Jeanne Manford Dead: PFLAG Founder And Pioneering Gay Rights Ally Dies At 92
Source: Huffington Post
Jeanne Manford, the founder of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and an all-around pioneering straight ally in the LGBT rights movement, has died at 92.
Manford died at her Daly City, Calif. home and had been in declining health for some time, daughter Suzanne Swan confirmed.
She is known to thousands of people as the mother of the straight ally movement, but to me - she was my mother," Ms. Swan said in an email statement. "She was someone who would always do the right thing, the good thing. She supported all people, and that meant so much to us growing up.
Born Jeanne Sobelson on Dec. 4, 1920 in Queens, N.Y., Manford became active on behalf of LGBT rights in 1972 after her son Morty was beaten during a Gay Activists Alliance demonstration. After Morty's attack, Manford penned a letter to the editor of The New York Post, declaring "I have a homosexual son and I love him."
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/08/jeanne-manford-pflag-founder-dead_n_2433626.html
Here's to an amazing woman who made the lives of millions of young people better, easier, and happier. You will be sorely missed.
RIP.
Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)We must all honor Ms. Manford's memory by carrying on the fight against homophobia and all other forms of hatred and injustice.
This song by Tommy Sands seems to me a fitting tribute to her life and her work:
Fearless
(18,421 posts)I was actually listening to this one, coincidentally, when i was posting the story and I think it is very apt on many levels...
Hekate
(90,714 posts)Putting this up is a very fitting tribute for this remarkable woman.
Hekate
Fire Walk With Me
(38,893 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)A fellow citizen of Queens. She did a lot for love of people.
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)R.I.P.