美国国家公共电台 NPR--Encore: After nearly 50 years, PFLAG says it still has a long way to go

Encore: After nearly 50 years, PFLAG says it still has a long way to go

Transcript¹

Coming out may be easier than it used to be. Where does that leave PFLAG, an organization started to support families when gay people were widely stigmatized²? (Story aired on ATC on June 23, 2022.)

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

When celebrating Pride, some of the biggest cheers goes to family members marching with PFLAG. That's the group originally known as Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. PFLAG now serves every member of the LGBTQ community, which prompted NPR's Neda Ulaby to wonder how else it has changed since it started.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE³: Fifty years ago, Jeanne Manford made headlines when she did something unheard of. She marched alongside her gay son at an early New York City Pride parade. Manford founded PFLAG in the early 1970s and went on TV to explain her own journey.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JEANNE MANFORD: I had never any feelings about homosexuals. I gave very little thought to it. As far as I knew, I never knew any gay people.

ULABY: Gay people tended to be closeted then. Kay Holladay did not know any gay people, either.

KAY HOLLADAY: I think my choir⁴ director at church probably was.

ULABY: Holladay and her husband felt lost and isolated⁵ when their son came out to them in Norman, Okla., in 1982. Their church did not accept gay people. Neither did their community.

HOLLADAY: We had nobody to talk to. We had no other families. We had no resources.

ULABY: They went to the public library to educate themselves and found nothing. The Holladays learned about PFLAG from "Dear Abby." They decided⁶ to help start a local chapter. And this year they were grand marshals of Norman's Pride Parade. PFLAG was created for people like the Holladays. And for many kids from families like theirs, coming out has become relatively⁷ painless. But it was not easy for Devin Green.

DEVIN GREEN: It was very nerve-wracking. Being Jamaican and having a relatively conservative upbringing, I just didn't really know what to expect.

ULABY: Green grew up in North Carolina, attending a church that taught a literal interpretation⁸ of the Bible. Green's mom grew up in Jamaica, where homophobia was a constant, she says, at church, on the news and in popular music.

CLAUDETTE GREEN: There were songs that glorified⁹ killing¹⁰ LGBTQ members. There was actually laws on the books in Jamaica that you could go to jail if you were in the LGBTQ community.

ULABY: So when Devin came out as trans in ninth grade, Claudette Green was not having it. But a therapist talked her into attending a PFLAG meeting. She hated it.

C GREEN: Because when I got there, I met families who were more accepting of their children. And so I felt like I was a terrible parent.

ULABY: But Green was the opposite of a terrible parent. She and her kid talked. When the head of the local PFLAG chapter invited her out for coffee one on one, she went. Five years later, she proudly marches in Pride parades. She's changed her nursing career to focus on helping¹¹ LGBTQ youth, and she's just accepted a position on PFLAG Charlotte's board. PFLAG's executive director Brian Bond says the organization still has a long way to go.

BRIAN BOND: It's predominantly white. I don't have the percentage in front of me, but it's predominantly white.

ULABY: PFLAG is trying, he says, with bilingual literature and developing spaces where people with similar backgrounds can support each other. Bond is haunted, he says, by the people PFLAG does not reach.

BOND: I keep a receipt in my wallet from a funeral for a 13-year-old kid that died by suicide.

ULABY: The kid was gay. His family had never heard of PFLAG. The organization paid for the child's funeral anonymously¹².

BOND: Interesting enough, it was a state trooper that reached out to us to see if we would help. That's not our job, but it's what we needed to do at the moment. And making sure that no family has to go through that should be our ultimate goal.

ULABY: Times have changed, but in some ways, they haven't. PFLAG, for the first time ever, this June became the plaintiff in a lawsuit¹³. It's against the state of Texas to protect trans kids and their families fighting for affirmative health care.

Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 stigmatized   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was stigmatized as an ex-convict. 他遭人污辱，说他给判过刑。 来自辞典例句
• Such a view has been stigmatized as mechanical jurisprudence. 蔑称这种观点为机械法学。 来自辞典例句

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

8 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

9 glorified   

美其名的，变荣耀的

参考例句：

• The restaurant was no more than a glorified fast-food cafe. 这地方美其名曰餐馆，其实只不过是个快餐店而已。
• The author glorified the life of the peasants. 那个作者赞美了农民的生活。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 anonymously   

ad.用匿名的方式

参考例句：

• The manuscripts were submitted anonymously. 原稿是匿名送交的。
• Methods A self-administered questionnaire was used to survey 536 teachers anonymously. 方法采用自编“中小学教师职业压力问卷”对536名中小学教师进行无记名调查。

13 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。