June 2015
Hi, I am so sorry for the delay. We've been out of town for over a week, but I did start taking some notes before leaving that I can pass on now. I was hoping to have it nicely typed out for you, but for time's sake, I'll give you what I have then you can ask for something I may have overlooked.
MDC history
-May 8, 2013: Meg Abhau coined the term "mama dragon" on her blog http://theabhaus.
-Meg's blog post was shared on FB groups like MBB, LDSFF, etc. Other women with LGBTQ+ children identified with Meg's term, "I'm SO a mama dragon, too!"
-In the mean time and slightly earlier that year, I had begun the process of beginning a GSA (began blogging about it 4/13 http://myeagleprojectjourney.
-Dec-ish '2013 One of the GSA members sought my help. Not having my own gay child I thought I would seek the advice from some of the "mamas" I've come to know through Mormons Building Bridges and LDS Family Fellowship. The initial ones were [list of four names]. I simultaneously instant-messaged them on FB. It was one little feed.
-We quickly added a few more Mamas as the conversation warranted: [list of five more names].(I may have left someone out. At the time, I didn't know many of them, so it's hard for me to say each one. A name will probably come to me later, and I'll smack myself in the head and say, "How could I have forgotten her?!")
-They rallied around my GSA student on his FB page and gave me good advice. The IM feed became a place, too, where we began opening up to each other and getting raw and real. Sometimes laughing. Sometimes crying.
-Several conversations topics would be discussed at the same time on this tiny IM feed, which makes for hilarious and confusing conversations. They didn't mind the cramped quarters because it was filled with unconditional love and safety. No lurking ward members. No tattletales. No judgement for unsanitized expressions of feelings.
- (Either end of Dec. '13 or beginning of Jan. '14) I saw a need for this to continue, so I set up a FB group for them and set the privacy setting to "Secret" -- not because we didn't want anyone to know about us but because we needed an emotionally safe place to share. Now several conversations could go on simultaneously without the mishmash of of intertwined commentary.
-New potential members were brought in by existing MDs in order to keep it safe.
-At first I didn't know what to name the group, but it quickly became clear that Mama Dragon had to somehow be part of the title. I thought about Mama Dragon Quorum or Quorum of the Mama Dragons and other "LDS" lingo. Then "council" came to me. Mama Dragon Council was born...each woman no longer alone and at the mercy of the whims of misguided leaders but now able to stand tall with her chin in the air and banded with her sisters to right the wrongs and protect LGBTQ+ kids, young and old.
The media and blogs...
-Salt Lake Trib article http://www.sltrib.com/
