Janet Mock
Photo by & Portfolio">Aaron Tredwell Photography © 2011

The TransParents Project, PFLAG NYC’s dedicated support meeting for parents and relatives of transgender people, will welcome a special guest speaker Janet Mock at its meeting on May 20, 2012. Janet will share the story of her teenage coming-of-age and search for identity. A writer and trans advocate, Janet publicly shared her teenage transition story in Marie Claire and a video testimony for the It Gets Better project in 2011.

A native of Honolulu, Janet tells stories from her life on her blog, hosts a relationships podcast called & Aaron Tredwell">The Missing Piece with her boyfriend, photographer Aaron Tredwell, and is writing her forthcoming memoir, Fish Food, about her quest to live visibly. Read more »

On March 31, 2012, the Imperial Court of New York will fête the Safe Schools Program of PFLAG NYC at the 26th Annual Night of a Thousand Gowns!

The Safe Schools Program of PFLAG NYC is the primary beneficiary of the 2012 gala, one of the biggest events of the year on the NYC scene. The entertainment line-up this year includes Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean Lisa Lampanelli, Lea DeLaria, Superstar DJ Johnny Dynell, Dance Music Recording Artist Reina, and the Chart-Topping Artist Adam Barta. But the entertainment that rocks the night is are the hotly anticipated performances by members of the Imperial Court itself. This is Broadway Show-quality entertainment.

Tickets are on sale now for the event, which takes place on Saturday, March 31, 2012, from 6:30 p.m. in the heart of Times Square at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Learn more about the star-studded list of honorees and entertainers and buy tickets now at the Imperial Court website. Read more »

Judy Sennesh, Board Member &
Founder, TransParents Project

Try to imagine how I felt when my lesbian daughter — “out” since her early teens and accepted and loved by family and friends — came to me at the end of her junior year at college and announced,

“Mom, I was born with the wrong body and need to become a boy.”

Ask any parent with a transgender child and they will tell you that these words, which we’ve all heard in one form or another, send shockwaves through your soul. You pour over the details of your parenting, searching for the thing you did that was “wrong.” You panic, thinking about hormones and surgeries that loom ahead, lining and defining the path of your beloved child’s life for years to come. You lie awake at night, trying to imagine how grandparents could ever embrace, or even comprehend, such strange news. Read more »

My name is Tommy Craven. I am a full-time freshman at NYU and a part-time intern at PFLAG NYC. I wanted to do an internship at PFLAG NYC mainly because of the Safe Schools Program, which I wish we had had in my high school in Indiana. The Safe Schools Program aims to eliminate intolerance in city middle and high schools by engaging parents and other straight allies, as well as members of the LGBT community, to share their personal stories. These stories of coming out and of accepting LGBT family members help to make tangible to students the life experiences and struggles of LGBT people, their families, and friends.

I spoke for the first time last Wednesday, and my hope was to share my story and connect with at least one student on how they see the LGBT community. Sitting in the auditorium of Columbia Secondary School in Harlem, I was a little nervous about telling my story in front of teenagers I had never even met. The most overwhelming pressure was not knowing what to expect. What would the children think of me and my choices? How would they respond to my deeply personal story? Maybe they would laugh and mock me right in front of my eyes. I was not certain what would be coming through the auditorium doors. Read more »