Sunday, May 28th, 2023

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3 Comments

  1. Donna Ellis, PLFAG Phoenix

    I can’t speak to any part of this posting, Billy, except the PFLAG part. I had never heard that Morty Manford was even at the Stonewall riots, nor that he had “run to his mother,” but I find the section about PFLAG rather negative. We NEVER “console”, and almost laughed out loud when I read that word in conjuction with us. We do have more GLBTQQI members than parents these days, and I would say that many of us are as activist as we can be in so many issues. We serve meals to HIV/AIDS victims, we educate in all kinds of ways, we are in the middle of trying to educate more people about various Trans issues here in Phoenix, we demonstrate politically so often we wonder when our last quiet night was….(because we’re mad as hell), and we try to go to every support group here in the valley. We do speaking engagements in every school who asks us to come, and we have a PFLAG table at every event who asks us….It’s a good thing we’re retired. We’d never have time to work a real JOB! But CONSOLE? When we have new parents attend a support meeting, and they might be crying because they have just discovered that their kid is glbt, we tell them it’s NOTHING to cry about, in fact it’s not a negative at ALL—it’s a positive! They might not be able to see it yet, but with a little education, they will. CONSOLE? HELL NO! There is nothing to console about! We aren’t consoling….we are activists, and we’re out there on the front lines, trying to make a difference! Your slant about PFLAG wasn’t taken well….. I never knew Morty (or Jeanne) Manford, and don’t really care HOW PFLAG was started, but I know what it’s doing now, and I see a bunch of people who are paid NOTHING making a difference.

  2. Billy Glover

    As I should have made plain more, i did not always agree with Don, and remember this was written years ago, and his fear of PFLAG, as with gay churches, etc was that it would try to make homosexuality a ‘special’ thing and he thought we should be fully integrated in the world and that our sexuality was no one’s business. That seemed to make some people think he was not happy being gay, which was obviously not true.I attend PFLAG meetings in Shreveport and know what you are saying. I think that just knowing you are there is helpful to some people, even if they don’t contact you or attend meetings. And it can’t hurt when advice columnists give your address, etc.Even though things had changed dramatically from when they started in 1952, things have changed more since Don’s death in 1997. The others are dead too. The generic issues they had are now irrelevant since, there are groups and publications to cover every aspect of the issue and of course at the time there was only ONE, and they had to do everything.We stayed out of politics, for good reason, then. Now our movement as you know is into politics, and now disagree, among the Democrats, Republicans and Independents, but that is good, not bad. So Don would have changed. His main concern was the sodomy laws, making us all criminals. Now those laws no longer exist thanks to Lawrence vs Texas. So he then would have moved on to other issues. And he would have seen how PFLAG, COLAGE, MCC, etc. have grown and been great resources.

  3. Donna Ellis, PFLAG Phoenix

    Yes, Billy…..I totally lost track of the fact that this was DON saying this, and saying it way back there, not now.(whew!) Thank heavens that people don’t think we’re a “consoling bunch” now! OMG. (LOL) One way to get the little (old) people fired up! (I’m grinning) When I put this in the context of the time in which it was written, it makes sense, too. Yes, I can understand, but when I read those words, I really got my dander up! I’d like to think that Don would have changed too…. It irks me that so many heteros (heck, I’m ashamed to BE one most of the time) are so interested in only the SEX lives of GLBT’s, but none of the other dimensions. They are just so uneducated and usually have that “brick wall” attitude. Wonder if that will ever change? Please keep those wonderful e-mails coming, Billy, but let me know who is talking! (grin) I hope not every one of your readers was as thick-headed as I was! I love your posts!

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