Jeanne Manford, PFLAG Founder And Pioneering Gay Rights Ally, Dead At 92

Jeanne Manford, the founder of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and an all-around pioneering straight ally in the LGBT rights movement, has died at 92. Manford died at her Daly City, Calif. home and had been in declining health for some time, daughter Suzanne Swan confirmed. “She is known to thousands of people as the mother of the straight ally movement, but to me –- she was my mother," Ms. Swan said in an email statement. "She was someone who would always do the right thing, the good thing. She supported all people, and that meant so much to us growing up.” Born Jeanne Sobelson on Dec. 4, 1920 in Queens, N.Y., Manford became active on behalf of LGBT rights in 1972 after her son Morty was beaten during a Gay Activists Alliance demonstration. After Morty's attack, Manford penned a letter to the editor of The New York Post, declaring "I have a homosexual son and I love him."