PFLAG has origins in Flushing, thanks to Jeanne and Jules Manford

Image source: PFLAG – Jeanne Manford marching the streets of NYC

The NY Times City Room blog has written a post on the “cradle of the gay rights movement” being in Flushing, Queens in the 1970s. The article was inspired, in part, by the recent death of Jeanne Manford, who along with her husband Dr. Jules Manford, publicly supported their gay son, Morty, in 1972. He was a member of the Gay Activists Alliance and was beaten for his work in political advocacy/gay rights (he also witnessed Stonewall). The Manfords, in their open support of their own gay son, became sort of role models/informal counselors to other gay youth and their parents. Through this work, they established Parents of Gays (hear President Obama talk about this), which then became PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) down the road.

This was important work at the time (and still is, frankly). A friend of Morty Manford said this about Jeanne:

“Jeanne was like the den mother for a lot of gay young people who were thrown out of their homes, who were rejected by their parents, who were having terrible anguish over what to do or who were eager to come out but terrified of the consequences.”

After Morty was assaulted in April 1972 during a protest at the Inner Circle dinner at the New York Hilton (while the police reportedly just looked on – Morty was thrown down an escalator, then stomped and kicked), Jeanne wrote a letter to the NY Post – then, a liberal newspaper – proclaiming “I am proud of my son, Morty Manford, and the hard work he has been doing in urging homosexuals to accept their feelings and not let the bigots and sick people take advantage of them in the ways they have done in the past and are continuing to do.” The letter was published.

She also tended to Morty in her Queens living room, as he declined from having acquired AIDS. The house is now occupied by owner Nancy Timal, who says it is “still full of life and love.”

How a Queens Home Became a Cradle of the Gay Rights Movement [NYT]
Jeanne Manford, 92, Who Stood Up for Her Gay Son, Inspiring Others, Dies [NYT]
President Obama Tells the Story of PFLAG, 2009 HRC Annual Dinner [Wikimedia Commons]