PFLAG Austin, Monthly Service Offering recipient June 2025

Article by Leo Collas

All of the organizations that First UU supports deserve accolades for the work that they do despite the opposition they face, but none more than PFLAG.  PFLAG Austin has been supporting central Texas families for over 30 years.  Besides offering friendly and supportive meetings all across the greater Austin area,  the national PFLAG organization has its fingers on the pulse of state and national legislation that might harm LGBTQIA folks or their families. They have a legal team set to oppose hateful laws and call supporters to action.

I came to know PFLAG when I was living in another state at the height of the AIDS epidemic.  Lovely and helpful people welcomed individuals and distraught family members to meetings that brought comfort to so many who were struggling alone.  Parents whose children were not getting the care or attention they deserved from elected officials, whose job it was to keep them informed, found comfort there.  Although the issues have shifted and we’re now in another century, the need for a compassionate voice speaking to and for LGBTQIA people remains important.

While the PFLAG meetings are outside the public eye, its outreach mission could never be accomplished without a resilient commitment to visibility.  PFLAG Austin answers requests to speak at various organizations, and is present at Pride festivals and related events doing outreach and education.

The monthly PFLAG meeting at First UU is held on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM.  There are usually 15 – 20 people present, representing allies and all flavors of LGBTQIA.  It’s especially touching to see parents in the group, parents of Trans kids in particular.  They seek a place to get their questions answered and to feel like they are part of a community.  Feeling less alone and more understood is sometimes all that’s needed to nourish a soul and light the path to transformation. 

Come to a PFLAG meeting!  90% of life is about showing up.  Let your smile brighten someone’s day and warm your heart.

The Reproductive Justice Team invites you to the final film in our film series on reproductive issues, “Before a Breath” produced by ProPublica. This week’s film will address stillbirth from a personal and legislative perspective. We are offering it on Mother’s Day in honor of women who have not been able or choose not to become mothers. 

Every day in the U.S., about 60 pregnancies end in stillbirth, the death of an expected child at 20 weeks or more of pregnancy. Research shows that at least 1 in 4 stillbirths in the U.S. is likely preventable. In pregnancies that reach 37 weeks or more, nearly half of stillbirths may be preventable. The failure to address preventable stillbirth is disproportionately felt by Black people, Native Hawaiian
people and other Pacific Islanders, who are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to experience such a loss. 

Please  join us and invite others outside the church who may have experienced this tragedy or know someone who has to join us in solidarity with these women and their families on this very important issue. 

The Online Abortion Resource Squad (OARS) runs the abortion subreddit. Their peer-based online counseling model helps ensure that in the enormous ocean of the internet, everyone has the information, support, and resources they need to access safe abortion care no matter where they live.  People turn to Reddit when they have trouble locating resources, find themselves lost in a maze of (mis)information, or don’t know whom to trust. The trained OARS volunteers provide expert navigation and support services to the 200,000 (!) individuals who visit r/abortion every month.

This public forum is a critical resource for the people most impacted by restrictive laws and barriers to access.   While lack to abortion access has seemingly become normalized, OARS answers the questions of women, girls, and pregnant people who are desperate to make the decisions that are best for their own lives and families.

After the service on Sunday, April 13, several organizations including Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL), the Sierra Club, and TXUUJM, will set up information and opportunities to take action about climate change in Howson Hall. You will be able to sign a petition, write a letter or email, and/or make a phone call to elected officials. Often, our messages fall on deaf ears, but not always. CCL sent over 200,000 messages to Congress to urge passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most important climate legislation passed. Before finally passing, it was declared completely dead several times.

With an administration opposing action on climate, we especially need us, the people, to take action. CCL for one works on several bills and actions Congress is taking up, including rescinding the IRA. We are optimistic that we can succeed on at least some of them.

Please join us after the service. We need to act on climate change now.

Rules of the Road: 10 Principles for Sound Investing

The world feels uncertain in so many ways right now and financial markets have seen heightened volatility in the last 90 days. It is especially difficult to navigate long-term financial decisions when the news cycle gives us reason to panic (almost daily). Jonathan Bryan (financial advisor and First UU member) has offered to host a presentation on Tuesday, April 8th at 7 p.m. in room 13 with Q&A afterwards to provide timely perspective on Social Security, investment principles, and not letting our emotions hijack our critical thinking.

A bit about Jonathan, from Jonathan:

“First UU family, my wife Sharon and I first came into your building during a Black Lives Matter event 5 years ago, and like most UUs, didn’t become members until several years later. Over the last 11 years I have provided financial advice and guidance to hundreds of families from every walk of life. My parents filed bankruptcy when I was 5 years old. That life experience led me to a career where I can help other families avoid the same fate. I am truly passionate about helping people make good decisions and achieve a life that is financially stable and personally rewarding. My goal for our discussion is educate you on important financial principles, discuss emergency fund/prep basics, and empower you to acknowledge your emotions instead of allowing them to take control of your financial future.” – Jonathan Bryan

Website: www.EdwardJones.com

LinkedIn: Jonathan Bryan, CEPA® | LinkedIn

April is Earth Month

First UU will have opportunities for learning and taking action on climate change issues in Howson Hall after the services on Sunday, April 6 and April 13. On April 6 the theme will be how to continue to lower your personal carbon footprints and on April 13, the how and why of taking action to change climate policies.

In addition, on Sunday, April 6, we plan to launch composting food waste at First UU. When we compost, we add much more carbon into the soil instead of having it go into the atmosphere to do further damage. There will be a clearly marked place to put food waste for volunteers to haul off and have composted.

Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders served as the first African American and second woman to be the United States Surgeon General, from 1993 to 1994. During her 15-month tenure, Dr. Elders was known for her outspokenness and focus on controversial public health issues, including sex education and substance abuse prevention and was eventually forced out of this position because of her outspokenness. As she later concluded, change can only come about when the Surgeon General can get people to listen and talk about difficult subjects. This film looks back at the way she served our country and is a timely reminder during this time when we so badly need leaders who will speak truth to power.

Help Guatemalan families by shopping at First UU Sunday, April 13

UPAVIM will bring Fair Trade goods from Guatemala to sell at First UU in the Gallery Sunday, April 13 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.  Buy with conscience in solidarity with a Community Development Foundation whose mission is to empower women.

At UPAVIM they believe when women are economically empowered, families thrive and communities are safer. Through their income generating projects, the women are able to support themselves, their families and their community, even though they live in a Red Zone of Guatemala City plagued by gangs and violence. Your support of UPAVIM offers a place of sanctuary through camaraderie, employment and security.

“How do we stay sane and effectively resist the tyranny that besets our country?   How do we take care of ourselves and each other when times feel too hard?” “How do we avoid the kind of collapse that beset the German people when the Nazis were rising ?” To understand how tyranny works to keep us weak, for mental and emotional tools to fight despair and stay strong. and for specific resistance resources, come hear Victoria Hendricks speak on Tuesday evening, March 4th at 7:00 p.m. in Howson Hall.

Potluck first, starting at 6:30 p.m Victoria says “To provide what I see as a metaphoric survival kit for times of tyranny, I have drawn heavily  from Timothy Snyder’s excellent small book, On Tyranny, Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century and added bits from Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Joan Baez, Dan Rather and many more.  As Citizens’ Climate Lobby founder Marshall Saunders reminded us, we can’t afford to wait for rescue. “We are the cavalry.”

Let’s stay strong and connected in community for what may well be the fight of our lives. 

Book Talk with “Imani Rituals” Author, Ayanna Kafi

Thursday, February 27th @ 12:00pm ET 

Join us for a rich discussion of disability and black spirituality as I interview my friend and colleague, Ayanna Kafi about their upcoming skinner house release, “Imani Rituals: Nurturing African Spiritual Heritage.”

We’ll discuss the book writing process, the intersection of race and disability, and ways to adapt rituals for individual access needs.

Ayanna Kafi (they/them/theirs) is a neurodivergent, nonbinary, Black woman living on occupied Creek land, commonly known as Stone Mountain, a beautiful city within the collective of cities known by locals as Atlanta. They cohabitate with their partner, teenager, and granddog. They believe that their ministry springs from their embodiment, home, and community so they strive to fill their life with laughter, music, movement, intentional rest, and the discipline of ever-expanding joy.