10/16/2026
Started by a mother and schoolteacher, Jeanne Manford, and her gay activist son, Monty, in 1973, PFLAG connects parents, family, and friends to show support and solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. In 1981, the Manfords convened with PFLAG Los Angeles co-founder, Adele Starr, to launch a national organization. Now over fifty years later, PFLAG is still organizing, educating, and fighting for LGBTQ+ rights.
Join One Institute and PFLAG LA on October 26 at One Gallery for “We Are Family: A Conversation with Trans Youth and Supportive Parents,” part of our Circa: Q***r Histories Festival.
Learn about the particular challenges facing trans and LGBTQ+ youth, and how families are responding to the ever-changing political and social landscape. Even more importantly, we’ll hear how these families uplift their children, and how we as a community can better respond in this critical moment.
In recent years, transgender youth and their families have been made central targets of political, legal, and cultural attacks on their fundamental rights and safety. Nevertheless, trans youth in Los Angeles and beyond continue to show incredible courage and resolve to simply live authentically—many of them with loving, supportive parents, who are not only caretakers but staunch advocates.
Image: “PFLAG contingent at Los Angeles Christopher Street West gay pride parade,” 1981. Adele Starr collection, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries.
