LEE KIMBALL OUTLAW BARMORE
Dr. Lee Kimball Outlaw Barmore has looked after the well-being of children since 1991, when she first trained as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children in the courtroom of Judge Judith Sheindlin (better known as Judge Judy). Since that time, she’s been a caseworker in foster care, a foster parent trainer, an adoption specialist, and a social worker with Atlanta’s Department of Family and Children Services, just to name a few of the jobs she’s held. Now a Training Specialist in the Human Resources Department at a child welfare agency in New York City, Barmore, with more than 30 years in child services, knows how difficult life can be for queer and gender nonconforming children. “I have seen children thrown out of their homes of origin and foster homes due to their sexual orientation or their gender identity and/or expression,” Barmore says. This makes when caregivers accept their LGBTQ+ child— when they realize their child “needs and requires love, support, and an ally who will be there for them”—all the more rewarding. “I stress that it’s much more than tolerance,” she says, regarding the support that these children need from their guardians. “It’s affirmation and full acceptance.” Barmore, herself, is no stranger to intolerance and adversity, the latter of which she calls “a familiar foe.” As a person who is Black, female, and lesbian, “navigating places that might accept only one of my identities is a common practice,” she says. How does she deal with these challenges? With “support, inner strength and acceptance, and a belief in a higher power. Setbacks are an opportunity to re-group, adjust, and move forward.”
