Youngstown Area PFLAG - For crisis help, please contact us via Help Hotline @"211"in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties or 330-747-2696.

Youngstown Area PFLAG is a chapter of PFLAG National. We offer monthly confidential support group meetings for parents, and friends of lesbians & gays.

In 1972, Jeanne Manford started an international movement when she marched with her gay son in New York's Gay Pride Parade. Enraged that police stood by while her son was badly beaten at a march for gay rights earlier in the year, Jeanne carried a sign reading "Parents of Gays: Unite in Support of our Children." Young people there begged her to speak with their families and what is now PFLAG began.

Today PFLAG has over 368 chapters and over 200,000 members. With a history expanding over 40 years, PFLAG is now found in major urban centers, small cities and rural areas in all 50 states. Based in Washington, D.C., PFLAG National is committed to supporting the LGBT community in local and national efforts by supporting its chapter affiliates. Youngstown Area PFLAG is the Youngstown chapter of PFLAG National.

As a former steel city in northeast Ohio, Youngstown had virtually no organized gay community in the 1980's. In 1989, Youngstown Area PFLAG was founded by Joe Bordo, an AIDS risk-reduction specialist for the Youngstown City Health District, and Toni and Steve Schildcrout, parents of a gay son. Originally, Youngstown Area PFLAG was a safe space for gay men.

Under the leadership of John Edwards in the early 1990s, Youngstown Area PFLAG support group meetings were led by gay and lesbian members. Over time, the group meetings grew to be led by both gay and lesbian members and parents of LGBT children. Youngstown Area PFLAG is now Presided by Marguerite Felice (featured in photo right), a proud mother of two African American sons who are gay and bisexual.

Youngstown Area PFLAG offers monthly support group meetings that are open to the public. All support group meetings are welcoming, non-judgmental, and 100% confidential. Light refreshments are also provided. During group, we encourage people to share at their own comfort level. So, you do not have to share if you do not want to. PFLAG members are not experts. We are people like yourself who want to be there for one another in times of need.

Our support groups are held the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the Parish House of St. John's Episcopal Church (featured in photo right) located at 323 Wick Ave., in Youngstown next to the Main Branch. For more information about our meetings, please call Help Hotline, a 24-hour hotline, at 330-747-2696 or 211.

Tags: Community Organization