The Mom Who Marched for Her Gay Son - and Changed Everything

On June 25, 1972, a schoolteacher from Queens named Jeanne Manford grabbed a piece of orange posterboard, wrote in marker that parents of gay children should unite in support of their kids, and stepped into the Christopher Street Liberation Day March. She'd never made a protest sign before - you can tell by the lowercase letters in the middle of the message. She'd never crossed the street against the light. And when she walked out into that crowd, strangers ran into the street weeping, begging her to talk to their parents. This episode is a celebration of that day and the movement it became.

To understand why that handmade sign broke everyone open, you have to understand the world it appeared in. Gay People at Columbia University. The Gay Activists Alliance. The New York Hilton Inner Circle dinner, where Morty Manford was brutally beaten by a firefighter while police stood and watched. Jeanne's response was to write a letter to the New York Post: I have a homosexual son and I love him. Published April 29, 1972. A public school teacher in Queens, putting her name and career on the line in 1972. And then marching.

On March 11, 1973, Jeanne held the first PFLAG meeting at Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Church in Greenwich Village. About twenty people showed up. Those early meetings were described as frank and raw and therapeutic - parents struggling with the gap between who they thought their child was and who their child actually is. From those twenty people grew an organization with over 360 chapters and more than 550,000 members and supporters today. Research from the Family Acceptance Project shows that LGBTQ+ youth with accepting families are eight times less likely to attempt suicide. That is what Jeanne Manford built.

This episode also gets deeply personal - about what it means to come out to parents who love you, about how a parent's greatest growth is learning to let their child be who they already are, and about the grandmothers who love you completely even when they have to spell out every syllable of the word. In 2026, PFLAG faces its most organized opposition since the mid-1990s. But the lesson of Jeanne Manford is simple and undefeatable: you step off the curb, you hold your sign, and you march for the ones you love.

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Transcript

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What if one caring parent could change millions of lives? Happy Pride Month, everybody! I'm Chris with a K and welcome back to this week in Queer History, where we find hope-filled, inspirational, and strategic moments from queer history that we can use today. And remember, it is Pride Month! So, what a better way to celebrate than with a story about the fiercest kind of love there is a parent's love. Today we're talking about a school teacher from Queens who had never made a protest sign in her life, who had said she would never cross the street without the pedestrian light. And yet, somehow, she found the courage to step off the curb right into history. This is the story of Jean Manford and the birth of P Flag. This week and queer history. Stories told with love and green. Jean Solveson was born December 4th, 1920, in Flushing, Queens, the third of five daughters in a working-class Jewish household. Her parents added an extra E to her name just to distinguish her from the boy named Jean in her class. She grew up to be, by her own description, about as traditional as they come. She married Jules Manford. They had three children, Charles, Morty, and Suzanne. But then tragedy struck. Charles died in 1966. Now, remember that because what happened next only makes sense when you understand that this family already knew what loss felt like. Morty, born September 17, 1950, grew up to be a force. He co-founded Gay People at Columbia University with Robert Martin. He became the founding president of the Gay Activist Alliance. On his 21st birthday in 1971, Morty interrupted a speech by Mayor Lindsay to protest NYPD raids on gay bars. This was not a quiet young man. He was also very lucky. When he came out to his parents, their reaction wasn't shocked it wasn't shame. According to family friend Ethan Ghetto, their response was, I'm not going to lose another son because this society is so prejudiced. And that matters. And then came April 1972. Morty was attending the Inner Circle Dinner, a press event at the New York Hilton, when he was brutally beaten by a firefighter named Michael May. The police stood right there and they did nothing. Now imagine being Gene, his mom. Your son was just attacked, and the people supposed to protect him just watched. So what do you do? She wrote a letter to the New York Post, published April 29th, 1972, and it simply said, I have a homosexual son and I love him. A school teacher at PS32 in Queens, where she would teach for 26 years. She was putting her name, her career, and her reputation all on the line. This was 1972. You have to remember, this was still way before it was cool. It was still taboo. There were laws against homosexuality. It was not an easy time. But Jean wasn't done. It was June 25th, 1972, the Christopher Street Liberation Day march. Jean grabbed a piece of orange posterboard and wrote in marker. Parents of gays unite in support for our children. The lowercase letters in for and our children weren't some artistic choice. She simply just never made a protest sign before. And I just love this detail so much. It's so human and so immediate for that moment. But none of this matters unless it causes a reaction in people. Well, did it? Yes, it did. The strangers ran into the street. They were crying. They were begging her to talk to her parents. Dr. Benjamin Spock, who was really famous at that time, was marching nearby, but the crowd wasn't cheering for him. They were cheering for Jean. In a parade full of brave people, the thing that broke everyone open was a mom with a sign. Because so many of those marchers had parents who wouldn't hold that sign, who wouldn't write a letter, who wouldn't even say their child's name and the word gay in the same sentence. The following year, Morty flipped through a queer history calendar and he started saying a truly revolutionary calendar would have to include something about the gay march. And then he turned to the page, and there was his mother's face. On March 11, 1973, Gene held the first PFLAG meeting at the Metropolitan Duane United Methodist Church in Greenwich Village. About 20 people showed up. Reverend Ed Egan was a founding member. Those meetings were described as frank and raw and therapeutic. Gene was known for calling up parents and saying, we don't want to intrude, but we can help. And what about dad, Jules? Well, he was right there the whole time. Gene said he was right along with me on everything. By most accounts, Jules was actually the better speaker, so this was a family effort. The organization grew. The LA Chapter in 1976, Adele Starr built it nationally by 1981, incorporated it in 1982, and the name went through several changes: Parents of Gaze, Parents Flag, The Federation, and finally in 2014, just P Flag. In 1990, Paulette Goodman, the then president of PFLAG, wrote Barbara Bush a letter, who responded back sympathetically. That exchange was accidentally leaked to the AP, putting P Flag in the national spotlight. But we have to remember that life was not gentle to Gene. She'd lost her son early on, and Jules died in 1982, and Morty died of AIDS on May 14th, 1992. He was just 41. Gene buried two sons and a husband, and still she kept going. In 1991, she was named Grand Marshal of the New York City Gay Pride March. In 1998, P FLAG became the first national LGBTQ org to formally include transgender people. In 2009, Obama cited P Flag at the HRC dinner. Jean died January 8th, 2013, in Dallas City, California, at 92. She received a posthumous Presidential Citizens Medal. Suzanne accepted it. A street in Flushing became Jean Jules Morty Manford P Flag Way. In 2019, Jean was inducted onto the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at Stonewall. Today, PFLAG has over 360 chapters and more than 550,000 members and supporters. Research from the Family Acceptance Project shows that LGBTQ youth with accepting families are eight times less likely to attempt suicide. And here's something, a little bit of a twist. Michael May, the firefighter who beat Morty, he was acquitted. But years later, he testified on behalf of gay rights. He and Morty actually developed an unlikely cordial relationship because this wasn't just about one act of violence, it was about what grew from it. As California Senator Mark Leno reflected on Jean's early actions, he said, for her to step into the street to declare support for her mentally ill outlaw son, that was no small act. You have to remember that Jean acted in 1972 when homosexuality was still considered a mental illness, and sodomy was still a crime on the books. Jesuit Priest James Martin also put it beautifully. She loved prophetically. But now in 2026, PFLAG faces its most organized opposition since the mid-1990s. The ACLU is tracking over 500 anti-LGBTQ bills. There are groups framing PFLAG as predatory, weaponizing parental rights rhetoric against the very organization that was founded by a parent exercising her right to love her son. The irony would be funny if the stakes weren't so high. Now stay with me because what Jean's story taught me is deeply personal and I want to share it with you. A huge thank you to the members that you see on screen right now. Your support makes this all possible, and it helps me keep digging through archives and sharing the queer history that inspires us. If you'd like to join them, there's a link up above and in the description down below. And if membership isn't in your budget right now, no worries. Subscribing and hitting the bell helps more than you know. Most of all, thank you for being here. You know, as I was researching this story, it really got me thinking about who would we be without our parents? I have so much love and appreciation for mine. And I also know that not everyone gets that. Parents don't always work out. Just because someone is biologically related to you doesn't mean they're going to be amazing at parenting. I'm very lucky. My mom has always been there, always been supportive. She's been a mentor, a teacher, a rock, and I'm really lucky to have an amazing stepdad who was also there for me always. When I came out, I was 18, maybe 19, the summer after my first year of college. And I had made a promise to myself. I was going home and coming out to everyone in my family. And when I told my mom, the only thing she said was that she loved me, she supported me, and she was just worried about how other people would treat me. She wished she could somehow protect me from any hate or harm that might come, but she was there, my stepdad too. And when I was reading about Jean, the strength that it took for her to show up and march for her son, it really showed me what a parent's love looks like at its bravest. To risk everything, your community, your friends, and possibly your job. Standing up for the ones you love because it's right, even when everything in your upbringing might tell you to sit down and turn your back. And parents don't have to stick up for their kids. There's a societal expectation that says they will, but I've seen it where they don't. In Utah, especially in communities where religion wins out over those parent-child bonds. So I'm very grateful for my parents. I remember coming out to my mom's mom, my grandma, and actually it was my uncle who told her first for me. And then the next time I saw her, she said, I don't care. I love you no matter what. And I just don't care if you are a homosexual. And she spaced every syllable out, like the word was really long, like super colofragilistic expialidocious, or maybe that was the way that I was hearing it, because I was so new new and nervous uh with it all. But but the love was there and I knew it and felt it. She loved me unconditionally. I really hope other parents out there love and support their children no matter what. And I understand it's hard. You want the best for your kids, but but here's what I've noticed with my siblings and their kids. They always say that their children came out as they are. Their personalities are formed. All you can really do is give them the education and the resources to bloom and blossom into the people that they're meant to be. And I do believe that kids come into the world already with a sense of knowing who they are. And I think the parent's greatest growth is learning to let their child be. Nurture that, love that as the child is, not forcing them into roles we think they should fill. That's what Jean did. That's what my mom did. That's what every parent in P Flag does every single day. And a big shout out to all of the incredible parents. You're truly amazing, and we would not be who we are without you. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Drop a comment and tell me about the people who showed up for you in your life. You can check out the video popping up right over here. And if you want to stay connected, you can click the link up above or down in the description and share your email so that we can keep sharing history, asking questions, and building connection. Until next time, stay strong, stay bold, and keep making history.