A Meeting of Gender Nonconforming People and Those Who Share Their Journey

Over the past couple of years Sue & I have attended a few meetings by the local PFLAG group.  PFLAG started a bit over 40 years ago as a support organization for "Parents Friends of Lesbian And Gay" people.  Today PFLAG is made up of "parents, families, friends, and straight allies united with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), PFLAG is committed to advancing equality and societal acceptance of LGBT people through its threefold mission of support, education and advocacy."  (That last is taken from their website)

The couple who run the local chapter are great.  They really care about doing everything they can to help make our area accepting and understanding of all people.  This has really been the only local support group I've found that comes closest to caring about transgender people.  These local meetings have usually had a stronger leaning toward the "L" and "G" of LGBT.  They do care about including everyone, but in the time Sue & I have been attending there haven't been any other transgender people in attendance.  But that is now changing.....

Last week the local PFLAG group opened their monthly meeting an hour and a half early.  The topic for this early session was "A Meeting of Gender Nonconforming People and Those Who Share Their Journey", and it was for any gender nonconforming people, school aged or adult.  They had the facilitator of a Des Moines transgender support group as a speaker.  And the main discussion was on founding a transgender support group in our town.  There was one other adult transgender person, one mother whose college age daughter just recently came out to her, and 3 teen aged transgender people, along with the parents of one of them.  The Des Moines group meets once a week, plus once every month.  The plan for this new local group is to start out meeting the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month.  I think having this as a spin-off of PFLAG is a really great idea, and I hope it can take hold and grow.  I only wish there had been something like this in place a few years ago after I first truly came out to myself and Sue.