"Our family is a lot like other families. We spend time together and always strive to balance our work and home lives. And most importantly, we enjoy raising our teenage daughter," says Tom. "We jokingly refer to ourselves as the post-modern Walton's family because of the large and loving nature of our extended nuclear family. We share custody of Autumn equally with her mom and we consider her siblings to be part of our family too. Our whole family feels it's important to be a part of this campaign as a constructive way to make families like ours more visible in the community. My partner and I have been together for more than 14 years now and we recently went to Canada to get married as part of Nick's surprise 40th birthday celebration. This campaign gives us an opportunity to show others what one gay family looks like."

"We would hope this project could help other families build bridges with their neighbors. We always try to be very open with our neighbors. They all know we are gay and we really appreciate it when people let us know they are accepting by asking us how long we have been together, or in some way showing an interest in our family." 

"We expect to be treated like any other neighbor," says Nick. "We try to be inclusive and believe if you invite some people to the block party, you should invite all people to the block party. Everyone wants to be treated with respect and kindness, regardless of whether you are straight or gay."

"Coming out is something I do frequently with clients as a commercial real estate broker," says Nick. "If I don't come out to a client, they don't have a genuine understanding of who I am. I can spend long periods of time together with people driving around the state looking at retail development opportunities. If I don't come out, it creates potential for misunderstandings and can result in awkward situations. Everyone talks about their kids, their wife, their husband. Coming out early allows me that same opportunity. Those connections make clients see me as a whole person."