June 26 is an important day for this family. On this day, now simply called "Family Day," Peter ("papa") and Steve ("daddy") brought their adopted son and twin daughters home. Peter and Steve say that before children, their world revolved around their identity as individuals and as gay men. Now, it's all about being parents. Peter describes their family life as a bit old-fashioned—among their favorite activities are nightly family dinners, music lessons, nature hikes, board games, and vacations.
This is dinnertime. Photographed by
Adoptive parents make a choice to become parents. Before Peter and Steve moved their children from foster care into their permanent adoptive home, they brought great intention to the process—they talked about how they wanted to be as a family, in detail, before actually becoming a family. Because of the children's background in foster care, they decided that "radical consistency" was important. In fact, Peter and Steve say that adoption is the bigger issue for the children, not the fact that their parents are gay. Each year in June, which is Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, the entire family marches in the rainbow Pride parade. One year, the children asked why everyone was clapping as they walked by—Peter and Steve told them, "They're just so happy we're a family."
