PFLAG Bellingham/Whatcom County hosts a community support meeting on the first Tuesday of every month. We currently meet in-person at the BQC Community Center, or via Zoom, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.

What is a PFLAG Support Meeting?

It’s a meeting that welcomes everyone.  Members of the Board at PFLAG take turns facilitating the meetings.  Sometimes we bring speakers, sometimes we bring starting topics.   Sometimes YOU bring the topics.

Many different types of people come to a PFLAG support meeting.  Everyone comes for a different reason:

• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) people come to a PFLAG meeting:

  • to learn from other family members and allies how they can tell the people in their own lives that they are LGBTQ.

  • to help other people adjust to the news that someone they know is LGBTQ.

  • to create a family of choice to replace the family they lost when they came out.

• Parents and family members come to get support from other parents and family members who have been through similar experiences.

• Spouses of LGBTQ persons come because they want to support their spouses and their families.

• Transgender people and their parents come because they want to get support and share about what it is like to have a family member transition to another gender.

• Allies and friends come to meetings:

  • to support a friend who is LGBTQ

  • to learn how to handle LGBTQ issues that face them in today’s society, and how to stand up for the rights of LGBTQ people

  • to connect with other folks in their community who care about and are working for equal rights for LGBTQ folks

The people who are at PFLAG meetings are everyday people. We come from various backgrounds, occupations, and age groups. Some of us have gone through similar experiences. Sometimes we are still struggling with being a parent or family member of a loved one who is LGBTQ. Some of us come to PFLAG just to share stories and enjoy the company of other PFLAG members.  We will support you in your struggle.

You do not have to have a pressing crisis or be associated with anyone in the LGTBQ+ community to come. You can simply drop in. Often the stories that we share prompt others to share, and our stories can help each other.

PFLAG meetings usually start out with an introduction about who we are, if we have a LGBTQ loved one, and if we are LGBTQ or not. Then we share announcements of various events that are happening about LGBTQ issues. We might sometimes have a guest speaker talk about one of the myriad of LGBTQ topics. Sometimes we have a topic such as “getting through the holidays”, sometimes we just share our news about our LGTBQ child or our own experiences.  Some share concerns.  Some talk about a news story that was difficult to hear around the topic of LGBTQ. We are here to support and to celebrate. We talk, we enjoy each other’s company and we take time to support those who are struggling.

You can come as often as you want. You can come one time just to see, or just because you have an important issue in your life you want to talk about.  You can come regularly. You can come to support others on their journey.

For future events, we would like to build up to a larger number of attendees so that we can split out into various topic groups, but for now, we all stay in one group.

You can attend by zoom as well. And on top of all that, there is pizza!

Please come.