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PFLAG Meetings are on the second Monday of each month

Upcoming dates:
Nov 9
Dec 7*
Jan 11, 2010
Feb 8
Mar 8
Apr 12

East Texas PFLAG

7:15 p.m.
Tyler Unity Center
14024 Hwy. 155 South
(2.6 miles south of the loop on Hwy.155--on the right)

The Spaghetti Dinner on Nov 9 begins at 6 p.m.!!

November - Don't miss Spaghetti Dinner and nationally-acclaimed gay author Toby Johnson!
Attendance is free, as always, though donations are gladly accepted.Donations for the speaker and dinner for this event go to Project TAG, whose members made this evening possible.

Recommended reading: we recommend you read Toby's books, "Gay Spirituality," and "Gay Perspective"

Background: Born as Edwin Clark Johnson in 1945 in San Antonio Texas, Johnson attended Catholic parochial school and then the college prep school associated with St. Mary's University, both run by the Brothers of Mary. A writing teacher at Central Catholic, Bro. Martin McMurtrey, S.M., inspired Johnson as well as such students as novelist Whitley Strieber, college president Larry Goodwin, and Henry Cisneros.

In 1981, Johnson returned to his hometown where he practiced as an openly gay therapist and served as co-chair of the San Antonio Gay Alliance. Toby and partner Kip Dollar organized Gay Pride celebrations, worked with fledgling AIDS Foundations, and helped found gay business societies in both San Antonio and Austin. From 1988 to 1994, Johnson and Dollar ran Liberty Books, a lesbian and gay community bookstore in Austin. Partners since 1984, they were the first male couple registered as domestic partners in Travis County, TX.

Johnson's central idea is that as outsiders with non-gender-polarized perspective homosexuals play an integral role in the evolution of consciousness—especially regarding the understanding of religion as myth and metaphor—and that for many homosexuals gay identity is a transformative ecological, spiritual, and even mystical vocation.

From 1996 to 2003, Johnson was editor/publisher of White Crane, a periodical focusing on gay men's spirituality.

* DECEMBER PFLAG MEETING WILL MEET DECEMBER 7 INSTEAD OF DECEMBER 14 AS WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A MUSICAL PRESENTATION BY A CHRISTIAN/LATIN/POP BAND FROM SAN ANTONIO CALLED "BURNING NOPAL" (which means cactus). The performers are all gay and one is a former member of East Texas PFLAG. They play a variety of styles, including contemporary Christian/Classic Rock and some Latin. You can hear their music at WWW.BURNINGNOPAL.COM. We'll enjoy "potluck" snacks and desserts as we usher in the holiday season. Also, come prepared to elect new officers at this meeting.

Map: http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=32.277678&lon=-95.365286&mag=9&zoom=16&tp=1&q1=14024%20Hwy.%20155%20South%2C%20Tyler%2C%20TX

If you have a question, contact Rhonda at 903/714-2844.

More info here:
toby-johnson-to-speak-at-nov-pflag-meeting-t926.html