Annual PFLAG Registration

Be sure to fill out and return the Madison PFLAG registration materials that were enclosed with last month’s newsletter. You can also print out our online form and mail it.

Farmer's Market

The Farmers Market closed on a very chilly note November 4 with Mary Fiore and Jane LaFlash sending an SOS to the Elders to come collect them a bit early for fear of losing body parts to the cold. We had a very successful summer and missed only a few days to bad weather. Tom Dean, Seiko Yoshinaga, Sharon Whitney, Jo and Joe Elder deserve special thanks for all their hours. Others who put in multiple hours were Diane Wensel, Jim Green, Mary Fiore, Thelma Johnson, Ken and Nancy Jones, Jane La Flash, Bonnie Abrams, Tuyet Nguyen, Nancy Graham, Linda Tate, Paul Wertsch, and Joyce Larson. Our main activity this summer, in addition to educating, giving support and stickers, was to educate voters on the mar-riage ban amendment. Thanks to all participants!

Library Conference Workshop

Jo Elder and Harriet Bruyn accepted an invitation Nov. 2 to present a workshop at the Wisconsin Library Association annual conference. The workshop title was "Reaching Out to People Coming Out." They were joined by Lynn Evarts, the feisty, savvy librarian at Sauk Prairie H.S.

About forty library staff personnel from across the state attended this workshop. Privacy and sensitivity issues in library transactions were discussed with Jo and Harriet sharing from their personal experiences after their sons came out years earlier. These PFLAG Moms brought along over 40 of their favorite books, taking opportunity to explain the best features of many, pointing out reliable LGTB authors and publishers.

The Q & A and response time was brisk and friendly, leaving Jo and Harriet with warm feelings regarding LGTB sensitivity of library staff across Wisconsin.

Amendment Blues

I suppose we could start with the last line of Kay’s emails, “Nov. 7, 2006, will someday be known a dark, embarrassing day in Wisconsin history. I am no longer proud to say that I am from Wisconsin. I hear Arizona is nice.”

With 50 percent of precincts reporting, 57.5 percent of voters favored the amendment banning state recognition of gay marriage and any type of civil union similar to marriage, according to unofficial returns.

Eight states had ban-gay-marriage amendments on their ballots; South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee joined Wisconsin in approving them, while results were pending in Arizona, Colo-rado, Idaho and South Dakota. Similar amendments passed previously in all 20 states to con-sider them.

On November 9th the Fair Wisconsin blog included the following paragraph:

“The organizations who formed Fair Wisconsin, Action Wisconsin and Center Advocates, will take the next several weeks to assess the campaign, seek input from our supporters, and begin to lay plans for the next steps. We remain fully committed to fairness and equality for all LGBT Wisconsinites and our families. We are hoping that our statewide supporters will continue to work with us as we forge ahead.”

Fair Wisconsin

Many PFLAGERS deserve many thanks for hours and hours of service to Fair Wisconsin to fight the amendment. Diane Wensel, our vice president, put in more hours than the rest of us put together, and I expect put in more hours than many of the paid staff there. THANK YOU, Diane.

Post Election Town Hall/Pot Luck
On November 8th

Sharon Whitney and Mary Fiore at-tended the potluck sponsored by Outreach to discuss the outcome of the election. The event, which was open to the public, was scheduled before the vote's outcome was known. The pur-pose of the potluck was to bring the LGBT community and allies together to share thoughts and feelings after a contentious political season.