(News archive photo by Aaron Zaremsky)
PFLAG YS, coming soon
- Published: April 18, 2025
In February, Ohio enacted its “Bathroom Bill” law, which bars transgender students in public schools, colleges and universities from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity.
In late March, Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1 into law, which — in addition to limiting tenure protections and collective bargaining for staff — eliminates diversity, equity and inclusion programs and restricts discussion of “controversial beliefs and policies” in public colleges and universities. What constitutes a controversial belief or policy is not strictly defined.
This week, House Bill 8 — the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” — goes into effect, allowing parents to opt their children out of educational content that mentions sexuality; the new law will also compel educators to inform parents if a student expresses a gender identity different from their birth-assigned sex, with or without the student’s consent.
These are a few of the reasons a group of local residents told the News last week that they’re establishing a new satellite affiliate of PFLAG, a national nonprofit that aims to provide support for the LGBTQ+ community — particularly young people — in Yellow Springs.
A confluence of thought precipitated the creation of the new PFLAG chapter. Eric and Jackie Clark, who have two students in the local schools, had been attending PFLAG support group meetings organized for parents of transgender children in Dayton, and thought there could be similar support locally. Not long after, April Wolford posted a query about creating a local support group in a similar vein in a Facebook group. Around the same time, spurred by the legislation affecting LGBTQ+ students in Ohio schools, school board member Judith Hempfling reached out to the Clarks.
“There was a lot of synergy between the four of us in what we were doing, and we were lucky enough to all just come together and see what the interest was and what shape it might take,” Wolford said.
The four began meeting informally in January — “just to figure out what this was going to be,” Jackie Clark said. Because of the Clarks’ relationship with and knowledge of PFLAG Dayton, it seemed logical to become a satellite of that group.
“We could have started from scratch, becoming a nonprofit and forming our own board — or we could bypass all that and become a satellite,” Eric Clark said, adding that, as a satellite, Yellow Springs’ PFLAG affiliate would have access to Dayton’s resources and connections to the nonprofit advocacy group TransOhio and the LGBTQ+-affirming Equitas Health.
Originally “Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays,” PFLAG was founded in 1973 by Jeanne Manford, whose son, a gay activist, was assaulted at a protest. Since then, more than 400 chapters of PFLAG — which officially changed its name a decade ago to reflect its inclusion of the wider LGBTQ+ community and allies — have opened nationwide.
Dayton’s chapter of PFLAG has its roots in Yellow Springs — it was founded in the late 1980s by villagers Willa and Meredith Dallas. According to The Clarion, Sinclair College’s student publication, the group met for its first several years on Sinclair’s campus.
Willa Dallas told the Dayton Daily News in a 1990 article: “I think that parents want to be close to their children. I see our purpose as being supportive of other parents and our own children.”
That’s not far from the thinking behind establishing PFLAG in Yellow Springs — though the local group aims for broad inclusion in its meetings, which will begin Saturday, May 3, at 10:30 a.m., and will be held monthly. The meetings will include speakers on LGBTQ+ issues and advocacy, and there will be activities for youth, overseen by the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton.
“Young folks will have time to spend with each other — social time,” Wolford said. “It’s a community meeting, for those interested in building community.”
“I just want my kids to see and be in the room with other kids who are going through this,” Jackie Clark added. “And I want them to see 18-year-olds or young people who are out of school — you know, themselves down the road.”
At present, PFLAG Yellow Springs isn’t publicizing its meeting location out of concern that the group might be targeted.
“I think that people, even in our little town, are starting to feel unease, and it sounds melodramatic to say, but it feels like it’s the beginning of the Great Roundup,” Eric Clark said. “We’re finding ourselves needing to have a safe place.”
Those interested in attending the monthly meetings will be asked to fill out a sign-up form, after which they’ll be contacted by a PFLAG organizer with more information.
The group noted that Ohio public schools — including those in Yellow Springs — are under tremendous pressure to comply with the new legislation. Not doing so could open school districts up to civil litigation from parents, and with regard to the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” proof of noncompliance could mean withholding of state funding.
“If we hear anything gender- or sex-related, we’re supposed to let parents know,” said Jackie Clark, who is an educator in a Miami Valley school.
“The schools may not be able to address [LGBTQ+ issues] in the ways that they’ve been able to for young adults and students,” Wolford said. “We want to step up and provide the support and let people know that this community support exists.”
Hempfling added that, even though the schools may have legislative restrictions imposed upon them, the community at large can “express its refusal to cooperate.”
To that end, the state outlines no penalties for students who don’t comply with recent legislation, though it gives that authority to individual districts. There are also no penalties for those who support affected students — a fact that TransOhio has pointed out in much of its literature about the “Bathroom Bill,” stating: “You don’t need to report or tattle on trans students. Put your allyship into action. See nothing. Say nothing.”
“It’s scary what’s going on out there — but they’re not going to erase whole members of the community,” Hempfling said.
PFLAG Dayton’s Yellow Springs satellite chapter will hold its first meeting Saturday, May 3, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The meeting will begin with a 30-minute presentation from the YS Pride Planning Committee, after which there will be activities for youth and young adults and discussion for parents, friends and allies. To sign up and for more information, including meeting location, go to http://www.bit.ly/PFLAGYSSignUp.
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