Introduction

Hello, and welcome!

If you found this page because you love your kid, or because you're trying to learn how to love them better, you’re in the right place.

My name is Kathleen.

And I’m a straight, Gen-X widow raising two LGBTQ kids.

I got here after almost a decade inside grief, loss, and rebuilding.

I lost both of my parents and my best friend in a three-year span leading up to the pandemic; then, in 2021, I lost my husband to COVID.

After that, I lost relationships I thought would last, but couldn’t survive my growth … all while learning how to keep showing up as a mom in a world that often misunderstands queer kids.

(Sigh, it’s been a lot.)

I didn’t start this work because I wanted to become an advocate.

I started because I wanted to be the parent my kids needed… and I realized how many other parents were standing exactly where I once stood:

Loving fiercely, feeling afraid of getting it wrong, navigating faith tension, culture pressure, or family conflict, and wanting to protect their kids, but were unsure how.

At one point, I even dreamed about building a physical space to support displaced queer and foster youth: a huge, beautiful vision that’s still doable,

but years away.

Then a simpler, more urgent question changed everything:

What if I could get to the queer kids BEFORE they were displaced?

Which then led me to ask … What if the way we protect queer youth isn’t by rescuing kids, but by growing parents?

Because the people with the most power over a child’s safety aren’t who we think they are.

It’s not the police. It isn’t social media, or even our culture as a whole.

It’s us.

The parents,

the caregivers …

the adults in their lives.

So, I created Rainbow Roots.

Rainbow Roots exists for parents who didn’t grow up with the tools for this.

A lot of us were raised on “walk it off,” “don’t talk about feelings,” and “let’s never discuss this again.”

(And you know who you are. Because I’m one of you.)

Which means a lot of parents and caregivers are now trying to use methods and/or systems that barely worked in 1986 to parent their kids in 2026.

That is so wild to me because in 1986, our parents had to be reminded nightly by Dan Rather, Cyndi Lauper, Andy Warhol, and the original Wonder Woman herself, Lynda Carter, to make sure we were in the house by asking the question, “It’s 10:00pm. Do you know where your children are?”!

Anyhoo, this space isn’t just for people who already feel confident or progressive or “ready.”

It’s also for parents who come from conservative or faith-based backgrounds … parents who care deeply but may feel unsure, conflicted, or even scared to walk into spaces like this.

You don’t have to arrive with the perfect language or “perfect beliefs.”

Because this isn’t a perfect space: It’s a learning-out-loud space.

And I want to be really clear about something from the very beginning:

Rainbow Roots is not a debate stage.

We don’t question whether LGBTQ people deserve dignity or safety. That question is already settled here.

We don’t platform harassment, dehumanization, or misinformation of any kind.

We’ll always place child well-being above adult ideological comfort.

Boundaries come before debates here every single time.

This space is also intentionally neurodivergent- and disability-inclusive, with captions on all videos uploaded from a script, sensory-considerate pacing, and content created for the many different kinds of brains that live inside real families.

That’s also why you’ll hear me speak a little more slowly here, because accessibility isn’t an afterthought; it’s part of how we practice care.

So if my “Gen X pauses” are a bit much for you, please consider long-pressing on the space to the right of my face to speed up the video. I promise to not be offended LOL.

Additionally, the work we’re doing here isn’t political. It’s parental.

And we don’t ask queer kids to explain themselves, defend themselves, or carry the emotional weight of educating adults.

We help parents do the growing, so kids don’t have to.

So whether you’re brand new to this journey or still finding your footing.

Welcome.

You’re not late.

You’re not failing.

And you don’t have to be perfect to belong here.

That’s all for now.

And please don’t forget to take good care of yourself today.