PRIDE FACT 13
What is PFLAG?

PFLAG is the United States' first and largest organization uniting parents, families, and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+). PFLAG National is the national organization, which provides support to the PFLAG network of local chapters. PFLAG has over 400 chapters across the United States, with more than 200,000 members and supporters. PFLAG is no longer an acronym, but just the name of the organization. Prior to 2014, the acronym stood for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. In 2014 the membership of the organization voted to officially change the name to PFLAG to reflect the decades of fully inclusive work it had been doing in the LGBTQ+ community. The Beginning: The first formal meeting of Parents of Gays (later PFLAG) took place on March 11, 1973, at the Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Church (MDUMC) in Greenwich Village, NYC. Approximately 20 people attended. Rev. Ed Egan was one of the founding members of "Parents of Gays." Parents of Gays continued to meet monthly at MDUMC until at least 1984. In the next few years, through word of mouth and community need, similar groups sprang up around the country, offering "safe havens" and mutual support for parents with gay and lesbian children. In 1976, PFLAG LA had their first meeting of 30 parents. By 1977, the group had integrated with other LGBT activist groups to oppose Anita Bryant's anti-gay crusade and defeat the statewide Briggs Initiative. Following the 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, representatives from these groups met for the first time in Washington, DC.

 

Source: Homepage - PFLAG

Source: PFLAG - Wikipedia