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.