Posted
on December 4, 2016
Have
you heard of her? Jeanne Manford was a schoolteacher who was born in
New York. She was also an activist on behalf of the LGBTQ community.
Why
was Manford interested in gay rights?
You
see, Manford's son Morty was gay. Actually, he was a gay activist.
And he was beaten while trying to raise consciousness about the
problems gay people have, and the police led HIM away, rather than
arresting those who were kicking and stomping on him.
This
was in New York City, in 1972. Manford complained to police that they
failed to protect her son, and she wrote a letter to the editor of
the New York Post, and she spoke on radio and television shows as
well.
At
first Manford's new organization, which included her husband, was
called Parents of Gays. Now her organization, PFLAG, is meant
for Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and others in
the LGBTQ community. It is the largest organization for “allies”
in the United States.
Manford
was Grand Marshal of New York City's Gay Pride March in 1991, and she
was the Grand Marshall of the first pride parade in Queens in 1993.
In addition to be honored posthumously with a Presidential Citizens
Medal, a street was named for Manford. It's way, way too long a name,
though: Jeanne, Jules, Morty Manford PFLAG Way.
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