First US PFLAG president dies

Adele Starr, who became the first National President of America’s Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians And Gays (PFLAG) in 1981 has passed away.

Starr, 90, died in her sleep while recovering from surgery at the St. Johns Health Centre in Santa Monica on December 10.

Starr first became involved after her son Philip told her he was gay in 1974.

Philip told her about the group, then known as Parent FLAG and Starr met with PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford that same year.

Two years later she founded the Los Angeles chapter of PFLAG.

Starr became PFLAG’s first National President in 1981, serving in that role through the early years of the AIDS crisis until 1986.

She continued to advocate for equal rights for gays and lesbians through the rest of her life and in her later years campaigned for the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

Current PFLAG America National President, Rabbi David Horowitz released a statement in which he said he hoped Starr’s family would be comforted by the knowledge of the history she had made.

PFLAG Australia’s national spokeswoman Shelley Argent said it was sad to lose someone who had worked so hard on behalf of what was now a worldwide movement.

“She was such a dedicated woman because she did it for so long, I think she’s to be admired for that,” said Argent.

“When I saw the news flash up on the computer I thought what a sad loss it was and what a brave woman she was to have been among the first to have stood up publicly and made a stand about having a gay son.”