She ended up speaking to parents of other young gay people, which led to the start of an official organization, first called Parents of Gays and now called PFLAG. “And it was printed.”ĭuring the summer of 1972, Jeanne Manford attended her first march for gay liberation. “I said, ‘My son was gay and that the police stood by and watched these young gays being beaten up and did nothing,’” Jeanne Manford said. In response to the brutal attack on her son, Jeanne Manford penned a letter to the New York Post. The attack left a number of them, including Morty Manford, hospitalized.

While they handed out leaflets, a group of attendees physically assaulted the activists. Supreme Court’s decision not to hear an employment discrimination case about two men who applied for and were denied a marriage license in Minnesota. The group took specific issue with an editorial that ran in the New York Daily News about the U.S. Morty Manford was in attendance with other gay activists handing out leaflets in protest of the New York media’s bias against gay people. One night in April 1972, New York City’s Inner Circle dinner was in full swing. Morty Manford was an early member of the Gay Activists Alliance, and his mother, Jeanne Manford, is credited as one of the founding members of PFLAG, which originally stood for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. And one mother’s love for her gay son set a domino effect in motion that continues to this day. Even if parents continued to support their LGBTQ kids, there was no external support for creating a safe, loving environment for them.īut love, even in the face of societal adversity, is a powerful tool.

When children came out as gay to their parents in the 1970s, their families often wrote them off as dead.

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. (Courtesy of Les Carr/PFLAG National)Įditor's note : This piece contains homophobic language and a discussion of suicide. Jeanne Manford, holding the sign “Parents of Gays: Unite in Support for Our Children,” alongside her son, Morty Manford, at the third annual Christopher Street Liberation Day March in New York City, June 25, 1972.

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