Sometimes you are related to your family. Other times you choose them.  “These are people who care about each other and who will make sacrifices to help each other,” Ted Heck says.

At the One Love exhibit, you can see Ted and his spouse Laura enjoying a couple of beers at Center of the Universe Brewing Company.

Ted describes their family with three cats as pretty average and says one of his favorite memories was hosting a housewarming when they moved into their new home.

They are both active in the Richmond Friends Meeting, where they were married.  Ted says they sometimes get frustrated because many people identify them as a heterosexual couple.

“Our identities become erased, mine as a queer trans man, and Laura's as a queer person,” Ted says.  “Or if we're read as queer, we’re not seen a couple since we don't often engage in any public displays of affection. It's a small thing, in the scheme of things, and not something we expend a lot of energy worrying about.”

There are plenty of great reasons to love Richmond.  When Ted walks to work over the Mayo Bridge, he takes in the blue herons and other wildlife.

With this passion for nature, they love hiking along the river, then taking in board game night at Triple Crossing Brewing.

See One Love: LGBT Families through September 4, 2017 at the Valentine, 1015 E. Clay St.