Has anyone been to PFLAG meetings? If so, did you find it helpful? And what sort of thing went on there? I haven't been able to find any adult LGBT support groups in my area. They're all aimed at teens, or are more specific like for trans people. My therapist suggested I try PFLAG, as apparently it's not just parents, it's also gay people themselves who attend. There's a meeting this Wednesday, I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet. They have one every month though so if I miss this month I can try for next.
You might have a look at universities and colleges... they often allow non students to take part, especially if there are few lgbt centers close by... and you might think about meetup...
Hey jay777, I live in a college town so there are probably student groups, but I'm in my early 30s so I'm not sure how welcome I'd be there? We had an LGBT center in town at one point, apparently it closed down and there is a group working on getting it going again. I emailed them awhile back to ask about groups and they also ended up just referring me to PFLAG.
Word of warning: PFLAG varies. I believe each chapter has a degree of independence. That said, I've heard of LGBT people getting support from PFLAG. I went to a couple of meetings of one chapter. Frankly, in my case, I felt the support offerred by EC was of more value--particularly in that it's available 24/7. But I felt the real world experience a couple of times was of value, and have no regrets having attended. ---------- Post added 5th Jan 2015 at 01:21 PM ---------- It might be worth checking. Yes, you aren't college aged...but, depending on the college, they might well have people your age or older as students.
Thanks. I'm trying to find ways to sort of "dip my toe" into the LGBT community here and start to get to know people in person. I'm not out to that many people and I'm very socially anxious so I'm kind of taking baby steps. It sounds like it's worth at least giving PFLAG a shot. I'm in a pretty liberal town so hopefully that means it will be a positive experience. I'll look into the college thing. I'm also an Alumni to one of the local schools, but it's very small so I doubt alumni resources covers LGBT issues. That will probably make them more amenable to my contacting them, at least, though.
