photo by: Mike Yoder/Journal-World

Lawrence now has its own PFLAG chapter to support members of the LGBTQ community and their families. The chapter was started by a group of women, including, from left, Joan Hoffman, treasurer, Janis Guyot, president, and Amy Lee, secretary, pictured Dec. 20, 2022. Not pictured is Amy Sanchez, vice-president.

No one should face a difficult or complex experience alone — especially when a segment of society insists on attaching stigma to that experience and even legislating against it.

That’s the simple message of a group of moms who started a local PFLAG chapter — which Lawrence, surprisingly, has lacked even though the organization is in its 50th year. These moms know firsthand how crucial, even life-saving, support for LGBTQ people can be.

“We really felt like Lawrence could use its own (chapter),” said Janis Guyot, president of the new group. “So I found some wonderful women and we’ve worked … It was kind of a laborious process, but we are finally there.”

Guyot hopes that folks who need or who can provide support will join PFLAG on Monday for an introductory gathering and thereafter for regular monthly meetings starting in February.

PFLAG, which began in 1973 in New York City and has had various names, was once an acronym for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, but the group, having broadened its scope, now goes simply by PFLAG and has about 400 chapters nationwide.

Guyot says the organization’s mission is straightforward: to support, educate and advocate for the LGBTQ community. That includes being a resource for families who have questions and who could use an accepting space to discuss various issues – a position that Guyot in recent years found herself in and, unfortunately, found herself having to leave Lawrence for help.

“People have a lot of questions, and a lot of times their families aren’t supportive, or they’re very religious and they’ve been told it’s a sin. And so they’re looking for a place that’s affirming and will support them in helping their family,” Guyot said. “And it’s nice to have a group that is a safe environment that you can talk about anything and those people understand what you’re going through and will help you get through it.”

She noted that even people who aren’t new to LGBTQ issues can find a group like PFLAG useful, as she did with Topeka PFLAG when her daughter came out as transgender in 2021 — a development that Guyot “did not see coming at all” and that has been a “rough road” for her daughter.

“I have a twin sister who’s a lesbian. So I’m not ignorant of the LGBTQ world. I mean, she came out when we were in our 20s,” said Guyot, who is 61. “We were in college, and I think my parents went through much the same as what I’ve gone through with my daughter … the worry, the ‘Oh my gosh, are they going to be happy? Are they going to be safe? Are they going to be able to have a job?'”

While folks in the LGBTQ community have made significant strides in recent years, including the right to marry and raise families, they have also faced significant backlash, especially transgender people, said Guyot, who has watched with a broken heart as public officials and others directed venom at her child and others for who they are.

“Transgender people make up like 1 to 2% of the population,” she said. “And if you look at the amount of legislation and the amount of hate that comes out of the GOP against them, it’s ridiculous. The amount of time that they spend on anti-trans stuff is just crazy.”

A National Public Radio analysis in November found that over the past two years, state lawmakers across the nation had introduced at least 306 bills targeting trans people. A handful of states have even enacted either a partial or total ban on access to gender-affirming health care, though federal courts have largely blocked enforcement.

Guyot has been glad to see PFLAG evolve nationally into an activist group — embodied in its lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who was “basically saying you couldn’t provide care for transgender kids, and the parents could be charged with felonies … It was just disgusting,” she said.

The ongoing lawsuit has led to the state of Texas being temporarily blocked from investigating gender-affirming families for “child abuse.”

Though Kansas has not gone the extreme route of states like Texas, Arkansas, Alabama and Florida, it is not exactly LGBTQ friendly, Guyot said.

Even its congressional delegation, with the exception of Rep. Sharice Davids, who is a lesbian, “is never going to vote for anything that is supportive of the LGBTQ community,” Guyot said, adding that that’s why it’s especially important that people in or adjacent to that community support one another through groups like PFLAG.

The Lawrence chapter will make its public debut Monday at an introductory gathering from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Arts Center’s Studio A, 1000 Massachusetts St. A cash bar and snacks will be available, as will a screening of the Netflix documentary “Disclosure,” which examines Hollywood’s depiction of transgender people.

PFLAG’s regular meetings will be the second Thursday of each month from 6 to 7 p.m. The first one will be Feb. 9 at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St., with future locations to be determined. PFLAG is geared toward folks 18 and over, but children are welcome at PFLAG meetings, if they are accompanied by an adult.