Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in the November 12th Floyd Press but the end of the story got cut off. Here it is in its entirety. 

The Floyd chapter of PFLAG (parents, friends and family of lesbians and gays) hosted an Equality Virginia house party at the June Bug Center on a recent Saturday evening.  The program was a fundraiser that began with a buffet meal and featured a roster of speakers and musical entertainment.

Some of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues brought up throughout the evening were employment discrimination, confronting stereotypes and addressing bullying in schools.  Floyd PFLAG president Jim Best introduced guest musicians and speakers. He reported that suicide is 4 times higher in LGBT youth and is worse in rural areas where population is less diverse.

The Program Director of Equality Virginia – a state-wide, non-partisan organization seeking equality for LGBT Virginians – spoke hopefully about Attorney General Mark Herring’s recent opinion that school boards in Virginia have the authority to expand their anti-discrimination policies to encompass sexual orientation and gender identity, overturning a 2002 opinion stating that school boards had no such authority.

Dr. Gregory Rosenthal, a historian at Roanoke College, reported on the Southwest Virginia LGBT History Project, an ongoing project that is collecting oral histories and creating a permanent archive of LGBT historical material in partnership with the Roanoke Public Library.  “There’s a long history of our community, he said.

Josh Olinger spoke about the Roanoke Diversity Center’s three-year-old summer Diversity Camp, which welcomes everyone – especially LGBT youth and their families – and is the only camp of its kind in the region.  He reported that about 30 people attended the weeklong camp in its first year. The following year attendance had doubled.  

“Everyone became like family, and you can be who you are,” Olinger said, adding that “some from small towns said it was the only place they felt safe.”
A slide show presentation showed campers hiking, swimming, making crafts, playing games, singing and participating in talent shows. The camp also hosts workshops on HIV prevention and other health issues.

Victoria Kidd attended with her wife, Christy Bergoff and their daughter.
Kidd and Bergoff were a plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Virginia’s marriage inequality before the June 2015 Supreme Court decision that same sex marriage was legal in all states.  Kidd spoke on the difference between advocacy and activism and shared her own story of becoming active. “Put your story into context with real people,” she advised.  She noted that unisex public bathrooms have been in Europe and around the world for a long time without any problems.  “We still have a lot of work to do.”

At the start of the event, Best posted on the PFLAG Facebook site: Our feast begins: friends, neighbors students, fathers, mothers, teachers, advocates, allies and activists join Floyd PFLAG, join hands and hearts and histories and stories and griefs to prove we can make a difference. We can bring issues to the table, we can benefit from our experiences, we do have a voice, and we have a healing message.

3. Photos: 1. PFLAG president Jim Best and Olinger perform a song together. 2. Equality Virginia’s Program Director Virginia Kamneck takes question from the audience. 3. Dr. Gregory Rosenthal fills the crowd in on the work of the Southwest Virginia LBGT History Project. 4. Josh Olinger from the Diversity Center in Roanoke shared a slide show on the center’s summer Diversity Camp. 5. Virginia Kidd shares a personal story on how she first felt compelled to speak publicly on LGBT issues. 6. Sequoia Kantara, Dave Fason (Kantara’s father), Kari Kovick and Michael Kovick entertained the crowd with song.