Embracing Queer Family: Learning to Live Authentically in Our Families and Communities

Embrace the Queerness of your family, take ownership of your journey, and use your voice to bring light to your communities.

When Nia Chiaramonte came out as a trans woman to her wife Katie, she knew she would be met with a loving response. But she was less sure where this would leave their relationship, their marriage, and their family. Even murkier was what would happen when they began to bring their extended family, friends, and broader community alongside them on their journey of identity formation as a Queer family. They needed a guide for what lay ahead.

Now, drawing on their own experiences as well as their expertise in psychology, spirituality, and family systems, Nia and Katie Chiaramonte offer the tools they wish they'd had for their journey. Embracing Queer Family is a guidebook for Queer families on how to live into their true selves and strengthen their communities through radical love, acceptance, and mutual healing. With hands-on tools for learning and reflection in each chapter, this needed resource tackles issues of inclusion and acceptance and offers practical advice for how individuals and families can honor themselves and find transformation for their whole community through love.

Whether you are a Queer person on the journey of self-awareness, an ally looking for resources, or a family member seeking advice for how to navigate a loved one's coming-out process, this book is for you.

Nia Chiaramonte has been a Human Resources professional for the last 20 years, focused on creating a culture of love, inclusivity, and "Employees First", understanding that individuals and teams must feel safe and secure in order to thrive and grow. Building a culture of safety became personally important as Nia struggled to be who she is. After spending the first 35 years of her life in hiding, scared to be who she is, scared of what it might cost her, she came out as a transgender woman. While the cost has been high, the freedom to be and embrace herself as who she is has been worth it.

As co-founder of Love in the Face and co-author of Embracing Queer Family, Nia hopes to support other transgender and LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families on their own journeys of self-discovery.

Katie J. Chiaramonte is a mother, a doula,  writer, teacher and a spiritual mystic. She has spent many years in organized religion trying to fit in, and has found her way to an open space, through love. As a sendee of The Living School, she studied contemplative spirituality and it's role in today's rapidly evolving world. After over fifteen years of formal and informal lay ministry in the Christian tradition, Katie has found that love has brought her out into a more spacious place where tradition melts away and all things connect in a wide and endless web. 

As co-founder of Love in the Face and co-author of Embracing Queer Family, Katie hopes to support other transgender and LGBTQIA+ individuals and their families on their own journeys of self-discovery.