June 28 - July 9, 2009

First Floor Art Gallery

15 Ninth Street South, Minneapolis

8am-5pm

Free Admission

All Ages Welcome

Entertainment Featuring

DJ Joe Gauthreaux

Soul 2 Sole Dance Collective

and more

Sponsored by

The Art Institutes International Minnesota

Love Makes a Family

June 28-July 9• First Floor Art Gallery, Minneapolis

In celebration of LGBT Pride Month, LOVE MAKES A FAMILY: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People and their Families, a touring photography exhibition created by the award-winning Family Diversity Projects of Amherst, Massachusetts is scheduled to be featured at The Art Institutes International Minnesota First Floor Gallery, 15 South 9th Street in downtown Minneapolis from June 27 to July 9, 2009. A special opening reception will be held on Sunday, June 28 beginning between 10 AM and 2 PM.

At a time in history when LGBT people continue to fight for basic human rights including the right to legally marry and the right to be adoptive and foster parents, LOVE MAKES A FAMILY: cuts  right to the heart of the issue by showing the love, caring, and connection that are so basic to all families.  By allowing viewers to come face-to-face with LGBT people, LOVE MAKES A FAMILY makes visible in a positive way, the love and caring in these families.  

Photographs by Gigi Kaeser depict a variety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families of all races in familiar family settings.  The photographs are accompanied by text edited by Peggy Gillespie from in-depth interviews she conducted with each family member — including children like Liza—who speak candidly about their lives, their relationships, and the ways in which they cope with the realities of prejudice, bias, and intolerance on a day-to-day basis.

Family Diversity Projects of Amherst, MA, a non-profit educational organization, created LOVE MAKES A FAMILY as a way of helping to combat homophobia.  Since it began touring in 1996, the exhibit has traveled to over 1000 communities for exhibition at universities, schools, public libraries, corporate headquarters, statehouses, and houses of worship.

To view images, interviews, and other information about the LOVE MAKES A FAMILY exhibit, go to www.familydiv.org.