🌈 Equality NOVA Presents: Salon & Discussions Series

Courageous Conversations for Change

Topic for Meetup:

## Queer Families, Parenting & Reproductive Justice

Focus: Exploring how LGBTQ people build and raise families—via adoption, fertility, surrogacy, foster care—and what structural, legal, cultural, and global factors support or block that process.

• What pathways feel most possible to parenthood (adoption, surrogacy, fertility treatment, legal parentage) feel most possible, and why? What unique pathways, challenges, or rights do LGBTQ youth in foster care face?
• What are the most significant cost, regulatory, or discrimination obstacles that LGBTQ individuals encounter when trying to form a family—and how do those obstacles affect decisions, timing, and outcomes?
• What are family values, cultures, and traditions that queer families practice?
• How do reproductive justice frameworks intersect with queer rights?
• How do other countries around the world view and interact with LGBTQ families, through cultural, religious, and legal systems. How does this shape the experiences, possibilities, and limitations of queer families—and what can we learn from those differences?
• Group Discussion: When we consider the full journey of queer family-making, what stands out to you as the most urgent shift needed (in policy, culture, or practice) to make these families thrive?

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Mission:
To convene courageous, inclusive conversations that deepen understanding, elevate marginalized voices, and inspire collective action within and beyond the LGBTQ+ community. Through thoughtfully themed salons, we bring people together in small groups and full-room dialogue — fostering connection, reflection, education, and pathways toward social change.

What is it?

A salon (as we're using the term) is a thoughtfully curated gathering-usually in an intimate or semi-formal setting - where people come together not for a speech, but for real conversation, listening, and collective reflection. It's a space of exchange: participants share stories, explore different perspectives, dig into complex question, and work toward insight or purposeful action.

The tradition of salons dates back to Europe—especially France in the 17th and 18th centuries—where intellectuals, writers, artists, and philosophers met in private homes to debate ideas, share creative work, and challenge prevailing norms. These salons were hubs of Enlightenment thinking and helped foster what we now call the public sphere of civic dialogue.

Over time, salons have evolved: today, they often focus on social justice, identity, public policy, art, or community building, while retaining their spirit of intentional dialogue and collective inquiry.

In practice, a modern salon balances depth and accessibility: it typically begins with small-group breakout discussions, then moves to a full-group sharing session, and concludes by naming “next steps” or actions. The facilitator or host establishes ground rules—listening, respect, “I” statements, confidentiality—to help ensure that all voices feel safe and heard. Salons do not aim for consensus so much as greater understanding, new connections, and ideas to seed further collaboration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_%28gathering%29