Daycare Centre” for “sexually marginalized families,” assuming there is enough interest in the project, of course. “What’s often missing from daycare workers is the understanding that all children are unique, all with different needs. I’ve taken care of children throughout my lifetime, and find I develop emotional bonds quite easily.“

How does a “queer-positive daycare centre” work? “For starters, I don’t know if I’ll be calling it ‘Queer Daycare’ exactly, I’m still not sure about what name I’ll use. But it’ll be a very positive environment where queer families will be able to network with each other, you know, to understand that there are other families like them and to offer support to one another.”

Is the idea primarily for the children of queer families or for the parents of queer children? “It’ll be for everyone, straight people too, but of course it’ll be open to queer kids. But I think it’s very important for kids who have queer parents to be with other kids from similar families, just to know they’re not freaks, that there are other families like theirs, and that there is support. Even within the gay community, there’s a lot debate about whether queers should adopt the hetero norm and be getting married and having families. It scares a lot of them, thinking about how hard it could be for their children. It holds a lot of gay people back from having families and living the lives they want to live, and I don’t think that’s fair. It’s important that a child, no matter who his parents are, understands that they’re normal. An institution like this will encourage this understanding.”

Outside of an enlightened attitude towards queer families, how does a “queer-positive daycare centre” differ from the next daycare centre? “Well, we’ll be including things like, say, alternative children’s literature, just so there isn’t always that strict divide on how a boy or a girl should turn out like.”

How to contact Giselle if you’re looking for a “queer-positive” babysitter or daycare environment: Via giselle.codd@sympatico.ca.

Last book read: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon.

Musical preferences: Tori Amos, Leonard Cohen, Radiohead.

Words of wisdom: “There’s so much more to see when we allow the gaze to move beyond what we expect to find.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net