By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
ANN ARBOR – On Saturday, March 25, PFLAG Ann Arbor hosted what may have been "the biggest turnout ever for a state conference" during the Michigan Circle, a day-long conference of PFLAG leaders, members and supporters across the state.
According to PFLAG Regional Director Mike Neubecker, "We had a total of 61 people, which was terrific." Neubecker added that, to the best of his memory, it is possible that only one past PFLAG state conference had a higher attendance.
Presentations and workshops offered included Safe Schools, Working with Faith Communities, Political Action, and Lobby Training. Elizabeth Hampton-Brown, senior field and policy coordinator for PFLAG National and Sean Kosofsky, Triangle Foundation director of policy, were presenters for the event.
"It was awesome," Kosofsky said of the event. "It was an excellent opportunity to network with some of the top activists in our state."
During one of Kosofsky's workshops, "We had a really good training on how to answer tough questions … People were firing off questions about everything from religion to pedophilia to the Boy Scouts, and we practiced how to build bridges with new audiences."
Mike Neubecker, PFLAG Great Lakes regional director, facilitated chapter sharing at the event.
"The main thing is there's a lot of chapters doing some great work in their areas, but no one knows about it because they're busy doing it and not talking about it," Neubecker said. "We also find the metro Detroit area gets a lot of attention, but the rest of the state not so much. So it's great to see what places like the western part of the state or the Tri Cities are doing."
Neubecker said that one new thing chapters discussed was the work the Ann Arbor chapter has been doing setting up talks for medical students.
"Then we found out that other chapters are doing the same thing," he said.
After the event, Neubecker said almost half of the conference participants, "Kind of took over a section" of TGI Friday's.
"We like to eat and we like to socialize – but we also do a lot of good work," he said, while congratulating the Ann Arbor chapter for hosting a successful conference. "We hope to be even bigger next year."
