PFLAG Pendleton Parents Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays: Pendleton Oregon Chapter

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.