A Letter From The President
From the March 2003 Newsletter
Bob Dorr, PFLAG Omaha
Posted on March 1, 2003
This was published recently in the Portland, Ore., PFLAG Newsletter:
"Has it been a while since you have attended a PFLAG meeting? Do you believe that your journey is complete? When you feel that your personal journey has reached its destination, remember that someone else's journey is just beginning. As you know, having someone to talk to, someone to listen, can be a tremendous help. Someone was there for you; you can be there for someone. "If you feel that you no longer need PFLAG, consider that PFLAG needs you."
Omaha PFLAG, like Portland PFLAG, needs members who attend meetings and who volunteer in various ways. For example, while we have 50 people in our pool of panel members and speakers, demand for our presentations is growing. We especially need people who can appear on a panel or speak during the day. Because of work schedules, evening panels are easier to fill.
The makeup of panels varies. A typical panel might include a gay man, a lesbian and a parent of a gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender person. Each panelist briefly tells his own story. The panel takes questions from the audience. Our presentations to college, school and community groups usually consist of two parts. The panel is the second part. Our first part is a presentation by a speaker that focuses on ending the taunting and harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students in school. We need more speakers. We do the presentations as a combined effort with a partner, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network). I have taken part in a dozen or so of these presentations as a panelist and as a speaker. It is a powerful experience to watch the reaction of audiences. We present ourselves as GLBT people and parents of GLBT people. Low and behold, in person we are ordinary people with hopes and dreams that sometimes have been disrupted by anti-gay bias.
Sometimes it almost seems that audience members are transfixed as they see who we are and hear our core message and our personal stories. If you would like to become a part of this effort, please call Betty Dorr, 333-7064, or email her at: bobcdorr@aol.com
Omaha PFLAG also needs someone to manage our computer newsletter mailing labels and our membership list. We have 45 members. Our newsletter list totals 130. This isn't a terribly time-consuming task, but it is an important one. Please call me or send me an email if you might be interested: Bob Dorr, 333-7064, bobcdorr@aol.com (yes, that's the same phone and email as in the preceding paragraph, but they bear repeating).
Kay Strong, a PFLAG member who lives in Bellevue, has agreed to serve as Omaha PFLAG's coordinator of transgender issues and concerns. The PFLAG mission statement now includes transgender people along with gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Kay will keep track of transgender issues and will inform PFLAG members about developments affecting the transgender community. We are delighted that Kay has accepted this task.
We were sorry that Jon Lindgren, PFLAG's regional director, was forced to cancel as our March meeting speaker. He and his wife needed to make a trip to help their son's family prepare for the son being called into active military duty. Jon promised to speak at a meeting later this year.
Our speaker at our April 10 meeting will be Robert Storey, executive director of Youth Emergency Services, which provides short-term emergency shelter and crisis services for homeless teens in Omaha. Yes, there are homeless teens out there, including some who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths.
Our meetings begin with support time at 7 p.m. The program is at 8 p.m. Come at 6:30 p.m. for coffee and socializing before the meeting. We meet at First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St., in Mead Hall at the building's west end.
On a personal note, Betty and I appreciate being nominated for grand marshal of this year's Pride Parade. We are one of two couples nominated. The other couple is Carla Petersen and Sharon Van Butsel. Communitywide voting will take place through April 12 with ballots available at churches, GLBT establishments, online and in publications. One of last year's nominees was PFLAG member Dave England, who facilitates the Proud Horizons youth group.
And, finally, Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) and First United Methodist Church will present the musical "Working" at 7:30 p.m.on April 5 and 6 at FUMC, 7020 Cass St. "Working" is based on a book by Studs Terkel. Admission is free. Donations taken that night will benefit OTOC.
Bob Dorr, President
