A Hanover woman and a Dartmouth student started a support group for relatives and friends of homosexuals in the Upper Valley last week.
Kirsten Doolittle '96 and Shirley Waring, a Hanover resident, are leading the Hanover chapter of Parents, Friends, and Family of Lesbians and Gays, an organization that is commonly called P-FLAG.
The Washington, D.C.-based organization works to educate the public about gay and lesbian issues and to advocate the rights of homosexuals, Waring said.
The group also helps homosexuals, their friends and relatives, children of homosexual parents and people who are married or have been married to gays or lesbians, she said.
Both women said they were motivated by personal experiences to start a Hanover affiliate of the organization.
A "personal relationship with someone very dear to me brought me to P-FLAG," Doolittle said.
Doolittle said the issues P-FLAG addresses affect everyone. "Everyone at some point is going to know someone who is gay or lesbian," she said.
Waring said her experience as a mother of a lesbian compelled her to start the group.
"The bottom line is, if you really believe in family, you love your family member no matter what their choices," Waring said.
Waring also discussed the desire to help gay and lesbian youth, stating that "P-FLAG is a response to the fact that 30 percent of teenagers who commit suicides are gay."
P-FLAG is working to establish a peer support group for teenagers through Hanover High School, Waring said.
P-FLAG became a national organization in 1981 and has 25,000 members and 340 affiliate groups in the United States as well as members in 10 other countries, said George Neighbors, public information associate for P-FLAG.
Waring and her husband marched in the 1993 March on Washington for gay and lesbian rights with a "We Love Our Lesbian Daughter" sign.
