If you or someone in your life is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, and you need support, PFLAG is the right place. Do you feel like you can help listen to other LGBT people or their parents and share your story? You’re welcome too! We meet the first Monday of every month and welcome lesbian,…
Author: PFLAG Atlanta
Since 1986, PFLAG Atlanta has been helping moms and dads learn to accept their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) children as the wonderful gifts that they are. By telling our stories and supporting, educating and advocating every step of the way, we hope to create a world where are children are judged on the content of their character, and not by their color or sexual or gender orientation. Till that day comes, they always have a home in PFLAG Atlanta.
VIRTUAL PFLAG Support Group meets online on the Third Sunday of the month
If you or someone in your life is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, and you need support, PFLAG is the right place. Do you feel like you can help listen to other LGBT people or their parents and share your story? You’re welcome too! We meet the Third Sunday of every month (virtually) and welcome…
Gay Foster Kids’ Discrimination Battle Heats Up In States
Sixto Cancel says his ultra-religious foster family frequently talked about their disdain for his homosexuality at the dinner table, trashed his room and called him homophobic slurs. While he was still a teenager, he says, they kicked him out of their Connecticut home after he had lived there for nearly a decade. “I’ve had foster…
The Condemnation of DOMA | FreedHearts
From: The Condemnation of DOMA | FreedHearts “Christians are becoming increasingly irrelevant. They are dragging Jesus down with them.” The eyes of the nation are on the Supreme Court as we wait for a ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 8. What is at stake for Christians in this battle? Does our…
Embracing Transgender Equality, Inside and Outside Religious Communities
While I was marching in DC’s Capital Pride this year, a trans ally watching the parade tried handing me a sticker that said “God Made Me Trans.” As an atheist transgender woman, the gracious gesture simultaneously warmed my heart and stirred up a sense of outrage at the assumption that I needed a higher power…
Being Gay at a Catholic University
When I was a student at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 2005, a group of gay students organized with the aim of convincing the Benedictine monks who ran the school to recognize a club that would serve the needs of the college’s gay community. They met in secret, but if you were…
A Love Letter to the LGBTQ from a Christian Mom | FreedHearts
“They kicked me out on my 18th birthday for being gay… I’ve tried to contact them… I don’t know if they still love me.” Jonathan Allen, America’s Got Talent My husband and I sat stunned as this young man sang Pavarotti on “America’s Got Talent.” Tears filled our eyes as his story settled on us,…
Gay Grandparents: The Second Coming Out
Most GLBT folks came out once, usually to parents, brothers and sisters, and friends. That was stressful enough. Let’s explore the experiences of grandparents who have gone through or are thinking about The Second Coming Out - to their grandchildren. Thalia Verros of Mashpee has three grandchildren. The oldest, Ellie, is planning to visit Thalia…
Yes, You Can Be Gay And Christian
The Pew Research Center released a study last week that examined the lives of LGBT Americans. One portion of the study, which has garnered significant media attention is the relationship between LGBT people and religion. The study found that LGBT people tended to be more religiously affiliated than the general population, and views all major…
Ellen DeGeneres Is The Most Visible LGBT Public Figure In America
More than anyone else, Ellen DeGeneres is the face of LGBT America. Still. That’s the verdict of two new Pew Research Center surveys, one of the general U.S. population and the other of LGBT Americans specifically. Not only was the comedian and television host by far the most frequently cited example of a gay or…
Transgender ID Cards: Are The ‘M’ And ‘F’ Outdated?
Lauren Grey didn’t think much about the gender recorded on her Illinois driver’s license until she went to test-drive a new car. Although she had been living as a woman for months and easily obtained a license with her new name and a picture reflecting her feminine appearance, Grey’s ID still identified her as male,…
Two Blessings on Father’s Day
This will be a very special Father’s Day. It will be my first Father’s Day since my husband and I adopted our baby boy Lucas. It will also be the first Father’s Day in many years that I will get to celebrate in person with my own father, who’s been living in Ecuador for many…
Is Being Straight a ‘Lifestyle Choice’?
If you are straight and oppose equality for gay and lesbian people, I’d like you to reflect on two specific questions. Firstly, when did you “choose” to be straight? Secondly, do you think being straight is a “lifestyle choice”? Based on knowledge of your own sexuality, you may think these questions are totally ridiculous, or…
LGBT Youth And Suicide Study
Each year, one out of every three gay, lesbian or bisexual students in the San Francisco Unified School District reportedly attempts suicide. For transgender students, that number jumps to nearly one in two. These statistics were captured in a 2011 survey of nearly 5,000 SFUSD middle and high school students developed by the Centers for…
LGBT Americans Feel Growing Acceptance
The vast majority of LGBT Americans feel that society has become more accepting of them in the last decade, yet many still feel stigmatized, according to a survey released Thursday from the non-partisan Pew Research Center. In the survey, conducted online among 1,197 self-identified gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adults, 92 percent of respondents said…
The Dance
The wedding invitation came addressed to our entire family, a detail that made me cringe. A daughter of dear friends was getting married and the honor of our presence was requested, or so the invitation proclaimed. Deep down I knew the sentiment was sincere — that they truly did want our family of four to…
To Christian Parents of Gay Children
You want to shove those words back in and put the lid on. But you can’t. Your child is gay. This goes against everything you’ve been taught. It was not what you had in mind, and you instantly wonder where you went wrong. When you become a parent, you know to expect the unexpected. But…
A Mother’s Heartbreaking Tale of Losing Her Gay Son
The Religious Right hates it when we point out that their teachings are directly related to the problems of bullying,depression, self-loathing and suicide. We don’t point this out to be mean, or as a smear. We point it out because it’s true, but we also understand that many run-of-the-mill Fundamentalists truly believe they’re doing the…
Georgia Church Welcomes Banned Boy Scouts
When the Boy Scouts of America made the decision to welcome gay scouts, some religious groups darkly warned of a mass exodus. While most major denominations have indicated their intent to stay with the scouts, Roswell Street Baptist in Marietta, Ga publicly severed ties with the Boy Scouts because of the new gay policy. Yet…
8 Year-Old Meets His “Boyfriend” Darren Criss
Back in December I asked my oldest son what he wanted for Christmas. He only had one request: “I want to meet Blaine and sing and play the guitar with him.” My son has had a huge crush on Blaine, a popular character on Glee played by Darren Criss, for two years now. Despite the…
The Fashion of Acceptance In Sports
The world’s foremost name in sporting apparel isn’t just dipping its toe in the waters of expression and acceptance. It’s diving in headfirst. After signing the WNBA’s Brittney Griner to a contract that has her market and wear men’s clothing as well as women’s apparel, and makes her the company’s first openly gay athlete, Nike…
“The Out List” from Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
On Thursday, June 27, HBO is premiering The OUT List, a film of intimate docu-portraits from photographer and director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders that follows in the vein of his well known projects About Face: Supermodels Then and Now, The Latino List and The Black List. The film is a storytelling project in which Greenfield-Sanders’s subjects, a…
Rainbow Summits Project: Raising Awareness About LGBT Youth In Distress
I stood up and looked into the darkness. Somewhere beyond the small circle of light illuminated by my headlamp was my destination, the summit of Mount Everest, my sixth ascent of the “Seven Summits” — the highest mountain on each continent. It meant I was now very close, just one mountain away, from becoming the…
Grandparents and Gay Children
Adam was 13 when he told his mother that he is gay. She tried to be supportive, but was unprepared to deal with the idea of her only child making such a profoundly bold declaration. She eventually decided that it was easier to assume Adam was going through some sort of “phase” which would eventually…
Helping a Child to Come Out
Parents aren’t blind, and the clues are often there. Some research suggests that sexual orientation can show itself even at 3 years old. In our family, by the time our youngest son came out at 13, my wife and I had long progressed from inkling to conviction. A toddler who wore a feather boa around…
Delaware Senate Approves Transgender Rights Bill
The Delaware Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws. The 11-7 vote came after lawmakers debated the measure that Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry (D-Wilmington) introduced late last month. Senate Bill 97 would specifically ban anti-transgender discrimination in housing, employment,…
Children Are Thriving In Same-Sex Families
The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families is the world’s largest attempt to study how children raised by same-sex couples compare to children raised by heterosexual couples. According to a preliminary report on the study of 500 children across the country of Australia, these young people are not only thriving, but also have…
Report: LGBT Support And Acceptance Growing In U.S.
Reactions to Learning Your Child Is Gay or Lesbian In 1985, a Los Angeles Times survey found that 64% of the public said they would be “very upset” if their child told them he or she was gay or lesbian. By 2004, that number had fallen by almost half (33%). Since then, it has declined…
‘I’m having a lesbian’ billboard launched for gay marriage campaign
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays spokeswoman Shelley Argent said the campaign was designed to garner support from mainstream families for gay marriage, on the grounds that gay children were “born that way”. “Being lesbian or gay is not a choice,” she said. “It’s got nothing to do with culture or parenting skills. “It’s…
Education Policy Overhaul Aims to Protect Gay Students
A bill to alter America’s education system was introduced in the Senate Tuesday, and it includes ways to protect LGBT students from harassment, bullying, and discrimination. A proposal to overhaul current education policy was introduced Tuesday, and the 1,150-page document includes language to bar schools and administrators from discriminating against LGBT students. The Strengthening America’s…