Subject: PFLAG NEWS RELEASE
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 18:24:30 -0400

PARENTS, FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF LESBIANS AND GAYS
(PFLAG)
1101 14th Street NW Suite 1030
Washington, D.C.  20005

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Contact: Rob Banaszak, Communications Director
  202-638-4200
  e-mail: [email-masked]

PFLAG President Mitzi Henderson Shares Insights And Concerns
 During Meeting With Tipper Gore, Community Leaders

Washington, D.C. -- April 23, 1996 --  PFLAG President Mitzi Henderson
attended a coffee meeting today of leaders of educational and family
organizations hosted by Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore.  The
coffee was held at Blair House, the Vice Presidential Residence.   The coffee
was the first in a series of meetings designed to share common concerns with
the Clinton Administration. 
 Among the guests at the coffee meeting included Ann Kahn, Past President,
National Parent Teachers Association; Reverend Janet Cooper Nelson, Brown
University Chaplain; Dr. Paul Houston, Executive Director, American
Association of School Administrators, and Joyce Ladner, Professor in the
School of Social Work at Howard University.  According to Henderson,  guests
discussed a range of issues, focusing on education, family and minority
concerns.  Henderson spoke about PFLAG's history, and the organization's
concerns about youth issues, particularly teen suicide and safe schools.
 Henderson also discussed Project Open Mind, and the violent impact hate
speech has on lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans and their family members
and friends.
 "I am very glad PFLAG was able to be a part of this broad community
constituency," said Henderson.  "This was an extraordinary opportunity for us
to communicate our perspective and build bridges with other groups who have
overlapping concerns,  like youth wellness, hate speech,  and violence, and
to voice those concerns to someone who could share them with our nation's
leaders.
 "PFLAG's invitation to this meeting signals the tremendous stature PFLAG has
received as a national family organization.  Clearly PFLAG is seen as an
important voice on behalf of American families."
 Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) promotes the
health and well being of gay, lesbian and bisexual persons, their families
and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to
enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to
secure civil rights.  PFLAG provides an opportunity for dialogue about sexual
orientation, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of
human diversity.  Serving more than 55,000 members, PFLAG affiliates are
located in more than 389 communities across the United States, and in 11
other countries.

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