BY RAI FOULKES

Mothers’ Day is special to me because I’ve got two of the best.

When I was eight years old, one morning on the way to school, my mom told me that she is bisexual. At that point in my life, I didn’t have a great appreciation for what that would mean for her, or us, but what stays with me to this day was how scared she was, how fearful she was that it would somehow affect our relationship or make me love her less.

Some years went by before I met Trina, a woman that I would also come to see as my mom. I was in my early teens when Trina made our family whole. No sooner had we met than she became another voice cheering me on at my track meets, another ear to listen to my teenage angst, and perhaps most importantly another person who treated me like a son. Her son.

Being blessed with two moms, has allowed me to experience the world through their eyes. I’ve seen how, even today, people are treated differently for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). So many people still live with the fear that my mom experienced that day when I was eight. She should not have had to feel that way then, and no one should be made to feel that way today.

I never thought that these two women would teach me so much about how to be a good man, and how to be a good partner to my future wife; but somewhere between those track meets, dinners at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and watching numerous UFC fights, they did. Every day I fall back on at least one of the lessons they taught me.

Lessons like: We are all created equally, we should all be treated equally, and when injustices exist, it is incumbent upon all of us to work to right them. Knowing that LGBT people in Georgia and around the country are fired from their jobs, or refused service at places of business is so clearly one of those injustices in my eyes. I want to see my moms happy every day, but that’s especially true on Mothers’ Day. I hope that at some point in the very near future we can celebrate a Mothers’ Day when that happiness is joined with full equality under the law because they and others like them deserve to be protected from discrimination because of who they are.

For us, Mothers’ Day is a day for celebrating our family. And I’m happy every day we can do that without either one of my moms feeling shame about who they are or their love for each other and for me. It is because of their love that Mothers’ Day is so special to me, and why I believe they, and all other gay and transgender Georgians, are deserving of non-discrimination protections in state law.

If you agree, I urge you to join me in signing Georgia Unites’ pledge—dedicated to the lesbian, bisexual, and transgender moms across Georgia—to show support for LGBT non-discrimination protections.

Happy Mothers’ Day everyone.