Local and Washington State Resources
Black Hills Pride - The Thurston/Mason/Lewis chapter of the Pride Foundation's Pride Statewide is a great grassroots fundraising project that raises and grants money to local organizations working for the GLBT community right here at home. Black Hills Pride meets on the third Wednesday of every month. For more information, call the toll free number 1-888-575-7717.
Capital City Pride - Olympia, Washington. Serving as the watershed event of the year, Pride Day marks the civil rights gains in the past year, show cases youth activists new to community work, and honors long time activists for their enduring commitments. On a more personal level, Pride Day is often a mixture of all the milestone events of life wrapped into one, becoming in a sense our Mardi Gras, our 4th of July parade, our biggest political rally, our homecoming, our community-wide ice cream social to bring our families to.
Cocoons - A group for lesbian women who were formerly or are still in heterosexual marriages. Meets on a monthly basis to socialize, share hopes and experiences and support each other while facing the challenges and issues in coping with life after coming out. Meets in Olympia.
Stonewall Youth - Dedicated to providing peer support, information and advocacy for bisexual, gay and lesbian youth and youth who have questions about their orientation, age 21 and under - in Olympia, WA.
Safe Schools Coalition - A Public-Private Partnership in Support of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth is to help schools - at home and all over the world - become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Other Resources
Pacific Northwest PFLAG - a five state region including Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon & Washington. The site has a list of state chapters with contact information and events. It also has vision & mission statements, military support, a list of books providing more information; internet resources listing general & youth web sites, transgender web sites, intersex web sites & faith support web sites.
The PFLAG-WA-State@yahoogroups.com listserv allows PFLAG members in Washington State to communicate ideas and events through email which are important to all Washington PFLAG chapters. See http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/PFLAG-WA-State/
Also Marcie Mathis, who is the PFLAG Pacific Northwest region director, has created PNW-PFLAG@yahoogroups.com as a listserv for the region (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon & Washington). This is a moderated group, so all messages posted to the group will be approved by one of the region moderators before being mailed to the entire group. To join the group, send an email to PNW-PFLAG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Washington Won’t Discriminate - a statewide coalition of individuals, businesses, nonprofit, religious and community-based organizations who have come together to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Washingtonians.
http://washingtonwontdiscriminate.org
PFLAG-National - PFLAG's headquarters in "the other Washington"
and
an interactive map of
chapters
Also check out The
PFLAG-National Blog.
An online database of PFLAG chapters everywhere - Maintained by John Lindner.
COLAGE - a national movement of children, youth and adults with one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer parents. We build community and work toward social justice through youth empowerment, leadership development, education, and advocacy. Offers chapters and events nationally, visibility tools and resources for schools and communities, Speak OUT national network of youth leaders, online communities and more. Seattle chapter here on MySpace.
Gay & Lesbian National Hotline (GLNH) - Nationwide (USA), toll-free information, referral and peer-counseling line for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning people of all ages. GLNH maintains a huge resource database with local listings for cities and towns all across the country including youth groups, support and social organizations, gay-friendly religious groups, sports groups, doctors, lawyers, counselors and more. They also provide direct-service peer-counseling by telephone if someone is going through a difficult time. Their services are free and confidential. The toll-free phone line 1-888-THE-GLNH is staffed Monday thru Friday from 1 to 9pm, and Saturdays from 9am to 2pm (Pacific time).
Olympia PFLAG member Gabi Clayton has many more resources -- on her website here.