A Letter From The President

Dave England Will Leave Proud Horizons

 Bob Dorr, PFLAG Omaha

 Posted on March 30, 2006

For 15 years Dave England has spent most Saturday afternoons with his kids—the young men and women who attend Proud Horizons support meetings.

Dave is the primary adult leader of the PFLAG-sponsored youth group. In length of service no one, past or present, in Omaha PFLAG comes close to matching Dave’s commitment to a single cause. He helped start the youth group in 1991 when there was no place in Omaha for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths to come together and talk. For a few years, Dave served both as PFLAG’s president and as facilitator of the youth group.

To Dave, nothing is more important than giving GLBT young people a safe place to talk about their experiences at home and in school. “After being in the group, youths learn they are not alone. They form social networks, increase their self-confidence and solve what seemed to them to be insurmountable problems,” he said in an interview three years ago.

In June Dave will step down as Proud Horizon’s lead facilitator. Over coffee several weeks ago, Dave told me he believes it is time for him to step aside, and that he leaves with many good feelings. He wants the group to continue to have committed leadership. He named his top choices for that leadership: Tom and Barb Johnson.

The Johnsons have agreed to assume leadership of Proud Horizons. Tom and Barb serve as PFLAG board members. Tom is PFLAG’s treasurer. Barb is our telephone Help Line coordinator. She will turn over the Help Line duties to Kathy England, a past president of Omaha PFLAG and wife of Dave England.

Plan to come to PFLAG’s June 8 meeting. That night, we will say thank you to Dave England for his 15 years of service to PFLAG and for helping scores of young people at a critical time in their lives.

OUR SPEAKER at the April 13 meeting will be Michael Gordon, executive director of Citizens for Equal Protection, the Nebraska GLBT’s community’s lead political organization. Michael will give an update on this year’s session of the Nebraska Legislature and on the court challenge to Nebraska’s constitutional prohibition against same-gender marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships.

TIM MAHONY, who has been living in Washington, D.C. since last July, has taken an office job with the National Hispanic Medical Association. He plans to enter graduate school within the next year and study International Public Policy.

The Omaha Pride Prom, to be held May 20, has been named for Tim’s late father, Tom. While a high school student, Tim Mahony testified before the Omaha School Board about harassment he received because he is gay. His parents supported him. That led to the School Board adding sexual orientation to the district’s anti-discrimination policy.

SIGN OF HOPE: At our March meeting, Meredith Bacon and her spouse, Lynne, told us that Meredith’s transition from male to female has gone smoothly. Meredith and Lynne have continued their teaching jobs without disruption. Students apparently accept Meredith’s physical changes.

SUPPORT TIME: Instead of our usual single support group, we formed three groups of about a dozen people each at our well-attended March meeting. Experience is showing that smaller groups tend to provide the best setting for good support. Thus, we probably will break into more than one support group at many future meetings.

Bob Dorr, Omaha PFLAG president