Newsletter
PFLAG Los Angeles Newsletter Archive
Our deepest thanks go to Chris Haiss our newsletter editor for 20 years for his wide ranging perspective, his unfailing commitment to our chapter, his deep professionalism as a newsletter editor, and his courageous journey as a transgender man. This archive is dedicated to him. Best of all, he saved copies of every newsletter. They are being archived here and will be available in June. I invite you to browse through the offerings. These newsletters are the history of PFLAG Los Angeles and the history of LGBTQ life and struggle for the last 20 years.
How far we have come.
(Our first and last issue are available below – all issues will be posted in June)
From the beginning of PFLAG Los Angeles in 1976, the founders knew that communication was a top priority. At the start, those communication tools were simple. In today’s twitter, text, and Instagram world those mimeographed fliers would be considered primitive. As the parents’ support movement grew all over the country, a National PFLAG organization was founded right here in Los Angeles and a regular newsletter was started in December of 1981.
Unfortunately, most of those early publications are lost. Why? Newsletters are ephemeral. They are read and discarded or just discarded. The very few remaining are in the files of the One National Gay and Lesbian Archives.
But in the year 2000, PFLAG Los Angeles was given a great gift. A young transgender man named Chris Haiss, who had started coming to support meetings, took over the job of interim newsletter editor. It is a position he has held for twenty years.
With no experience of writing a newsletter, he created an amazingly rich and interesting product. It included, of course, essential information about PFLAG Los Angeles—our mission, the dates of our support meetings and information about speakers, and our activities in the community. He also advertised events in the LGBTQ community — from performances of the West Coast Singers, to Outfest, the Pride Parade, the Models of Pride Conferences and many more.
The pages of these newsletters have tales of struggle and courage, of AIDS and PREP, of persistence and hope. They hold the story of a LGBTQA community that refused to let others marginalize or define it. Enjoy them and marvel at how far we have come.