Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

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Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (FFLAG) is a voluntary organisation and registered charity in the United Kingdom which offers support to parents and their lesbian/gay/bisexual and transgender children. They have a national telephone helpline (0845 652 0311) as well as several parent support groups and are a support group recognised by the UK Government. FFLAG also works outside the UK with other LGBT family support organisations particularly in Europe.

Video Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays

Formation

The national organisation was set up in 1993,but its roots are in 1965 when Rose Robertson set up Parents Enquiry, Britain's first helpline to inform and support parents and their lesbian, gay and bisexual children. The helpline ran for three decades and Rose's work inspired parents in various parts of the country to set up their own groups and helplines. Among the first were those in Manchester, Leicester and Scotland. By 1993 it was felt that there was a need for a national organisation to act as an umbrella group to support and co-ordinate the local groups and to respond to the increasing request for information from the media, social services and other organisations and individuals. And so FFLAG was set up and became a registered charity in 2000. The aims were to support parents and their lesbian, gay and bisexual daughters and sons and to campaign for human and civil rights. FFLAG is a totally voluntary organisation; it has no statutory funding and is totally dependent on donations.

The equal rights legislation FFLAG has campaigned for include:

The repeal of section 28
Equalisation of the age of consent
Lifting the ban on gays and lesbians in the armed forces
Adoption rights for same sex couples
Civil partnership
Same sex marriage

In 2000 FFLAG joined with parent's organisations in Italy, France, Belgium, Germany and Spain to set up EuroFFLAG, now followed by the European Network of Parents of LGBTQI children.

FFLAG's vision:

A world free from ignorance and prejudice about sexuality and gender identity in which LGBT+ people are valued and respected

Their mission:

To support families with LGBT+ members

To be the national umbrella organisation for affiliated groups supporting families with LGBT+ members
To support and develop a network of local family support groups
To provide direct individual support where local family support groups are not involved
To educate and advocate for a world in line with their vision
To work with other organisations to achieve their vision
To ensure that they have the necessary resources to achieve their mission

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Support Resources

FFLAG's website www.fflag.org.uk provides information about helpful resources including their downloadable booklets. The booklet 'A Guide For Family & Friends' looks at issues and emotions that parents and families may face when their LGB loved one comes out. Another booklet 'How Do I Tell My Parents?' considers ways of telling parents as well as discussing the issues that often worry lesbian, gay and bisexual people when they want to talk to their family about their sexuality. The booklets, originally written by Rose Robertson, were rewritten by FFLAG Parents in 2012 and updated again in 2017. The booklets contain quotes and experiences from parents and LGB young people.

FFLAG has found that many of the enquiries currently received are from parents of trans youngsters. They have decided to extend their remit to include support for family and friends of trans people.

On March 31st, 2018, coinciding with Trans Visibility Day, FFLAG launched its new booklet 'A Guide For Family & Friends - information for family and friends with a transgender member'.

There are plans for a second new booklet 'How Do I Tell My Parents? - I'm transgender' to be available later this year.

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Patrons

Long standing Patrons of the organisation are:

Baron Cashman of Limehouse Angela Mason CBE Sir Ian McKellen CH CBE Baroness Massey of Darwen Prof Ian Rivers Deidre Sanders Peter Tatchell

Dame Angela Mason CBE of the charity Stonewall, Sir Ian McKellen, British Actor, Michael Cashman MEP and member of the House of Lords Baroness Massey of Darwen. The number of patrons increased to seven by 2012 and now also include Ian Rivers PhD, an award-winning psychologist, academic and author, Deidre Sanders otherwise known as Dear Deidre, an agony aunt from The Sun newspaper and Peter Tatchell of OutRage!.