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 will hold its November 23rd meeting at Carolyn’s home located at 1307 NW Horn. If you go north up NW 12th Street to Horn Street and turn left you will find Carolyn’s home on the right hand side of the street a few blocks down.  For our social activity we will once again enjoy a potluck with salads and desserts provided by those attending the meeting. Carolyn will provide a ham and Lonnie and Vickie will bring drinks.  Dinner will start at 5 PM followed by our monthly program and short business meeting at 6 PM. 

PFLAG Pendleton chapter member Amber will help us recognize Trans Awareness Month and the Transgender Day of Rememberance by sharing her own personal journey. We also hope to have the advisor from the newly forming PHS GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) fill us in on how they are coming and what they hope to accomplish their first year. 

PFLAG Pendleton has many things to be thankful for please join us for another great evening of family, fun and enlightenment.

WHEN: Sunday, November 23, 2008   Potluck at 5 pm, Program and business meeting 6 PM.

WHERE: 1307 NW Horn St.

WHAT: Potluck, Please bring a salad or dessert.  Meat and drinks provided

WHY: To continue to ask the question - What is gender??? and learn more about our Transgender family members

Hope to see you all Sunday 

PFLAG Pendleton will meet this Sunday, October 26, 2008 at the home of Lonnie and Vickie Read. Our program will look at our new theme for the 08/09 season; “What is Gender?”.  It should be a very interesting program and will look at one particular area of our theme - cross-dressers.  Please plan to attend. The meeting will begin at 5 PM with desserts and beverages followed by our program and then a short business meeting.  We will need to ask some members to volunteer to participate in the Celebration of the Family event held November 15th at the Pendleton Convention Center. This will be PFLAG Pendleton’s 4th year of participation. 

On Sunday September 18, 2008 PFLAG Pendleton had its fall BBQ at Shari’s home located in the beautiful foothills of the Blue Mountains. The food was amazing and the conversation warm and inclusive.  Barbara and Dale shared the events of their 50th Anniversary weekend which they had shared with family and friends. Dale read a tribute written by their gay son that brought us all to tears. Dale and Barbara are the epitome of what PFLAG Parents are and should be; warm, loving, and unconditionally inclusive. We are honored to have them in our chapter. We also discussed the recent loss of Dr. Wanda as a member of our group.  The Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Suicide Grant was not renewed at BMCC so Dr. Wanda was forced to leave the area and take up residency at another college. Her leadership and passion for the GLBTQ movement at BMCC will be greatly missed. We will need to find a way to fill that void so the doors that she opened at BMCC are not closed. We wish Dr. Wanda the best of luck in her new adventure and know that any community she joins will benefit from her energy.

We did make a couple of important decisions at that meeting also:

* Our meetings in the 08/09 season will be held on the LAST Sunday of the month.  This is a change from our traditional 1st Sunday meeting time. We hope this will allow some folks who have had conflicts in the past to attend more often.  With that in mind our meeting schedule will look like this:

November 30, ( will change due to Thanksgiving weekend, December will be our holiday get together - date to be announced, January 25, 2009, February 22nd, 2009, March 29, 2009, April 26, 2009, May 31, 2009, June 28, 2009.

* PFLAG Pendleton will attempt to have a theme for the 08/09 meeting season: “What is Gender?”.  Barbara attended a conference last spring that discussed this topic. She returned with some great resources and a desire to know more.  We will begin our 08/09 season with the topic of cross-dressing. A behavior that very few of us have a good understanding of.

Please join us this Sunday for an informative and fun evening. Call 278-1385 for more information.  

PFLAG Pendleton met on Sunday, September 21st for our fall BBQ. We had a wonderful evening at Shari’s home in the beautiful hills of the Blue Mountains. The food was wonderful and the company warm and friendly. Dale and Barbara shared their weekend activities as they were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversay. Dale read a short exerpt from their son’s dedication that brought us all to tears. Dale and Barbara are truly the epitome of what it means to be a PFLAG parent, warm, loving and unconditionally inclusive. 

During our business meeting we made a couple of decisions:

* We would meet the last Sunday of the month during our 08/09 season. This is a change from our long time 1st Sunday meeting date. We hope this might give some folks a chance to attend that have had prior conflicts.

* We would try to focus our programs around the theme of “What is Gender?”. Barbara attended a wonderful conference last spring that addressed this topic. She brought back several valuable resources that our chapter can use to research this issue.

During our business meeting we also discussed the fact that BMCC did not receive a renewal on their Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Suicide Grant. This action has forced Dr. Wanda to leave the area. This is a loss for our chapter. Her dedication to the GLBTQ movement at BMCC was truly impacting and her leadership will be missed!!!  We will need to find a way to fill that void so our progress at BMCC is not lost. 

Our next meeting will be at Lonnie and Vickie’s home and our program will address the “What is Gender” issue. The meeting will be held Sunday, October 26, 2008 at 5 PM.   

PFLAG-Pendleton will kick off its 08/09 season this Sunday with the annual fall BBQ.

We will meet at 5 PM at the Dalles wheat ranch where Shari and her wonderful family will provide the hamburgers, chips and drinks. Everyone else should bring a salad or favorite dessert.  We will have a short meeting to discuss the possible “theme” for the year and when meetings will be held.  Please join us for a great time with our wonderful family.

Directions: Directions from Shari: Our home is just five minutes from town.  Directions:  If you head north from Pendleton on Highway 37 (Holdman Route), you’ll come to a paved road to the right (east) called Fulton Road after you’ve driven about 4 - 5 miles.  Take it!  Our place is the first you’ll come to (group of farm buildings, white house, red, white and blue grain bins).  

On Wednesday evening, August 13, 2008,  PFLAG Pendleton will have an opprotunity to meet with Jeana Frazzini, Executive Director  and Kyndall Mason (new public ed. Coordinator) of Basic Rights Oregon. Jeana and Kyndall will be in Pendleton to meet with the East Oregonian Editorial Board on Wednedsay. An informal get together has been planned for Great Pacific Wine Company at 6 PM.  This will be a no-host dinner possibly featuring GP’s amazing Pizza!!!! Lonnie and Vickie will also present the beautiful Mid-Columbia Rainbow Award to the PFLAG Chapter. The beautiful triangle represents PFLAG Pendleton’s hard work and dedication to support, advocacy and education in the Mid-Columbia region. We will also plan our September kick-off Barbeque tentatively set for September 20, 2008.  Please plan to spend the evening with PFLAG Pendleton and Basic Rights Oregon. There will be lots of good food and good fun!!!!

Also at Great Pacific Wine Company at 8 PM on August 13, 2008 Democratic Senator Kate Brown, a strong GLBTQ ally will be meeting with local community members to discuss her concerns and campaign for Secretary of State in the 2008 election. This is not a PFLAG Pendleton sponsored event but folks may want to put on their concerned community member hat and attend her get together.

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.

PFLAG Pendleton had a busy and productive year. With several editorials, candlelight vigils and a visit from the Basic Right Oregon Executive Director, Jeanna Frazzini we celebrated in the passage of the Domestic Partnership bill and the Anti-Discrimination bill.  We also particiapated in Blue Mountain Community College’s Arts and Cultural Fair for a second year and supported Pendleton High School in its first ever observation of the Day of Silence. Our new meeting place (Rooster’s Restaurant) has been a comfortable and welcoming place for us to meet. 

PFLAG Pendleton will begin meeting again in September probably after the conclusion of the Pendleton Round-Up.  Once again we will kick off our year with a Round-Up BBQ. Please plan to attend. See you in September!

Meeting Agenda:

• What: PFLAG Pendleton June Agenda
• Where: Lonnie & Vickie’s Home
• When: June 1st 2008, 4 PM BBQ, 5 ish Meeting

Meeting Details

• PFLAG moments:
• Day of Silence Update
• Support Issues: ??
• BMCC GSA/DOS Update
• BMCC Garrett Lee Smith Grant Update
• PFLAG-Pendleton Website information
• PROGRAM - Under Pressure - Video for New PFLAG Parents and experience the Washington DC Pride Parade
• PHS National Day of Silence update
• Portland Pride Parade - June 15th, Portland Oregon, go to http://www.pridenw.org/ for more information. PFLAG Pendleton will be in attendance and Tami & Amber are Vendors in the Festival! Please join us and support our own!
• PFLAG Nationals is coming to town.  BREAKFAST with Nationals!  Monday June 16th, Roosters Restaurant please join PFLAG Pendleton for breakfast with Western Region Director - Kim Jones.  Great opportunity to share our growth and concerns

On Friday, April 4 , 2008  a pre-planning meeting was held to see if students at Pendleton High School would be interested in participating in the National Day of Silence scheduled for April 25, 2008. With only one day’s notice and eight very active student organizers handing out invitations, thirty two students showed up to find out what they could do to help their high school become a more inclusive and safe environment for all students. It was a unanimous decision to particpate in the National Day of Silence and another meeting was set for April 10th to begin planning specific events. Two staff members  will help the students organize the PHS Day of Silence. On April 17th the Outreach Director from Oregon Safe Schools and Communities will be at Pendleton High School to present more infomation on how PHS students can reach out to other schools in the Eastern Oregon region and what students can do to help create safe schools and communities.

About the Day of Silence
The Day of Silence, a project of GLSEN, is a nationwide, student-led event during which thousands of high schools and colleges bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. For more information and a complete collection of organizing materials, visit www.dayofsilence.org.