Free Mom Hugs is an organization that strives to make a difference for the LGBTQIA+ community through visibility, education, and conversation, helping to provide the community with as many active and visible allies as they can.
It was founded in 2015 by Sara Cunningham who offered “Free Mom Hugs” at the Oklahoma City Pride Festival. Prior to that, as a Christian mother in conservative Oklahoma, she had spent years rejecting her son’s sexuality after he came out to her. Torn between her spirituality and love for her son, she spent a lot of time educating herself and eventually became involved with the LGBTQIA+ community, where she learned about the hurt, shame, and injustice many experience.
She soon took action, first at the Pride festival, then on Facebook, where a post of hers about offering to attend people’s same-sex weddings if their biological mothers won’t went viral in 2018. Shortly after, Free Mom Hugs was established as a national nonprofit.
Now, the organization has chapters in all 50 states and is continuing to expand globally. With more than 14,000 volunteers of not only moms, but dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, and friends, their goal is not to replace family relations, but to celebrate and love the LGBTQIA+ community so that family members feel encouraged to do the same.
Free Mom Hugs’ Southern California chapter covers the area from San Diego to Santa Barbara, and includes Long Beach. Here, they’ve overcome challenges such as figuring out how to support the LGBTQIA+ community during the pandemic by running parades through different communities or throwing personal parades for individuals with decorated cars and gifts.
Free Mom Hugs is sought out for a lot of events in Southern California to the point that it’s sometimes hard to manage getting enough volunteers for them, and yet they do their best to get them there. They are especially busy during Pride, where they can be seen at their booth, sharing their story and making a difference through hugs and affirmation.
“Our mission is to celebrate so we show up for parades with the festival attitude of love as we hug our way down the parade route,” said Valencia Foster, the Southern California Chapter Leader. “It’s an overwhelming feeling knowing you’re bringing so much joy.”
Long Beach Pride, which will take place on the weekend of May 18th – 19th, is the first big Pride event of the season that Free Mom Hugs will be present at.
Not only does Free Mom Hugs volunteer at community events and collaborate with other local and national organizations, but they also have other projects and initiatives they use to accomplish their mission, such as providing resources for individuals and families, hosting peaceful demonstrations to advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights, and holding public speaking engagements for corporations, churches, sporting events, schools, and universities.
The former plays into their passion for advocacy to another level, particularly in the area of education, as it is needed in order for everyone to understand that we’re all in this together as human beings. And, if they can, they hope to motivate other parents, friends, and family members to support their loved ones as allies through their organization.
Free Mom Hugs SoCal leads with love, but as a nonprofit, they need any support in the way of volunteering or financial support through fundraising in order to continue participating in as many pride events as possible.
For more information on Free Mom Hugs or how to donate and volunteer for them, visit their website at https://freemomhugs.org/ or their Instagram page @freemomhugssocal.
