Articles From Our August, 2007 Newsletter

Our speakers this month hail from the Midwest Alternative Family Alliance. MAFA is a welcoming and inclusive group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents, their children, and people who support them in the Kansas City metro area and beyond.

MAFA members are a diverse bunch! MAFA families contain kids of all ages, from babies to toddlers to pre-schoolers to elementary schoolers to teenagers. Some MAFA parents are single and some are in permanent partnerships. Some are in the planning stages and preparing to start their families through adoption. Others are creating their families through donor insemination or surrogacy. Some have children from prior or current heterosexual relationships. Others are non-custodial parents who have regular visitation with their children.

We come from the Kansas City metro region and from other cities and towns in the bi-state area, including St. Joseph, Springfield, Joplin, Lawrence, Topeka, and Wichita.

MAFA welcomes extended family members, friends and professionals from the community, and others who want to participate in events, contribute to the organization, or learn more.

Come and join us for this entertaining and informative event on Sunday, August 12th at 3 pm. There will be the usual fun and fellowship and always great snacks.

SEE YOU AT 6641 MISSION ROAD, ROOM 307

Well folks, our summer is about over. Hope everyone is making the most of the sunshine and vacation time.

Eleven of us went to Columbia on the 14th to spend the day in workshops with two women from PFLAG’S National Office in Washington, D.C. The largest contingent was from….you guessed it….Kansas City. You guys continue to amaze me with your dedication to the mission of PFLAG—and your willingness to spend a long Saturday away from home to refuel. It was a great gathering of folks from around the state and a chance to connect with them in a very real way. We got some valuable information about building strong Boards and developing leadership within the rank. Yes folks, that means you. We are armed so be ready :o)

Other workshops included: Hosting the Perfect Meeting and Safe Schools Training. At the end of the day we had time to swap information with other chapters. Elizabeth asked each group to list what they are doing well and what they think needs improvement. She was thrilled and a bit astonished that most of the chapters attending had more in the first column. We were placed in groups and asked to brainstorm about actual problems that other chapters have experienced, and I am pleased to report that none of the scenarios came from our chapter! Bravo, troops. It was an enlightening day for sure.

P.S…those attending were:
Randy Fowler, Paul DiGeorge, Lyndsey, Chris, Linda Coonley, David Whitner, Glen and Carolyn Finken-Dove, Brian and Jill, and yours truly.

Jamie

Pour yourself a mint julep and join
your friends from HMC for the 12th
Annual Dinner of Note: A Night in
Savannah.
For one sultry night, you’ll enjoy cocktails, an extravagant Southern-themed dinner, live and silent auctions, and the one-and-only Leslie Jordan!
View a special video invitation from Leslie Jordan.

Dinner of Note
Saturday, October 20, 2007
6:30 – 10:00 p.m.
Starlight Theater

Reserve your tickets!
See website hmckc.org

HOLLYWOOD, CA -- PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) has chosen to honor the film “Tru Loved” with its prestigious Focus on Equality Award. The leaders of PFLAG selected “Tru Loved” to receive this honor for its role as a leader in portraying positive images of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, as well as their families, friends and other straight allies.
“Seeing positive, healthy images of GLBT people and their families, along with the many challenges that they face, is critical in transforming hearts and minds,” said Jody M. Huckaby, PFLAG Executive Director. “‘Tru Loved’ does this perfectly, and shows how, alongside our straight allies, we all can create real change – this is why they deserve PFLAG’s Focus on Equality Award.”
The cast features Bruce Vilanch (“Hairspray”), Jane Lynch (“The 40 Year Old Virgin”), Jasmine Guy (“A Different World”), Matthew Thompson (“Drake and Josh”), Marcia Wallace (“The Simpsons”), Nichelle Nichols (“Star Trek”), Jake Abel (“Threshold”), Alec Mapa (“Desperate Housewives”), Cynda Williams (“Tales of the City”), Alexandra Paul (“Baywatch”) and Najarra Townsend (“Me And You And Everyone We Know”).
In “Tru Loved” sixteen-year-old Tru (Townsend) is uprooted by her lesbian moms (Paul and Williams), from her comfortable gay-friendly home in San Francisco and moved to a conservative, suburban community in Southern California. Her only friend is a closeted football player (Thompson) - and even that friendship is jeopardized when Tru decides to start the school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance. Production is scheduled to wrap on August 2, 2007.
The film team has formed early partnerships with numerous civil rights organizations, including PFLAG as well as the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, the ACLU and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center.
To learn more about “Tru Loved,” visit the web site www.truloved.com

---> Interviews with PFLAG leaders are available. Please contact Jean-Marie Navetta at or Adam Ratliff at for more information.
 

PFLAG SUPPORTS REAL FAMILY VALUES