A bright spot in this crazy weather month is hopefully our PFLAG meeting A chance to Socialize, Support, Educate and
Advocate!!! This month we will be meeting at Shari’s Restaurant in their community room.  We will have
Food and social time from 5 pm to 6 pm ish and meeting at 6 PM.  We have some VERY exciting topics and guests
attending this month. BMCC Diversity Week, BRO House Party and Pendleton High School Gay Straight Alliance
will all be on the agenda!!! Specific info follows:

We will be discussing the Blue Mountain CC Arts and Culture Week and how PFLAG Pendleton is involved.
They are really mixing things up up on the Hill and I can’t believe HOW FAR they have come.  This years theme is: “Bouncing Back”
As the theme suggests they will be looking at the many ways people can be “put down” and how they
find their way back.  I just googled one of their presenters and possibly the key night performer and he
is amazing. His name is Jade Estaban Estrada. Google him for more information. His website describes him as :

Jade Esteban Estrada is a busy guy. Born in San Antonio, Texas, to a

U.S. Army officer and a stage actress, Estrada won a scholarship to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York. Estrada studied dance, alongside Jennifer Lopez, under Slam, the lead dancer from Madonna’s Blonde Ambition Tour, among other notable teachers of the era. His music can be heard on the Golden Globe- and Emmy award-winning police drama “The Shield.” In fact, when I interviewed him, he was in between takes, shooting a remake of “The Producers” in California.

     Next week, before heading to present at the Tejano Music Awards (which he calls the “Oscars for my peeps”), he’s donating time out of his schedule to make an appearance at Hal & Mal’s. His production of “ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1” will benefit Grace House. “ICONS” is a celebration of LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered) history, but, Estrada invokes Gertrude Stein when reminding viewers: “It’s not a gay thing. It’s a human thing.”

     Why is GLBT history important to both the GLBT and straight community?
First, let me say, I prefer LGBT. Women always get the back burner. And Lesbians are the ones who get things done. When I hear GLBT, it’s another example of men taking the floor. When I hear GLBT, it reminds me that equality needs to happen in all areas. It’s old-fashioned.
Can you believe it???? BMCC!!!!! I love what Doug Radke, the Diversity Club and BMCC are doing. Raising awareness and creating conversations in our little rural community in an institution of higher learning. Hugs and Shout Outs to Doug and his group BMCC will also be participating in a Day of Silence on April 14th !!!!!

Diversity Week this year is April 4th – 6th, earlier and shorter so we are going to need to sign folks up to table at this meeting. We will possibly go 9am – 1 pm this year for actual live bodies at the table.  Please check your calendars and if you can help please let me know. We usually do 2 hour spots. 9 am – 11 am and 11 am – 1 pm. If you can’t table PLEASE plan to attend one of the evening events if possible. They are going to be right up our alley!!!

We also have the BRO (Basic Rights Oregon) House Party to plan. BRO is asking groups across the state to keep the Marriage Matters Momentum going by hosting a house party on March 30th.  They will be premiering the Marriage Matters ads that will be seen across Oregon on national broadcast channels. We may not get to see those depending on our broadcasting area. If we are in the South East Washington region they will not be seen BUT we are going to contact Charter and see about the cost of putting them on our local channels. Anyone done this before??? Let me know

We need a site, hosts, hospitality chairs, program managers, advertising, and ???? PLEASE let me know if your interested in helping!!

This could be a great opportunity for PFLAG Pendleton to invite the folks that have attended Marriage Matters workshops, signed Ad pledges and want to be involved but aren’t part of the “official” PFLAG group. Pete and I will be meeting Friday morning to discuss a social media website that can help us with this process.  We are a growin folks

We also have guests attending this Sunday! Hopefully 4 or 5 of the PHS Gay Straight Alliance club will be our guests for dinner and share with us what’s going on at the high school.  The Day of Silence is coming and they are beginning to plan.   If you are interested in youth and the schools I hope you will plan to come meet these wonderful students and their advisor!!!

Well, just a typical month for PFLAG Pendleton huh??? These are the big ticket items. We also need to have elections and approve the bylaws and discuss the Marriage Equality E.O Valentines ad and its impact on our community.

PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND:

When: Sunday March 6th, 5 pm No Host Dinner, 6 pm Business Meeting

Where: Shari’s Restaurant Community Room

Why: PFLAG Pendleton is on the move in Eastern Oregon and needs your help and SUPPORT!!!

Its been a while since we have posted on PFLAG Pendleton but that is going to change. Just because we weren’t posting to the site doesn’t mean that things weren’t happening in our community and state. From now on this webpage will be a place where folks can get the latest and most informative information regarding Equality in Eastern Oregon.

Over the last two years PFLAG (Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) Pendleton has grown to 50 members strong. This group of Umatilla County residents continually strive to educate, support and advocate for the GLBTQ community, their family and friends.  Our projects this year are focused on Marriage Equality and the importance of all loving committed couples being able to participate in Civil Marriage.  Basic Rights Oregon will make a decision this fall based on extensive research whether or not to put Civil Marriage for Same Gender Couples on the ballot for the 2012 election. The work behind this decision has been extensive and the results are surprising and promising!!! Did you know that 32% of all Oregonians already believe that same gender couples should be allowed to participate in Civil Marriage??? Yes, one third of our fellow Oregonians are already open and accepting!!

In cooperation with Basic Rights Oregon PFLAG Pendleton has placed a 1/2 page, full color Marriage Equality ad in the East Oregonian.  Our ad will appear on Sunday, February 13th, Valentine’s Eve.  It will contain 191 signatures of local citizens who stand with PFLAG Pendleton and BRO (Basic Rights Oregon) in supporting Marriage for same gender couples.  We hope this ad will help promote the conversations that must take place for people to understand the discrimination and injustice that  occurs when only heterosexual couples are allowed to marry. The process of gathering signatures actually began in May of 2010 and through Marriage Matters workshops, tabling events at the Farmer’s Market and other venues, Out in the Silence film documentary screenings and just one on one conversations with friends and family members the names were collected.  PFLAG Pendleton now has a wonderful data base of like minded folks that they can go to for assistance in future events.

If you are interested in joining PFLAG Pendleton in this most important issue please fill in the form on the About Us page and we will get back to you with more information.  You can also call 541-966-8414 and leave a message and your call will be returned within a few days.  Thank you for your interest in our web page and we look forward to your support.

On Halloween evening PFLAG Pendleton in cooperation with the Community of Welcoming Congregations will present “You Have Always Been Welcome Here”. A play by Jeannie LaFrance, which portrays the lives of four transgender people as they explore their relationships to family, gender, christianity and spirituality. The readers play will be performed at the Pendleton Center for the Arts beginning at 7:30 pm. The performance is free.

Reverend Tara Wilkins, executive director of Community of Welcoming Congregations, will facilitate a discussion at the play’s end. The interdenominational orgaization works to address issues of equality for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The play is performed as readers’ theater - actors do not assume their roles genders, but instead simply read their stories.

On Sunday afternoon at 1 pm at Shari’s Restaurant there will be a lunch and dialog, Creating Inclusive Communities. Members of PFLAG and the CWC would like to meet with other community members interested in the welcoming church movement and what the community of faith can do for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer equality. The interfaith ministry has more than 105 member congregations in Oregon and southwest Washington.

PFLAG Pendleton has received word that on Friday, July 18th they will be recognized along with Becky Mares of Yakima Washington, Gary Wolfer of Prossor Washington and Vista Youth Center of Kennewick Washington  as recipients of the first ever Mid Columbia Rainbow Award.  The reception will be held at Columbia Basin College, Gjerde Center, H Building at 7 PM. PFLAG Pendleton will receive a stipend of $100 and a plaque commemorating the achievement.

Pride Foundation’s mission is to connect, inspire and strengthen the Pacific Northwest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in pursuit of equality. Pride Foundation accomplishes this in rural and urban areas by awarding grants and scholarships and cultivating leaders.

National PFLAG, Oregon State Council and PFLAG Pendleton’s mission is to promote the equality and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, their families and friends through:

• Support to cope with an adverse society
• Education to enlighten an ill-informed public
•  Advocacy to end discrimination and secure equal civil rights.

PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. Keeping families together is the mision of PFLAG. Our family values stress education, understanding, acceptance, and support, but most of all love, thereby empowering our children - straight and gay - to lead happy and productive lives.

   We would like to welcome you to the newly developed website dedicated to the Pendleton Oregon chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Within this site you we be able to learn more about our chapter, keep informed of event schedules, review meeting times/notes, and keep up to date on local and national events. We will be adding features to the site over the next week so please be patient if you experience any technical difficulties.

   If you would like to submit a story or anything else of value please feel free to do so. It is a great way to make your voice heard! Thanks again and check back in the very near future for updates