Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) is a socio-political group of family members and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

PFLAG has more than 350 affiliates throughout the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 11 other countries.

The acronym PFLAG is pronounced "P-FLAG" /ˈpiːflæɡ/, and until removal of the hyphen in 1993 was officially styled in that manner.

The event that sparked PFLAG was in 1972 when Jeanne Manford was watching a TV news report and saw her son "being tossed down an escalator during a gay rights protest while the New York City Police Department stood by and watched."

The idea for the organization arose when Jeanne Manford marched with her gay son, Morty, carrying a sign saying: "Parents of Gays: Unite in Support for Our Children" in New York City's Christopher Street Liberation Day Gay Pride Parade (now known as Heritage of Pride) after many gay and lesbian people ran up to Jeanne during the parade and begged her to talk to their parents. She decided to form a support group for gays and lesbians and their families. The first formal meeting took place in March 1973 at a local church and approximately 20 people attended. In time the scope of the organization – which turned into POG (Parents of Gays), later P-FLAG, and beginning in 1993, PFLAG – expanded to include bisexuals, and ultimately, transgender people. In particular, in 1998, gender identity was added to the mission of PFLAG after a vote at their annual meeting in San Francisco. PFLAG was the first national LGBT organization to officially adopt a transgender-inclusion policy for its work. In 2002, PFLAG's Transgender Network, also known as TNET, became PFLAG's first official "Special Affiliate," recognized with the same privileges and responsibilities as regular chapters.

Rachel Anne Maddow (pronounced /ˈmædoʊ/; born April 1, 1973) is an American television host, political commentator, and author. Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. Her syndicated talk radio program of the same name aired on Air America Radio. Maddow is the first openly gay anchor of a prime-time news program in the United States.

Asked about her political views by the Valley Advocate, Maddow replied, "I'm undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I'm in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican party platform."

Maddow was born in Castro Valley, California. Her father, Robert B. "Bob" Maddow, is a former United States Air Force captain who resigned his commission the year before her birth and found civilian work as a lawyer for the East Bay Municipal Utility District. Her mother, Elaine Maddow (née Gosse), is a school program administrator from Newfoundland, Canada. She has one older brother, David. Her father is of Russian and Dutch descent and her mother is of English and Irish ancestry. Maddow's mother was raised a strict Roman Catholic, and Maddow herself grew up in a community that her mother has described as "very conservative." Maddow was a competitive athlete and played three sports in high school. Referencing John Hughes films, she describes herself in high school as "a cross between the jock and the antisocial girl."

Belinda Jo Carlisle (born August 17, 1958) is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands of all time and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments. Topping the Billboard charts with the Go-Go's, she sold more than seven million albums in just three years and later went on to a successful solo career with hits "Mad About You", "Summer Rain", "I Get Weak", "Circle in the Sand", "Leave a Light On" and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" among others, which were major successes in the United States and United Kingdom as well as internationally. Her autobiography, Lips Unsealed, published in June 2010, reached No. 27 on the The New York Times Best Seller list and received favorable reviews. On August 11, 2011, she received, as a member of the Go-Go's, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Belinda Carlisle was born in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles to Harold, a travelling salesman (he sold vacuum cleaners) and his wife Joanne, who raised the children at home. The first of seven siblings, with three brothers and three sisters, she was five years old when her father abandoned the family and upon her mother's second marriage, did not have a close relationship with her stepfather, Duke Kurczeski. Growing up in Ventura County's Thousand Oaks, a part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, she was a cheerleader at Newbury Park High School and, at the age of 19, left home.

James Duke Mason (born April 27, 1992) is an American actor. He is the son of singer Belinda Carlisle and film producer Morgan Mason, and the grandson of the late British actor James Mason. In April 2010, The Advocate listed Mason as one of the most influential young LGBT Americans in their "Forty Under 40" issue, and in March 2011 he was voted into AfterElton.com's list of the top 50 gay/bisexual male celebrities. He also, in May 2011, was included on AfterElton.com's Hot 100 list.

Mason was named in OUT magazine's "Out 100" issue as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people in the world in 2011.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Mason moved to Europe with his parents as a toddler.^{[citation needed]} He nevertheless maintained a strong affinity with the United States, and was appointed to serve as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives during the summer of 2008. He also worked as a volunteer for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Democratic primaries. After graduating from Mougins School, an international school in the south of France in July 2010, Mason moved back to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting. He also spent a year studying at California Lutheran University pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, which he plans to complete in the future.

Betty DeGeneres (born Elizabeth Jane Pfeffer, May 20, 1930) is an LGBT-rights activist from New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the mother of Ellen and Vance DeGeneres, and the first non-gay spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's National Coming Out Project and an active member of PFLAG. She first gained notability following her daughter Ellen's highly-publicized coming out in 1997.

She is the author of two books, Love Ellen and Just a Mom. In Love, Ellen: A Mother Daughter Journey she describes her reaction to her daughter coming out as a lesbian, and her path from passive acceptance to becoming a passionate advocate for LGBT rights. She also describes the media scrutiny she received after Ellen came out. Her second book, Just a Mom continues these themes. She also writes a column for the website PlanetOut called "Ask Betty."

DeGeneres appeared as an extra in the television episode "The Puppy Episode", in which her daughter Ellen's character comes out.

DeGeneres was born in New Orleans. She attended Louisiana State University for two years and married Elliot DeGeneres in 1952. She and Elliot are now divorced.