A Letter From The President

Here Come the Brides

 Bob Dorr, PFLAG Omaha

 Posted on May 28, 2009

On the morning of April 27 Suzy Adams and I stood in line with a dozen or so other couples at the Pottawattamie County court house in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and applied for our marriage license. Everyone at the courthouse was polite and professional and we were greeted by so many well wishers from One Iowa, MCC Church of Omaha, Second Unitarian Church of Omaha and others.

Four days later, on May 1, 2009, with two of our close friends by our sides, Suzy and I were married by Judge Mark Eveloff. Although our marriage will not be recognized in our home state of Nebraska, we decided we wanted to get married anyway. We wanted to be a part of history in the making. In May of 1999 we were committed to each other in a ceremony also in Iowa. It seemed fitting that we legally marry in Iowa in our tenth anniversary month.

Just a few days later our marriage license arrived in the mail. We looked at it and marveled; what we never imagined would be possible ten years ago is a reality. And now we move forward with the firm belief that someday every state in the U.S. will have full marriage equality. My hope is that by our twentieth anniversary we’ll be just another married couple who look incredibly good for our ages.

Jody Huckaby’s Omaha Visit
PFLAG’s Executive Director, Jody Huckaby, visited Omaha May 14 – 16. It was a whirlwind three days and we made the most of it. We were privileged to have Jody speak at our May 14 meeting on Thursday and join us for a counter-protest at Trinity Cathedral on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, we put him to work decorating for the fifth annual Tom Mahony Pride Prom and he, along with Kay and Tim Mahony, was a VIP guest at the prom later that evening.

Jody sent me a thank you e-mail on May 17 and said, “I am filled with gratitude for the amazing work you and your chapter are doing here in Omaha! This was such a wonderful trip for me. I feel so renewed and inspired for the great things PFLAG is doing here.” He concluded his message saying, “I will definitely be back again.”

I too am proud of the work we are doing here and I give all the credit to our hard-working board and membership. Thank you all for your commitment to PFLAG.

Please see Bob Dorr’s article in this newsletter for more details about Jody Huckaby’s visit.

Christine Carroll, a friend and columnist, also wrote a nice article about PFLAG and Jody’s recent Omaha visit which was published in the online magazine suite101.com

You’re invited!
Join us June 20 for the annual Nebraska Pride celebration. Please arrive at the parade start location at 10th and Pacific Streets by 10:30 to join our Omaha PFLAG marching group. The parade will start at 11 a.m. and end at the festival site which will be located at 8th Street and Riverfront Drive under the I-480 bridge near the Lewis and Clark Landing.

We’ll be carrying our PFLAG banner. Bring your rainbow flags, rainbow umbrellas or a handful of helium-filled balloons to distribute to kids along the route. Wear your PFLAG Omaha t-shirt. If you don’t have one, buy one for $15 at our June 11 meeting.

Volunteers are still needed to staff our booth at the Pride festival. A sign-up sheet will be circulated at our June meeting.

Pride Chair Johnnie Richards will come to PFLAG’s June 11 meeting to speak about the Pride celebration.


Carrie Spencer, president
Omaha PFLAG