PFLAG founder dead at 92
PFLAG founder and extraordinary gay rights pioneer Jeanne Manford has died at 92.
The Huffington Post reports Manford died at her California home on January 8 and had been in declining health for some time. Manford’s daughter Suzanne Swan confirmed this.
“She is known to thousands of people as the mother of the straight ally movement, but to me – she was my mother,” Swan told the Post.
“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.”
Manford became a LGBT rights advocate in 1972 after her son Morty was beaten during a gay rights rally.
She held the first Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), known back then as Parents of Gays, the following year in New York’s Metropolitan Community Church.
“All of us — people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and straight allies alike — owe Jeanne our gratitude,” PFLAG officials said in an email statement.
