I'm Sarah, your friendly Alphabet Mafia Facilitator. Being that I'll be hanging out with you/your kiddo, I thought you might want to get to know me a bit.

So here you go; I hope this "About Me" blurb isn't as embarrassingly awkward as I think it is.

I didn't realise I was bi until I was 36 years old; 6 months before my wedding day.  What a shock! Talk about terrifying. For someone who had always been such a staunch supporter of all things LGBTQIA+ you'd think I would have worked it out sooner. 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, I was 36, suddenly realising I was very much attracted to women, and about to marry a man; a man that I had been in a relationship with for the previous 16 years. We had kids and bought a house together. (We also sort of did life backwards and got married last haha) 

It was a rollercoaster of emotions, with lots of talking, freaking out, more talking, questioning, anxiety, more freaking out, lots of tears, more talking, acceptance, and then marriage.

But just because I married my husband doesn't make me any less queer.

I'm in my 40s now and have worked with young people in a variety of roles.

My husband and I run a disability support business which started off as a means of social participation for Autistic Youth using Dungeons & Dragons, this kind of unintentionally morphed into us being full time carers.

We previously lived in Campbell Town where we ran D&D groups as part of the High School's Community Co-Pilots Program. I was co-facilitator for the local girl's group through Free2Be Girls, and I ran a safe-space lunchtime chat for high school kids.

I'm neurodivergent and queer which is a combination you see a LOT, surprisingly. I've lived in Tasmania for 10 years, and in the Huon Valley for just over 2 (at the time of writing this) I'm a nerd and a little bit geeky; I play video games, (currently a Hardcore Flurry Rogue in Diablo IV, but also love mindless mobile gaming, and Cards Against Humanity) and I'm obsessed with stationary, stickers, pins, notebooks, calendars, and journals that I never use. I love admin type work (see, total nerd) and will happily create basic websites and forms and do data entry and business marketing stuff for fun.  I collect tarot cards, love astrology, and Zombie flicks are my jam. I love to read, but sometimes my ADHD gets in the way, and I end up with about 5 half read books scattered around my house (oops)

So why the Alphabet Mafia?

Before we lived in the Huon Valley (my personal heaven on earth) we lived in a small, country town in the Tasmanian Midlands. My eldest kiddo is Asexual Aromantic. He has ZERO interest in any kind of sexual or romantic relationship. My youngest is trans, he was the first openly gay kid at his high school and the first open trans person in the whole town, which happened to be a very conservative, insular, place. There was a lot of generational families who had never been anywhere else. Had never experienced diversity of any kind. It was hard for my boy; rumours were rife, we became the even weirder, weird family. I hated the isolation for him. I hated the judgement. He's such a loving, compassionate, gentle kid and all people would focus on was his sexuality and gender. Outside of home, he had no support, and he would tell me stories of other queer kids at school who had been shunned, punished, and threatened by their family members.  

The Huon as a whole, and in particular Franklin, where we live, has been very welcoming for my family, for my children. There is so much visible support for our community. Trans people can be out and proud and obvious without fear. There are rainbow flags and supportive stickers in so many storefronts. There are LGBTQIA+ Community Groups for adults, and it's great! More places should be like this.

BUT I also know there is still an undercurrent of hate, of ignorance and judgement; one that I have, unfortunately, seen and been the target of first hand. I want to provide a space where kids are protected from that. I want to provide a space where they can learn to be who they are and THRIVE! I want to see our youth be bold and vibrant and confident. I want them to go out into our community with pride.

Whether they have access to those things at home or not, they will always have it within The Mafia. We're a family now :D

That's why I do what I do. I hope you'll support me in my goals.

And if your kid has come out, or you suspect they might come out, I can hold space for you too. Any feelings of shock, fear, confusion are valid and I am happy to support you through those emotions. You can reach out to me directly or join the facebook group I've set up. You can find the link to that on the aptly named "links" page. It's pretty quiet at the moment, but I hope more family members will join and connect with each other.

Yours queerly, 
Sarah