Diana Adams (they/them) is an international legal leader in advocacy for LGBTQIA+ families and an inclusive definition of family beyond the romantic couple. They are the founding Executive Director of Chosen Family Law Center.

It isn’t just a professional calling; Diana is the biological mother of a young child as well as a chosen mother to some in the NYC queer community. In their own upbringing, Diana’s mom Pat laid foundational values of inclusion and support – especially for those who need it most, which included taking in other queer teenagers who had been rejected in their own families.

Diana knows that becoming a supportive mother to a chosen family, with few roadmaps in place, can be demanding and often the labor goes unrecognized. They want to not just honor mothers, but help them find answers to these challenges. Diana is passionately dedicated to helping form healthy, stable families, whether between same-sex couples, platonic co-parents, polyamorous families, or different-sex couples, by facilitating conversations that support the creation of clear personal agreements as well as solid legal agreements to protect their families.

Diana was recently inducted as a 2024 Ashoka Fellow as a visionary social entrepreneur, and their popular TED talk ‘Why US Laws Must Expand Beyond the Nuclear Family’ has been viewed worldwide and explains their expansive vision of family. Find them on all social media @DianaAdamsEsq.

Gay Sons and Mothers is very excited to feature Diana Adams at our next Mothers Who Inspire event on Monday, April 15th 2024 at 7:30pm. They already inspire many people and are sure to inspire you!

Register here.

It’s amazing to learn that celebrated couples’ therapist Terry Real started out… driving a cab? And that he found it useful for his later career.

Let me begin with a personal disclaimer: Terry helped me grow up. I studied with him during a year-long course on working with couples. He gave me confidence and aplomb. So, it was especially moving to interview him for this series and hear how others helped him. Also, discovering the odd twists and turns of his career was the real joy. I loved learning not just about Terry’s expertise behind the wheel, but also about his first career goal—in literature!

Read more on Psychotherapy Networker.

On Saturday, November 4, at 12 pm EST, four of Esther's seasoned colleagues will join this live event to lend their unique expertise and cast a new lens on navigating conflict. What alternate approaches would they have used? How could other modalities take the couple in a whole new direction? What could have been improved?

Remember to check out Rick’s podcast, Modern Couples: What Your Therapist Never Told You, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Rick Miller, LICSW.

Live via webinar or via video recording following the live class on Modern Sex Therapy Institutes.

TEDxTalk: The Mother Factor: Acceptance Works Both Ways

• Mom is the person who potentially has the greatest impact on her son’s life and his psychological well-being- especially in communities where he has been treated unfairly due to being gay.

• Up until well into the 70s, the medical community blamed mothers for making their sons gay. Imagine the impact this had on women, their husbands, and their sons.

• So you’d think that a lot of mothers were rejecting their sons, but historically that isn’t true.

Eric Marcus from the Making Gay History podcast interviewed Rick—an interesting change from being the interviewer!

Rick interviewed Caitlyn Ryan with the Family Acceptance Project for the Gay Sons and Mothers documentary film. She is a legend who has researched LGBTQ acceptance for queer youth and their families.

Monday February 28th at 6:30pm: a virtual discussion of Pedro Almodovar's brilliant film Pain & Glory! (There are CEUs for social workers, but anyone can attend.) His detailed story defines the power of the relationship between a gay son and his mother in wonderful and charged ways. Register here.

As executive director and founder of Gay Sons and Mothers, Rick Miller brings years of research and experience to the topic.

This webinar will provide an overview about the AIDS pandemic from a historical as well as a current perspective. Communicates historically  impacted by HIV, their families, as well health care provider stress will be  highlighted in order to appreciate how the traumatic legacy of an AIDS diagnosis is experienced in the present. Trends in current treatment modalities and   psychosocial issues be defined in order for providers to possess essential clinical skills in treating this population.

Objectives: 

• Understand clinical implications of treating HIV patients and their families from a historical and current perspective.

• Learn how to provide best social service and mental health services to existing or future patients.

• Define the differences in psychosocial issues related to HIV between the past and the present.

• Develop greater skills in speaking about HIV and asking their patients relevant questions.

• Learn about micro-aggressions and how to eliminate bias in their treatment settings.