Thank you for supporting PFLAG Cleveland at Cleveland Pride 2009

If you are a long-time supporter or first-time visitor of PFLAG Cleveland, thank you for attending our brunch honoring Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, thank you for marching with us and showing your solidarity, and thank you for visiting our booth at the Cleveland Pride Festival.

If this is the first time you've visited our website after reading our literature at Pride, please browse our website and learn about the services we offer and explore our online resources. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please e-mail us at mail@pflagcleveland.org.

Thanks again!

PFLAG CLEVELAND
invites you to their annual pre-parade
PRIDE BRUNCH

== FREE AND OPEN TO ALL OUR ALLIES ==

June 20, 2009 @ 10:30am
at the Old Stone Church, 91 Public Square, Cleveland
(use Ontario Street entrance)

The 2009 Bruce G. Kriete Community Award of PFLAG Cleveland recognizes
Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman
whose extraordinary leadership helped pass the Cleveland Domestic Partnership Registry of 2008.

While PFLAG Cleveland can not and will not endorse any political candidate for public office, we will, when warranted, recognize the efforts of an elected official who courageously supports the civil rights of our LGBT community.

Thank You Fat Fish Blue for contributing food to PFLAG Cleveland's Brunch.

E-mail mail@pflagcleveland.org for more information.

Next Support Group

Tuesday, July 14, 2009, at 7:30pm
Trinity Commons, 22nd & Euclid, Cleveland, Ohio

See Group Meetings for more information.

Next Support Group Meeting
Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 7:30pm
Trinity Commons, 22nd and Euclid, Cleveland, Ohio

See Group Meetings for more information.

You can view June's PFLAG newsletter and all of the latest area events and news by clicking here: PFLAG June Newsletter (size: 350 kb).

Please note a few corrections to the newsletter:
1) Page 2 "What's Happening:" The Cleveland PFLAG Picnic will be Sunday, July 26, 2009 (NOT June 26) at Horseshoe Lake Pavilion.
2) Page 3 "Cleveland Pride:" The parade marches at 12:00 noon (NOT 1:00pm), and the festival goes until 9:00pm (NOT 8:00pm).

Sorry for the confusion!!

View previous newsletters here: Newsletter Archive

Next Support Group Meeting
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 7:30pm
Trinity Commons, 22nd and Euclid, Cleveland, Ohio

See Group Meetings for more information.

State PFLAG Meeting ~ Spring 2009

Approximately forty dedicated PFLAG chapter leaders and members from around the state of Ohio bucked the urge to get out into the beautiful spring weather and attended the annual Ohio State meeting for PFLAG on Saturday, April 25 @ Trinity Cathedral in downtown Cleveland.  Chapters from throughout the state including Alliance, Akron, Youngstown/Warren, Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton arrived for the day and were welcomed by PFLAG Cleveland’s founder and support group co-facilitator, Jane Daroff with her compelling story of how she came to found the Cleveland chapter at the urging of her gay son.  PFLAG Cleveland President Sharon Groh-Wargo and her board had assembled an impressive slate of speakers for the event that started out with Patrick Shepherd, Associate Director of the Cleveland Film Society which had just presented the Cleveland International Film Festival, the largest film festival in the country between New York and Chicago. He spoke to the group about how MTV, HBO specials, and film along with a supportive family and friends helped his coming out process in the 80’s.  With this in mind he showed the group how film could be used as a “change agent” in society and for PFLAG chapters in their mission to educate by showing a short in this year’s festival, “Second Guessing Grandma.”

Tami Brown, Vice President in Marketing and Communications at Positively Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau also spoke to the group about the her work on the LGBT Visitor’s Guide and website, an initiative pioneered by her group and the first of its kind in the state.  This work had earned them the PFLAG Cleveland Bruce G. Kriete Community Award of 2007.  The Guide focuses on the needs of the LGBT traveler and noted gay friendly businesses useful to tourists.  She also spoke about her department’s involvement on bringing the Gay Games to the area in 2014.

After Ms. Brown’s presentation, an emotionally charged session was presented by Mary Lou Wallner and her husband Bob about their journey after the suicide of her lesbian daughter, Anna.  Following her death, the couple had to reconcile their condemnation of her homosexuality that was based in their church and its interpretation of the Bible.  They founded “TEACH” (To Educate About the Consequence of Homophobia) Ministries and have worked with many pro-LGBT groups such as SOULFORCE to present her life-changing story.  It was spotlighted in the 2007 Sundance film festival Grand Jury award winner, “For The Bible Tells Me So,” a movie which chronicles several individual and family experiences with their sexual orientation and the church’s teachings and also in the November 2007 issue of PEOPLE magazine.

Brooke Smith, National PFLAG Field and Policy Coordinator, rounded out the program with a workshop on chapter financials despite fighting an awful cold.  All the chapters shared their current projects in their communities such as scholarships, fundraising events and of course the PRIDE celebrations in the upcoming month of June. Overall it was an enjoyable and moving day disguised as a meeting!

Submitted by,
Pat Brandt
PFLAG Cleveland Newsletter Editor

PFLAG Cleveland gratefully acknowledges the generous gift by Tim Leiden and Robert Dubbs which makes PFLAG sponsorship of a film and reception at the annual Cleveland International Film Festival possible.

Please click on the Events tab more information.

The Northeast Ohio PFLAG newsletter is a joint publication of both the Cleveland and Akron PFLAG Chapters. The newsletter is released monthly and contains updates on the latest news affecting LGBT people and their families as well as information on various PFLAG and LGBT-related events which are up and coming!

View our JUNE NEWSLETTER.

You can also view our archived newsletters below. Be aware, all of our newsletters are 0.5-1.0 MB in size so be patient if your ISP is on the slow side!

2008 - Senator Dale Miller Ohio 23rd District

Previous Awardees:
2007 - Convention & Visitors Bureau Of Greater Cleveland
2006 - Dick Feagler, Plain Dealer Columnist