A Letter From The President

Change the Omaha PFLAG Bylaws?

 Bob Dorr, PFLAG Omaha

 Posted on August 18, 2005

Omaha PFLAG members will decide at our Sept. 8 meeting whether to change the chapter bylaws. The proposed change would remove a sentence saying the Omaha chapter president must be the parent of a gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender person.

The bylaws require that the members be notified in writing of any proposed bylaws change. This article fulfills that requirement.

The Omaha chapter president always has been a parent. Some other chapters have been led by GLBT people or by straight allies. Bill Fuller, until recently the Lincoln PFLAG president, is a straight ally who has no gay family member that he is aware of. Bill stepped down as Lincoln president because a job change means he is moving to Wisconsin.

The National PFLAG president always has been a parent, but the national bylaws don’t require that.

As local president, I am proposing the bylaws change. I believe we should broaden the pool of potential presidential candidates and not exclude GLBT people and straight allies. The questions should be: Who is willing to accept the challenge? Who would make the best president? My view as president carries no more weight than any other member’s view. Some members might believe that the tradition of having a parent as president is strong, and the current bylaws should retain that requirement.

We also must elect directors to new two-year terms at the Sept. 8 annual membership meeting. Three directors whose terms expire have agreed to serve another term if elected. They are Barbara Johnson, Carrie Spencer and Hap Rohwer.

A fourth director, Venetia Collins, whose term also expires, wants to step aside. Venetia is a warm, caring person who has given much to PFLAG and will continue as a telephone Help Line volunteer. Thanks, Venetia, for all you have done and will continue to do.

Without Venetia, the board will have nine directors. PFLAG’s members can leave the number at nine, or they can elect a tenth director. If a tenth director is elected, that person must be a parent of a GLBT person to meet a bylaw requirement that a majority of the board members be parents.

Also at the Sept. 8 meeting, a new documentary film called “Fish Can’t Fly” will be shown. The film explores the lives of gay Christians who have entered a so-called “ex-gay” program or have struggled in other ways to put their spirituality and sexuality in harmony.

So come at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8 (or at 6:30 p.m. for socializing) to help determine your organization’s future, to take part in the regular support time and to see a film that is winning acclaim nationally from PFLAG leaders. The meeting will be in Mead Hall at the west end of First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St.

As I’ve often said, PFLAG’s educational presentations and panels are among the crown jewels of our organization. In our presentations, a speaker gives our core Safe Schools message. Our panels consist of members who tell a little bit about themselves and their own experiences. PFLAG and GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) are partners in this endeavor.

To become a presenter or a panelist, come to our next training from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 15 at North High School, 31st Street and Ames Avenue.

It has been a while since we have conducted a training. If you are in our pool of panelists and have not taken part in a training, please come on Oct. 15. If you are not in our pool of panelists and think this might be for you, come to the training.

We have a special need for more speakers to deliver our Safe Schools message. All of us who do this are amateurs—not professional speakers. If you can come on Oct. 15, or if you have questions, please send an email to Betty Dorr at bobcdorr@cox.net

This year’s Pride Players benefit will be Friday, Sept. 30. The place is the small upstairs Hitchcock Theater at the Rose Blumkin Performing Arts Center, 20th and Farnam Streets. The performance time is 8:15 p.m. The later starting time is necessary to avoid confusion in the Rose’s lobby due to another show in the main auditorium the same night.

Your invitation to buy tickets to this performance benefiting PFLAG, Proud Horizons and GLSEN should arrive in your mailbox in a few days.

Every year, the Pride Players succeed in moving the audience to both laughter and tears. Much of the original material comes from their own experiences. The amazingly talented teenagers deliver songs, poetry, monologues, scenes and skits that explore what it means to be a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or straight-allied teen in Omaha.

If you are free that evening, plan to come. Bring your handkerchief.

Bob Dorr, Omaha PFLAG president.