Among the saddest developments for the gay community this past year may be the transformation of the group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) from an organization that sought to create dialogue among straights and gays into a knee-jerk, Daily Kos-ite arm of the Democratic National Committee. I can remember several years back speaking to PFLAG's then executive director at a Republican Unity Coalition event, where she was the only representative who chose to attend from any of the supposedly nonpartisan gay lobbies. But that was then. Now, under current executive leader Jody Huckaby, PFLAG deviates no more from politically correct lesbigay leftism.
The language the group deployed to attack the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts tells all. PFLAG's Huckaby wailed that "We cannot sit back and allow a man with a demonstrated record of hostility towards privacy and minority rights to make decisions on our nation's highest court that will affect this nation for generations to come." Say what? Could that be the John Roberts who did pro bono work on behalf of the gay attorneys arguing Romer vs. Evans, the landmark Supreme Court case which successfully struck down a 1992 Colorado amendment prohibiting localities from enforcing gay-inclusive nondiscrimination protections?
Now PFLAG is working to derail the nomination of Sam Alito, and its press statement disingenuously cites a case in which Alito ruled that a public school non-harassment policy went too far toward curtailing free speech, while ignoring another Alito ruling in favor of a harassed gay student (as I recounted most recently here).
The loss of PFLAG to the partisan left leaves us with no significant national organization that seeks to forge a broad consensus for gay equality (aside, arguably, from the religious groups like Soulforce, God bless 'em). And that's why I think it's the saddest gay development of the year.
More: Reader "Another Jim" comments:
The original mission was outreach to angry, scared, and misinformed parents who've learned that their child is gay. It was basically a self-help group, parents helping parents.
Something began to change when it went from "Parents and Families" to "Parents, Families and Friends." These "friends" seem to be standard issue gay activists, and PFLAG is now fast becoming a clone of NGLTF.
What does this mean for parents, many of whom no doubt are Republicans, who may turn to PFLAG seeking information and support? When they catch drift of the intense anti-GOP politicking, they're not likely to be receptive to the message of openess and acceptance that, once upon a time, was PFLAG's reason for being. And that's a shame.
Yes, it is.