by maggie@critpath.org
http://www.critpath.org/~maggie/pflag/
This is a draft of an article to be published in PFLAGPole,
the
quarterly newspaper published by National
PFLAG.
7:30 I had stayed up until 1:30, so there are only two new messages when I log on. Lorree wants to know about Internet support groups for transgender families. It's for a magazine article. I have no idea who Lorree is or how she knows my email address.
I tell Lorree about pflag-talk and tgs-pflag and forward her message to Emily Rizzo in Brooklyn and to tgs-flag. Emily knows all there is to know about Internet support groups.
8:45 Two action alerts arrive from David Casti, the host for many lists, including pflag-talk. I hurriedly skim the weekly posting from GLAAD, not noticing that tgs-pflag got a mention. I learn that a few hours later when Sarah Lehan in Denver tells pflag-talkers about it.
Casti's second alert concerns, and contains, the gay marriage story in today's issue of "USA Today." "USA Today" publishes letters the day after stories appear, so email is a necessity. I don't have time to write but others will. I send a short message to pflag-talk telling people about the need to write and to ask me for the 11 K post with the "USA Today" article.
9:00 Emily asks for it. Emily is online all day at work; I am a housewife.
10:45 Chris Purdom, another "straight-queer" here in Philadelphia, posts a messages to the Philadelphia Fight the Right Network (PhilaFTRN) list requesting letters responding to a story in yesterday's Philadelphia Daily News about a gay teenager who was driven out of highschool into home schooling and activism. I email a letter to the Philadelphia Daily News and broadcast it to the PhilaFTRN list and to pflag-talk.
12:00 I receive a message from Rhea Murray, a pflag- talker in Indiana. It was her son's story in the Philadelphia Daily News. Rhea writes, "Did they include pictures? It is a very scary thing having your life story floating on the media wires. My mother is crying because she is overwrought with fear for our safety. I don't know how to comfort her. But, it is so important -- people must learn how our children suffer. Silence is our greatest enemy. Thank you for writing a letter of support to the paper. Rhea"
1:30 PM. It's Wednesday, the day the faxletter, "Family Issues Alert," arrives from Focus on the Family. I write my weekly "FIA Summary" and post it to the PhilaFTRN list.
2:30 Ed Mannix in Brooklyn sends pflag-talkers the address for his web page so we can see his picture as a 6-year old before we check out his pages for the NY CyberQueers. Ed has a great slogan on his home page: "Homophobes Beware! or my inner child will recruit you just for spite."
4:15 There's some lighthearted off-list banter. Al Berke in Minneapolis says he'll take questions about medievel history not technology. Sharon Stuart in Cooperstown wonders if Al will answer questions about the comparisons between corporations and the feudal system. I start writing "A Day on the Internet" for my chapter newsletter.
10:00 Home again from a meeting that established the Philadelphia Freedom to Marry Coalition.
My fax machine has received a column for the chapter newsletter. The columnist's son has yet to help her with the modem which she's had on her computer for months.
There are only fifteen new email messages. I respond to Jean Genasci, the national PFLAG vice president, telling her about the results of the marriage meeting.
2:00 AM. I finish writing "A Day on the Internet" for my chapter newsletter. I send my story to Scott Bidstrup in Riverside, California and ask him to proofread. Scott and I do PFLAG web pages. Scott maintains the PFLAG chapter listings and the youth pages. I do the pages for pflag- talk and tgs-pflag. Laura Siegel in San Francisco supplies many of the materials which we know that chapter helpline people and newsletter editors will love -- so please, get your modems working.
Copyright, 1996, Maggie Heineman
(its look slightly spruced up August 1999)