The records of the Lansing Area Chapter of PFLAG, 1972-1995 (.75 linear ft.) document the founding, administration and programs of the Lansing chapter of a national organization that provides service and support to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals and their families and friends. The records have been organized into four series: Background and History, 1972-1995, Administrative, 1982-1999, Topical Files, 1988-1999, and Audio Visual, 1980s-1996.
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or PFLAG, was established in 1981 as a national non-profit organization, to promote the health and well-being of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals and their families and friends through support services, education, and civil rights advocacy on the national and local level. Currently PFLAG has a membership of over 80,000 households and more than 425 affiliates worldwide, a network which is developed, resourced and serviced by the PFLAG national office in Washington D.C., a national Board of Directors, and a Regional Directors' Council.
The idea for PFLAG was conceived by Jeanne Manford, a fourth-grade teacher in New York City, who in 1972 marched with her gay son in the New York City gay pride parade bearing the sign, "Parents of Gays: Unite in Support of Our Children." Manford was inundated with requests from lesbians, gays, and parents to speak with other parents and to participate in panel discussions and interviews throughout the country. In 1973 she formed a small New York City support group called Parents of Gays. In 1974, Manford helping Adela and Larry Starr to form a group in Los Angeles in 1974. Similar support groups began forming across the country, and in 1979 they met in Washington, DC at the first National March for Gay and Lesbian Rights. In 1981 the twenty groups that had been created met in the Starr's home in Los Angeles and formed the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or Parents FLAG. A five-member Board of Directors was created, and Adele Starr became the organization's first president. The organization relocated its headquarters to Denver in 1987, and to a permanent national office in Washington, D.C. in 1988. To accommodate local chapters, as well as a growing national profile, the organization restructured in 1993, establishing an affiliation process for chapters, making board seats an elected position, and changing its name to Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
The Lansing Area Chapter of PFLAG began in Okemos, Michigan in 1981, as a member group of the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. The group held its first official Board/Action Committee meeting as Parents FLAG/ Lansing Area in 1988, led by president Jean Ross. In 1996, under then and current president Carolyn Chial-Telder, the group completed its application for Chartered Chapter status under the reorganized national PFLAG organization.
For more information on the history and current activities of PFLAG, see the National PFLAG website at: http://www.pflag.org and the Lansing Area Chapter website at: http://members.aol.com/pflaglans/pflaglans.html.
