A Letter From The President

From the September 2002 Newsletter

 Bob Dorr, PFLAG Omaha

 Posted on September 1, 2002

Standing in a restaurant lobby, the young man gently and affectionately wrapped his arm around the shoulders of the young woman beside him. Noone took notice. There were no disapproving glances.

The reaction from onlookers probably would have been different if the people showing affection for each other in public were two men, or two women.

Our culture affirms male-female relationships in 100 different ways. But committed same-sex relationships receive little, if any, affirmation.

At Omaha PFLAG we know this:

COMMITTED OPPOSITE-SEX RELATIONSHIPS ARE A WONDERFUL TREASURE AND SO ARE COMMITTED SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS.

That is a truth worth putting in capital letters.

At PFLAG's August meeting, we had one big lovefest of affirmation for each other as individuals and as families. Our guests at a potluck were members of Real Families, a recently formed group of same-sex couples, mostly lesbians, who have children. What a great evening. We had a wonderful time together.

Two events in September will give us a chance to affirm teen-agers who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

The first is PFLAG's Sept. 12 meeting. Our speaker will be D. Moritz, a leader in starting Gay-Straight Alliances in Omaha high schools. She plans to bring along a few GSA members.

D. Moritz is a retired Omaha high school counselor who this year received a prestigious national award from the National Education Association. The award is the Virginia Uribe Award for Creative Leadership in Human Rights. D. is co-chair of the Omaha chapter of GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network). She has been a major force in training presenters and panel members for the PFLAG-GLSEN Speakers Bureau.

D also has been instrumental in one of the biggest success stories of the last few years in Omaha's GLBT movement: the expansion of GSAs into a substantial number of high schools. Much work remains. We need to get GSAs into more schools. But the recent progress has been remarkable. D will tell us about the growth of the GSAs.

As always, our two-hour meeting, including support-sharing time, will start at 7 p.m., with a pre-meeting social time at 6:30 p.m. The meetings are in Mead Hall at the west end of First United Methodist Church, 7020 Cass St.

On Sept. 14, there will be a GSA Back to School Rally at 1 p.m. at the Omaha Public School Teachers Administration Center at 33rd and Cuming Streets. PFLAG members can show their support by attending that rally.

A number of Omaha PFLAG members plan to take part in this year's Walk As One fund-raiser for NCCJ. The event begins at noon on Sunday, Sept. 15, at Heartland Park, 8th and Douglas Streets. The walk starts at 2 p.m. For more information call NCCJ (National Conference for Community and Justice) at 391-4460.

Bob Dorr, President