Washington ? Thousands of children swarmed the South Lawn of the White House on Monday, pushing eggs across soggy grass with large spoons and hunting for hidden ones.

“Welcome to this happiest of traditions at the White House,” said first lady Laura Bush. “In Washington, we know that spring has arrived when the White House lawn is filled with children for the Easter egg hunt.”

With that, President Bush blew the opening whistle on a century-old tradition with a new wrinkle: Sprinkled among the supervising, photo-shooting, toddler-dragging parents this time were about 100 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples and their kids.

“We’re helping people see that gay and lesbian couples go to the same things as any other families,” said Jennifer Chrisler, the executive director of the Family Pride Coalition, which had urged its members to line up for tickets. For publicity’s sake, and solidarity’s, coalition families wore rainbow-hued leis.

Same sex couples with children, who say they want more visibility for their families, attend Easter Egg Roll wearing colorful leis around their necks as their children take part in the annual Easter Egg Roll, Monday, April 17, 2006, on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington.

“We’re normal families,” said Heather Davidson of Tacoma Park, Md., who attended with her partner, Rebecca Hawes, and their two kids. “We’re so normal that it’s easy for us to blend in.”

They and other coalition members appeared late in the morning, long after the Bushes were gone, and weekend news reports attributed the timing to the White House PR machine. Not so, Chrisler said.

The coalition’s members had merely shown up at the same time for tickets last week and picked the same late-morning block of tickets.

Some more traditional parents were slightly miffed to find sexual politics at an Easter egg roll.

“My two 9-year olds asked why they had signs,” said Lisa Rapuano, of Baltimore. “I guess it’s a lesson in democracy.” She shrugged.