February, 1987 - P“:-11’ 5
Regional Planning for National March Begins

by Howdy Russell

Approximately 75 people gathered in
Boston’s City Hall for the first New England
Regional Planning Committee meeting for
the National Lesbian and Gay March on
Washington for Oct. 11, 1987.

The committee is open to anyone f1’0m
this area who wishes to help plan the
march. Individuals were present from all the
New England states; however, the majority
were Bostonians. ‘

The meeting started with a rousing
address by Boston's openly gay
councilperson, David Scondras. and then
moved quickly into discussions of what has
been decided so far concerning the march
and what tasks lie ahead. Some of the most
heated discussions centered around decisions
that were made at the national planning
meeting in New York City. For example, the
national group decided not to include in its
policy statement a mention of support for
non-intervention by the U.S. in the Third
World. It was finally the recommendation of
the New England committee that our
representatives to the National Committee
urge reconsideration of this decision.

The Boston group also discussed the
National Committee's decision to hold the
march on a Sunday. It was felt by many
people that a Sunday march would not
receive the press coverage that a Saturday
march would. The main argument for
having the march on Sunday was that it
gave people an extra day to get to
Washington and that was particularly
important for people from distant states who
couldn’t afford to take time off from work
to get there. The group was fairly evenly
split on this question, with a slight majority
favoring the Saturday march date. It was

PFLAG Group Meets in Amherst

A new local chapter of the national
organization, Parents and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays has begun meeting on the second
Tuesday of each month at 8:00 p.m. in the
Grace Episcopal Church Parish Hall, Spring
Street, Amherst, MA.

PFLAG’s primary purpose is to provide
support for parents, relatives, friends, and
members of the gay/lesbian/bisexual
community through informal discussion,
education, and outreach. Since one out of
every four families has one or more gay
members, the need for a comfortable,
confidential forum for the sharing of mutual
concerns is acute. All interested persons are
welcome.

PFLAG encourages concerned
individuals, organizations, churches. and study
groups to call the Host Parents at
617-532-4883 or 617-253-3354 to inquire
about PFLAG’s activities or ways in which
local members might be of service to them.

recognized that it is very unlikely that the
National Committee would consider changing
the date in any event.

Finally, it was decided that there would
be another meeting of the regional
committee in Boston Feb. 28. One task at
this meeting will be to choose four
permanent representatives to the National
Committee from our region. At the New

   
  
    
       

 

     
   
 
 

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York meeting four people were chosen to
act as interim representatives from New
England. However, three out of the four are
from Boston and it was felt that our
ongoing representation ought to better
reflect the diversity of our region. Anyone
interested in attending this Feb. 28 meeting
is most welcome! (See calendar for details.)

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