PFLAG is the nation's foremost family-based organization committed to the civil rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender persons.
PFLAG-Olympia welcomes all allies - straight and GLBTQ. Our chapter's monthly attendance typically has an equal number of both.
Our Mission -- PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, their families and friends through:
Support to cope with an adverse society,
Education to enlighten an ill-informed public, and
Advocacy to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights.PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.
Our Vision -- We celebrate diversity and envision a society that embraces everyone, including those of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Only with respect, dignity and equality for all will we reach our full potential as human beings, individually and collectively. PFLAG welcomes the participation and support of all who share in, and hope to realize this vision.
Our History
In 1972, Jeanne Manford started an international movement when she marched with her son Mortie in New York’s Gay Pride Parade. Enraged that her son had been beaten at a gay rights protest two months before while police did nothing, she carried a sign at the Pride march that said, “Parents of Gays: Unite in Support of Our Children.” After many gay and lesbian people ran up to Jeanne during the parade and begged her to talk to their parents, she decided to begin a support group. The first formal meeting took place in March 1973 at a local church. Approximately 20 people attended.
By 1980, PFLAG, then known as Parents FLAG, began to distribute information to educational institutions and communities of faith nationwide and established itself as a source of information for the general public. When “Dear Abby” mentioned PFLAG, more than 7,000 letters were received requesting information. In 1981, members decided to launch a national organization.
In 1998 PFLAG members voted overwhelmingly to include transgendered people in the group's mission statement at their annual meeting. The bylaws were changed to read: “The purpose of this Corporation shall be: To promote the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons...”
Now PFLAG has grown to include more than 500 chapters and over 200,000 members across the United States and abroad, representing the largest chapter network in the struggle for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) rights.PFLAG-Olympia was formed in 1993. We are a community of and welcome LGBTIQQA* persons of all ages.
LGBTIQQA* = lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexed, queer, questioning, and ally.
Join
PFLAG! Download, print, fill out and mail in
our membership form.
(This is a pdf file.) There is also room on the form for a donation amount.
Note: you don't have to be a member to attend our meetings. If you do join, please do so by joining the local chapter here. We then send part of your money to the national PFLAG office in Washington DC every year so you will also be a member of PFLAG-National.
Thank
You!
