On November 30, 2009, ten speakers from the PFLAG NYC Safe Schools Program visited the United Nations International School (UNIS) and spoke with all five ninth-grade classes, or a total of 125 students. The visit was part of the school's efforts to reduce bias, prejudice and name-calling, and create a respectful school environment for all students.

Coming out in middle school was the topic of the cover story in the New York Times Sunday Magazine on September 27, 2009. The article related stories of young people coming out in middle school or high school in towns across the country, from New England to Oklahoma to California.

PFLAG NYC has been changing lives and probably saving lives through its support groups for years. "I've never seen a person new to a PFLAG support group who didn't feel better and feel changed after just one meeting," Board Chair Suzanne Ramos said recently, "but we realize," she added, "that many people who need us won't find their way to a support group, so we have been doing much more out in the community to help."

Maria Vittini shares this story of her evolving feelings when her daughter came out:

Last November Lateisha Green was shot and killed in Syracuse. Last Friday, a jury in Syracuse found her killer guilty of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. This decision, which was the first prosecution of a hate crime in Onondaga County, brought justice for Lateisha and her family, but no verdict can ever bring her back.