We are so grateful for the support of Liberty Public House and Riverbend Roastery as we celebrate our first-ever Family Equality Giving Day!
In celebration of LGBTQ+ Families Day, we are spotlighting Brittany (she/her) and Alexa (she/her), new moms to their son, and Richmond, VA restaurant owners of Liberty Public House (LPH) and Riverbend Roastery. Today, they are donating proceeds of their sales to Family Equality’s Giving Day to help combat the 500+ bad bills targeting queer families in the U.S. so far this year!
Alexa and Brittany’s family story
Alexa and Brittany have been together since 2012, when they met in Richmond and fell in love. After college, they moved to Seattle together for five years, where they got married and where Alexa found her passion for restaurant life. They moved back to Richmond in 2019 to start a family and buy a restaurant. They added a second restaurant in 2021 and welcomed their first child in 2022. They hope to adopt another in the future. On any given day, you can find one, both, or all three of them in LPH or Riverbend!
What does “family equality” mean to them?
For Alexa and Brittany, family equality means “having the space to be us without having to change the language on a swim class form from ‘mother and father’, or people asking who ‘the dad’ is, or the always fun ‘how?'”
“Equality isn’t just allowing queer families to exist,” they continue. “It’s reframing what the word ‘family’ means to include all families.”
Celebrating pride all year-round
Celebrating pride month at Liberty Public House is much like how every day at the restaurant feels. Alexa says, “LPH is a queer safe space, so pride feels like a year-round experience for us. For this month specifically, we always roll out some extra rainbows, extra flair, and donate more, but for our family, pride month is pretty much like every other month of the year — visible and proud.”
The LGBTQ+ parenting journey
When sharing about the experience of becoming queer parents so far, Alexa shares one of their ongoing struggles. “It…feels like a new and annoying way to be forced to come out over and over again. From a hospital to the line at the grocery store, and on almost every form we fill out, everything and everyone assumes the child has a straight cis mommy and daddy. The assumption of a hetero-normative life for a child is engrained in almost everything. Even just the English language around family lacks inclusivity. It’s kids’ songs saying ‘mommy and daddy.’ It’s all kids’ books [featuring] straight white families—unless it’s specifically in the ‘diversity section.’ It’s people asking ‘who his mom is’ when the three of us [are] together.
As for parenting itself, Alexa says, “I’d imagine it’s like most people’s first child experience—an extreme lesson on how little sleep you can run on, and how a smile from your tiny human can fuel you for days. It’s figuring out a sleep schedule just in time for him to start teething and throw it all out the window. It’s an overwhelming amount of joy and pride because he got the Cheerio in his mouth by himself.”
Always advocating
Alexa and Brittany have been outspoken advocates for queer rights in the Richmond community since they opened Liberty Public House. When asked why they choose to give back, Alexa shared, “Because we can. It’s that simple for us. We want the community to know if and when we can, we will. From providing private security for drag story time to hosting queer markets to something as simple as making a space where queer families aren’t ‘queer families’ they’re just… family. Everybody deserves to feel safe and loved.”
Join us for Family Equality’s Giving Day!
On Thursday, June 1, we’re celebrating 24 hours of LOVE, FAMILY, and FREEDOM to garner support for the work ahead—and YOU can get in on the fun!
With 500+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in legislatures across the country this year, we are aiming for 500 individual donations to support our work advancing equality for LGBTQ+ families. By spreading the word and giving to this campaign, you can help us reach our goal, supporting LGBTQ+ families at a time when we need it the most.