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About Us
About PFLAG Lower Columbia
Since 2004, PFLAG Lower Columbia has served the LGBTQ+ communities of Washington and Oregon's Lower Columbia regions with support, education, and advocacy. Love is what brings us to PFLAG. It urges and inspires us, empowers us, and rouses our courage. Leading with love, we strive to achieve PFLAG's vision and mission.
Our Vision
An equitable, inclusive world where every LGBTQ+ person is safe, celebrated, empowered, and loved.
Our Mission
To create a caring, just, and affirming world for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.
Our Work
Support families, friends, allies, and people who are LGBTQ+ with love and acceptance.
Educate ourselves and others about the unique issues LGBTQ+ people face.
Advocate in our communities to change attitudes and create policies to achieve full equality for people who are LGBTQ+.
PFLAG's Story
PFLAG's Story
In 1972, Jeanne Manford, mother of Morty, joined her gay son in the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade in New York City. She carried a sign that read "PARENTS of Gays: UNITE in SUPPORT for our CHILDREN". The response to her courageous appearance in the parade was overwhelmingly positive. After that experience and with encouragement from their son, Jeanne and her husband, Jules, started a support group in 1973 for parents, families, friends, and allies of LGBTQ+ people.
Both PFLAG National and PFLAG Lower Columbia began when loving and accepting parents joined together to support their children and each other. Now, after 50+ years, PFLAG is the nation's oldest and largest organization that supports, educates, and advocates for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. PFLAG Lower Columbia celebrates 20+ years of leading with love in Washington and Oregon's Lower Columbia regions.
PFLAG Lower Columbia's Story
PFLAG Lower Columbia's Story
In December 2001, a few weeks after their oldest son came out as gay, Rick and Mary Ann Nelson read an announcement in the Longview Daily News about a new support group for gays and parents hosted by Longview United Methodist Church (UMC). They went to the first meeting in January 2002 with both apprehension and hope. When Mary Ann cried at the meeting, she was quickly reassured. She recalled, "They handed me a pop and told me it would be OK." And it was.
After some time, support group member Alan Rose spoke about PFLAG, which led the group to start a PFLAG chapter. The Nelsons, Barbara Vining, Willis and Gale Williams, and L. Jay Gregory formed the initial board of directors when PFLAG Lower Columbia was incorporated in January 2004. According to Barbara Vining, the Nelsons' ongoing involvement in the chapter changed the lives of many people.
After 20+ years, the affirming UMC still host monthly PFLAG support meetings, where leading with love continues to change lives.
