On March 11, 1973, Jeanne Manford, a teacher, and her husband Jules, a dentist, at the urging of their gay son Morty, held the first meeting of what would become known as PFLAG, an organization—nay, a movement—of allyship and love.
Both as a daughter and a parent, the new executive director of PFLAG, Dr. Jaime Grant, understands the organization’s mission of uniting families, allies, and people who are LGBTQ. “I’m a queer mom of a queer kid and my Irish family exiled me,” she said in an interview. This treatment by her family led to an accelerating drug addiction. Grant, who was named head of PFLAG last September, is now 28 years sober and solo parenting her son, 19, who identifies as bisexual, and co-parenting her daughter, 10. “I can see the difference in a person’s life between family acceptance and family rejection,” she said. “I just know what it means.”
A new campaign from PFLAG and 3M aims to show how “Family support makes a transformative difference” in the lives of LGBTQ people. Watch their video showing the real-life stories of parents visibly supporting their LGBTQ children.
President Obama has awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor, to Jeanne Manford, the schoolteacher who founded PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in support of her gay son. The Medal recognizes Americans who have “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.” Manford passed away exactly a month ago at the age of 92, but was told of the honor before she died.
The world has lost a pathbreaker. Jeanne Manford, founder of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), passed away today, barely a month after celebrating her 92nd birthday.
Forty years ago, Jeanne Manford wrote to the New York Post, angry that city police had done nothing to prevent her son Morty from being assaulted during a gay rights march. “My son is a homosexual, and I love him,” she asserted—after which her son told her, “No mother has ever announced to the world her son is gay.” The next year, at the urging of members of the gay and lesbian community, she founded the organization that would become PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Manford turned 92 today. PFLAG is encouraging people to send her their best wishes.
A very happy 40th birthday to PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)—the nation’s largest grassroots-based non-profit for families, friends, and straight allies of LGBT people. Not everyone is pleased to hit middle age, but I have to imagine the folks at PFLAG are pretty excited.
The media has been full of stories about bullying and its damaging effects—but most stories have centered around middle-school and high-school students. Less has been said of bullying in elementary schools. A new study from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), however, shows that such bullying does exist—including bullying and teasing based on homophobia and gender-nonconformity. Those
First, an opportunity: The Bilerico Project and PFLAG have partnered to provide funding for unemployed LGBT people to go to Washington, D.C. on March 16 and lobby on behalf of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Details are here. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and 11 Democratic cosponsors introduced a bill to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
A number of leading national and regional LGBT family rights groups have launched the “From Our Family to Yours Campaign,” urging LGBT families to send holiday cards to President Obama and his family. The goal is “to introduce the First Family to thousands of LGBT families” and to “increase visibility and awareness about the need
