PFLAG was founded 50 years ago. Springfield's chapter is almost 30.
Christy Boyce vividly remembers when her sister Johnda Boyce — only 17 months younger than her — came out as lesbian.
It was in the early '90s when the two Willard natives sat in front of the television, watching the news, when someone on screen said something to the effect of, "Gay people should be killed." Boyce remembered feeling shocked by the statement and turning to her sister, asking why anyone would say such a thing. In response, Johnda shared that she was gay herself.
Boyce said she was initially upset, not because her sister was gay but because the two were "really, really close" and how couldn't she have known? The hurt feelings didn't last long, though. Soon after, Boyce founded Springfield's first PFLAG chapter.
This year, the national PFLAG organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Today, there are 400 chapters with more than 325,000 members nationwide.
The first meeting of PFLAG (at the time called Parents of Gays) was held March 11, 1973 in New York, hosted by mother Jeanne, father Jules and son Morty Manford, according to the PFLAG website. Morty, co-founder of the Gay Activists Alliance, encouraged his parents to host the meeting, a place of support for parents of gay children, after his mother participated in the Christopher Street Liberation Day March in June 1972. About 20 people attended that first meeting.
Though Jeanne considered herself "traditional," her actions were revolutionary for the time, as she was one of the first parents to visibly protest alongside her gay child, according to the PFLAG website. Inspired by Jeanne's actions and the Parents of Gays meeting, a group of parents participated in the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day March, laying the groundwork for the organization's future.
Throughout the 1980s, PFLAG (then, Parents FLAG), distributed educational information to local communities, "establishing itself as a source of accurate and helpful information to the general public," according to the PFLAG website. The organization was granted non-profit status in 1982, officially located to Washington D.C. in 1990 and renamed to "PFLAG" in 2014.
It all started with a newspaper ad
Not long after coming out to Christy, Johnda moved to Cape Girardeau to attend Southeast Missouri State University. Here, Johnda joined the Gay and Lesbian Student Association, where she was able to express herself more freely. It was during this time that she also met and befriended Rodney Wilson, founder of LGBT History Month.
Despite being separated by 270 miles, the Boyces made time for each other. Christy has fond memories of attending events like the Ohio Lesbian Festival, a music festival for queer women and femme individuals. While attending these types of events, Christy realized Springfield was in need of a support group for parents, friends and allies of the LGBTQ community.
Christy was familiar with the PFLAG organization, so she decided to place a classified advertisement in the News-Leader. Christy recalled spending about $20 on the advertisement, which asked readers to give her a call if they were interested in starting a chapter with her.
"I had no money. She had no money. I was like, 'Wow, she spent money on something for the LGBTQ community. Where'd she come up with a few extra bucks? That's so impressive,'" Johnda said of her sister. "I thought it was cool that she started PFLAG, but I also thought it was very cool that she just said, 'I'm going to do this and I'm going to pay for it and we'll just see what happens.'"
One of the first phone calls Christy received was from the late Cruz Devon, a local LGBTQ activist and host of "This Gay Life," a television program that aired on public access television in Springfield from 1994 to 1995. The program focused on issues that pertained to the LGBTQ community, including its history, gay parenting, local and regional organizations and how local news portrayed the community.
Meeting over coffee, Christy and Devon decided to host an open forum-style meeting at the Midtown Carnegie Branch Library on Nov. 13 at 3 p.m. To their surprise, more than 100 people showed up. Christy said it was standing room only.
For the next six months, monthly meetings for what became the Springfield/SWMO PFLAG chapter (at the time, just called the Springfield chapter) were held at the Midtown Carnegie Branch Library. Meetings where held at the Unitarian Universalist Church between 1995 and 2002 and were then relocated again to the United Ministries Center on Missouri State University's campus. Chapter meetings have continued to be held in various locations over the years.
Christy said meetings usually lasted about two hours, with the first half dedicated to programming, like guest speakers, and the latter for participants to share their experiences with each other, if they wanted to.
"It was a different time, there was really no one else to talk to then," Christy said.
Because these meetings were held before the widespread popularity of the Internet, Christy said the chapter had its own sort of "library," full of informative pamphlets and books that members could "check out" to read and share with others.
In the beginning, the chapter's public phone number was Christy's home phone, which she shared with a laugh. She said she never knew what to expect when answering her phone. Fortunately, Christy didn't receive many hateful phone calls. She said, instead, the callers on the other end of the line tended to be anxious, unsure if she was someone they could trust to get information about PFLAG. Christy said she quickly had to learn how to keep people on the line to give them information about chapter meetings.
Turning shock into advocacy
Like Christy, Kathy Munzinger all too well remembers when her daughter came out as lesbian. It was 2004 and Sara was a freshman in college. She sent her parents an email explaining her sexuality.
"It was quite a shock to me," said Munzinger, who was raised fundamentalist Baptist and brought up her children in the Methodist Church. Despite the surprise, Munzinger said her initial reaction was: "I love you and I want to understand."
It took two months for Munzinger to track down the Springfield/SWMO PFLAG chapter.
"When my husband and I walked into our first PFLAG meeting, we were very relieved. There was another couple from our church there," Munzinger said. "I cried every meeting for the first year just because it was a safe space where you could share."
It didn't take Munzinger long to become part of chapter leadership. She served as the chapter's president for five years, from about 2012 to 2017, and helped develop the chapter's first billboard, which was displayed on Kansas Expressway.
The billboard read: "Somebody you know and love is gay" and was in response to the city's Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity ordinance, or SOGI. Passed in 2014, SOGI prohibited discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations on the basis of an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity. But the greater Springfield community wasn't happy; many wanted it removed.
In support of SOGI, Munzinger and other LGBTQ activists in Springfield created the NO Repeal campaign. Despite their efforts, voters approved the repeal of SOGI only six months after it was first put on the books.
"It was very painful and it's still painful that people want the right to discriminate in Springfield," Munzinger said.
For these efforts, the Springfield/SWMO chapter won a National Award for Advocacy in 2013.
Today, Munzinger serves as the National Central Region Director of PFLAG, supporting local chapters in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. This position is entirely volunteer-based. Munzinger is also a national board member for the organization.
"It's important for parents to accept their children and to listen to them," Munzinger said. "It's really hard for me when I see people (whose) parents reject them totally and are not willing to learn and educate themselves and support the children. It just hurts to see children and even adults who have gone through that."
When and where are Springfield/SWMO meetings?
Membership meetings are the third Sunday each month at 3 p.m. at 1355 E. Sunshine St.
Parent support groups are held the first Thursday each month at 7 p.m. via Zoom
Therapeutic LGBTQ support groups are held the first Monday each month at 5:30 p.m. in-person
The meeting location of the therapeutic LGBTQ support group is private for the safety of its members. Those interested in joining can email contact@pflagswmo.org.
To connect with a member of the Springfield/SWMO chapter, email love@pflagoftheozarks.org or call 417-350-5300.
Greta Cross is the trending topics reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretacrossphoto. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: PFLAG celebrates 50 years of support, advocacy for LGBTQ families
