Our Story

It all started in early 2016 at a Christian women’s retreat in the hills of Central Texas. Three women who were rooming together found themselves up all night, discussing their families and sharing stories about the challenges of parenting.

One “roomie,” Janet Duke, told the story of her teenage daughter coming to her in the middle of the night, on the verge of hurting herself and finally admitting she was gay.

As parents, Jen Smith and Kendra Wright could understand the fear and anxiety that Janet had felt that night and immediately wished something could be done to help more parents in her position.

Janet had considered creating a seminar for churches to help support parents of LGBTQ children, but she had concerns about its reach, since parents often don’t turn to their church, for fear of rejection or judgment.

Then Janet said, “I think what we really need is a website.” In that moment, she had no idea that Jen and Kendra worked in web development, social media and search engine optimization.

So Janet, Jen, and Kendra started dreaming about a website that could help parents of LGBTQ kids at the moment they needed it most. Kids could share it with their parents, or parents could find it on their own. We would partner with advocacy and faith-based organizations, both to spread the word and to provide ongoing resources to parents in need.

The dreaming lasted most of the night, and Strong Family Alliance was born.

The mission of our website is to save lives and preserve families by supporting parents and kids coming out with information, resources and community.