Jennifer Schumaker, a local lesbian and mother of four, will walk the 500 miles from San Diego to San Francisco in an effort to increase visibility for GLBT people everywhere.

The Walk for Togetherness kicks off on Saturday, April 8, at 9:00 a.m. at the corner of Sixth Avenue and El Prado South in Balboa Park and will continue for eight weeks, ending with a finale event in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on Saturday, June 3.

Schumaker first conceived of the Walk for Togetherness two years ago to draw attention to the shared humanity of all people and to highlight the interconnections among those who are GLBT and their allies, friends and families. She said the walk seeks to widen this vision to reach other individuals and groups experiencing societal disenfranchisement in America.

“That the idea of ‘us’ and ‘them’ is an illusion,” Schumaker said. “I just got really tired of having senators and Assembly people speaking about marriage rights, for example, as if it was really an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’ when they have LGBT people in their very own families and they’re just denying it. They’re glossing over it and they are speaking as if there’s this division. There’s no division.”

Schumaker said she relates to the image of the suburban soccer mom because she is involved in her community, church and children’s schools. She believes when people get to know each other on a one-on-one basis, like the other soccer moms in her Escondido neighborhood have, and when personal stories are shared, it helps to demystify stereotypes about GLBT people.

Schumaker will take a 10-week leave of absence from her job working for San Pasqual Academy, which is a residential education campus designed specifically for foster teens in Escondido.

“There are queer kids out there who are so happy that I’m doing this because they feel invisible as foster students and as queer youth,” she said.

Walking mostly up the Pacific Coast Highway, the walk’s route is broken down into several waypoints. Armed with a detailed map made by a volunteer, Schumaker will walk an average of 10 miles a day for the 56-day excursion.

“Even if I were to break down by the side of the road, to be throwing up, I could still push my hair aside, look at anybody who was there and say, ‘This is still easier than being LGBT in America,’” she said.

Originally, Schumaker said she had a support driver to follow her during the walk, but that person dropped out at the last minute. She will instead walk with a backpack and communicate with her host homes via cell phone.

“People will come get me at my stopping point, take me to my host home and then bring me back to my stopping point in the morning,” Schumaker said. “No camping for this overtired mother of four. I’m at my limits.”

Several friends and local community members have already volunteered their homes. If a host home is not available, she may occasionally stay in a motel overnight. The Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento helped set up housing logistics and donated funds, and also gathered donations from private citizens. Schumaker said she made several appearances at Unitarian Universalist congregations and held several fund-raisers to finance her walk’s expenses. She has raised $4,000 so far.

“Almost all the money that has been raised for this has been allied dollars, not gay dollars, which is something I really pledged at the beginning – that I would try to get allies to pay for this,” Schumaker said. “That’s hard to do because they aren’t necessarily feeling our pain all the time, but when they hear me talk, they go, ‘Oh, wow, when you put it that way.’ Then they start to get out the checkbooks.”

Since coming out five years ago, Schumaker said she is comfortable revealing her sexuality, mostly due to her personality.

“… I figure I can put it out there and it can help people have a conversation in their living room,” she said, adding, “Maybe that will help someone just be able to say the words, ‘my lesbian daughter’ or ‘my gay son.’”

Schumaker recalled a time in 2004, after San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued same-sex marriage licenses, when some of her children’s classmates discovered what the rainbow sticker on her car meant.

“They started to tease my children at school. The significance of that was I was out to all these parents and teachers, but they never, ever talked to their kids about it,” she said.

Walk for Togetherness has partnered with existing GLBT groups, such as the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, to establish and mentor Gay-Straight Alliances in schools with the goal of reaching GLBT and questioning youth and their allies.

Money can be raised for other organizations by walking with Schumaker. Participants can seek pledges for their particular organization and walk any part of the route for any number of miles. Schumaker will then stamp the pledge forms and note the number of miles walked. All funds raised will go to the organization specified by each walker on their pledge form. For more information and to download a pledge form, visit www.walkfortogetherness.org/pledge.htm.

Schumaker’s children will walk to raise funds for Los Angeles-based The Trevor Project, a nonprofit which aims to help prevent teen suicide and offers support to GLBT and questioning youth. She also said a local student leader of a San Diego County Gay-Straight Alliance will walk with her to raise funds for The Trevor Project.

Schumaker said the Walk for Togetherness is dedicated to her son’s friend Dakota, who has cerebral palsy.

“He called himself the Invisible Man when he was 7 years old because if you are in a wheelchair in this country, you are in many ways invisible,” she said. “That really struck me. So when I woke up and realized I was a lesbian one day, I went, ‘Oh, this is what he means by invisible. This isn’t OK.’ It’s really about anyone who feels invisible.”

Schumaker’s “From the Road” blog will be active after the walk begins. Visit www.walkfortogetherness.org/road.htm to track Schumaker’s progress each day of her journey, starting on April 8.