Board Members
Joe Lima, President
Joe Lima started attending PFLAG Cape Cod support meetings back in the early 1990s. At the time, he’d already met John, his future husband, but had not yet come out to his parents. He learned about PFLAG and decided to attend a meeting in hopes of getting advice from others on how best to have the coming out conversation with his mother and father.
At PFLAG meetings he met a wide range of people, including parents of other kids who had come out as gay, lesbian and bisexual. They offered him rich insights and hope as to how he could best tell his parents he was gay. At the time, “I needed a support system and I got it from [a lot of] supportive parents who told me, ‘your parents will still love you,’ even after they learn the news,” he says. About a year later, Joe did come out to his parents, in a letter. Over time, he says, as his family got to know him and his partner John as a couple, “they began to realize that we live a pretty normal life, very similar to their own.”
Joe believes strongly that PFLAG Cape Cod’s mission is to offer a welcoming setting in which anyone struggling with issues of sexuality and gender identity can find safety and acceptance. “PFLAG Cape Cod’s purpose is to provide people who are coming out – as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer – a place where they can be themselves, seek the guidance of others, and learn better how to manage coming out conversations with family and friends,” he says. At the same time, “we offer support, community, and resources to the families and friends of loved ones who identify as LGBTQ. We welcome anyone and everyone who would like to be part of our community!”
A residential designer by profession, Joe and his husband John, a hair stylist, have been married since 2011 and live in Osterville.
Pronouns: he/him/his
Joe Lima started attending PFLAG Cape Cod support meetings back in the early 1990s. At the time, he’d already met John, his future husband, but had not yet come out to his parents. He learned about PFLAG and decided to attend a meeting in hopes of getting advice from others on how best to have the coming out conversation with his mother and father.
At PFLAG meetings he met a wide range of people, including parents of other kids who had come out as gay, lesbian and bisexual. They offered him rich insights and hope as to how he could best tell his parents he was gay. At the time, “I needed a support system and I got it from [a lot of] supportive parents who told me, ‘your parents will still love you,’ even after they learn the news,” he says. About a year later, Joe did come out to his parents, in a letter. Over time, he says, as his family got to know him and his partner John as a couple, “they began to realize that we live a pretty normal life, very similar to their own.”
Joe believes strongly that PFLAG Cape Cod’s mission is to offer a welcoming setting in which anyone struggling with issues of sexuality and gender identity can find safety and acceptance. “PFLAG Cape Cod’s purpose is to provide people who are coming out – as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer – a place where they can be themselves, seek the guidance of others, and learn better how to manage coming out conversations with family and friends,” he says. At the same time, “we offer support, community, and resources to the families and friends of loved ones who identify as LGBTQ. We welcome anyone and everyone who would like to be part of our community!”
A residential designer by profession, Joe and his husband John, a hair stylist, have been married since 2011 and live in Osterville.
Pronouns: he/him/his
Aimee McCormack, Treasurer
Aimee McCormack, who joined PFLAG Cape Cod’s board in 2019, is the mother of a transgender girl, “Heather,” who came out to her and her husband when she was just 18. “She was in her first year of college and it was a complete shock,” says Aimee, who says she never had a clue about her daughter’s gender identity, when she was growing up as male. “She was a typical little boy who loved trains, planes, and automobiles. She loved to wear camouflage, ride around on her bike, and play war games with her friends,” she said.
Aimee realized that to be supportive of her daughter, she needed to become more familiar with the topic of gender dysphoria, and with the struggles that transgender individuals go through to accept themselves for who they are. Fortunately, her employer, TD Bank, offered important support. “At work I joined the bank’s LGBTQ Business Resources Group, so I could meet and begin to know individuals in the LGBTQ community.” She also attended a three-day conference TD Bank put on in New York City that featured LGBTQ employees, as well as panel discussions and speakers. “It was a life-changing experience for me,” says Aimee, who discovered she was not alone in her feelings and experiences of being the parent of a transgender child.
Around this same time, Aimee discovered PFLAG Cape Cod, which she found tremendously supportive to her and her family. “PFLAG offers me community and unconditional acceptance, both for me and my daughter,” she says. “I felt instantly welcomed and embraced when I attended my first meeting.” She says her goal now is to be a support to other parents who learn that their child is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
Despite a person’s orientation or gender identity, “they’re still your child,” she says, adding that PFLAG “is all about family, relationships and acceptance.”
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Aimee McCormack, who joined PFLAG Cape Cod’s board in 2019, is the mother of a transgender girl, “Heather,” who came out to her and her husband when she was just 18. “She was in her first year of college and it was a complete shock,” says Aimee, who says she never had a clue about her daughter’s gender identity, when she was growing up as male. “She was a typical little boy who loved trains, planes, and automobiles. She loved to wear camouflage, ride around on her bike, and play war games with her friends,” she said.
Aimee realized that to be supportive of her daughter, she needed to become more familiar with the topic of gender dysphoria, and with the struggles that transgender individuals go through to accept themselves for who they are. Fortunately, her employer, TD Bank, offered important support. “At work I joined the bank’s LGBTQ Business Resources Group, so I could meet and begin to know individuals in the LGBTQ community.” She also attended a three-day conference TD Bank put on in New York City that featured LGBTQ employees, as well as panel discussions and speakers. “It was a life-changing experience for me,” says Aimee, who discovered she was not alone in her feelings and experiences of being the parent of a transgender child.
Around this same time, Aimee discovered PFLAG Cape Cod, which she found tremendously supportive to her and her family. “PFLAG offers me community and unconditional acceptance, both for me and my daughter,” she says. “I felt instantly welcomed and embraced when I attended my first meeting.” She says her goal now is to be a support to other parents who learn that their child is gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
Despite a person’s orientation or gender identity, “they’re still your child,” she says, adding that PFLAG “is all about family, relationships and acceptance.”
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Elaine Mach, Secretary
Elaine Mach has served on the board of PFLAG Cape Cod since 2018 and was a volunteer prior to joining the board. An ardent straight ally to members of the LGBTQ community, she is a speech pathologist who, over the years, has become intimately aware of the challenges that children, adolescents, and young adults face when exploring sexual and gender identity, navigating interpersonal relationships with peers, and finding self-acceptance.
Elaine has worked with children and young adults (gay, lesbian, transgender, straight as well as those on the spectrum) in a variety of educational settings. With a colleague, she formed a Gay/Straight Alliance club at a vocational school of 1000 students in central Massachusetts in the 1990s. Today, she works mostly with elementary age children, helping them and their families navigate not only their speech and language needs but also social acceptance in an increasingly complex world.
“Even at a very young age, kids have a sense of their sexuality and gender identity,” says Elaine. “Kids of that age need help and most importantly acceptance and support in exploring who, in fact, they are.” Elaine is fond of telling others that her school office is filled with rainbows, including a rainbow stuffed animal that her students can hold when they come in to see her. “I want to create a safe environment for kids to say and be whomever they are,” she says.
Elaine says PFLAG has a critical role in helping individuals of any age accept themselves for who they are. “My mission is to help support people, wherever they may be” on their journey toward self-acceptance, she says. She also believes PFLAG affords a place where the parents, families, and friends of people who identify as LGBTQ can find understanding, support, and community with one another.
So, what advice does Elaine offer to parents or family members who may have just learned that a loved one is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender? “Love them, listen to them, try not to be judgmental but do ask them: ‘How can I support you?’” she says. “Your job” in such situations, “is to help your child or other loved one be the individual they are, not to mold them into whom you think they should be.”
Elaine is the mother of three adult children. She lives in South Dennis.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Elaine Mach has served on the board of PFLAG Cape Cod since 2018 and was a volunteer prior to joining the board. An ardent straight ally to members of the LGBTQ community, she is a speech pathologist who, over the years, has become intimately aware of the challenges that children, adolescents, and young adults face when exploring sexual and gender identity, navigating interpersonal relationships with peers, and finding self-acceptance.
Elaine has worked with children and young adults (gay, lesbian, transgender, straight as well as those on the spectrum) in a variety of educational settings. With a colleague, she formed a Gay/Straight Alliance club at a vocational school of 1000 students in central Massachusetts in the 1990s. Today, she works mostly with elementary age children, helping them and their families navigate not only their speech and language needs but also social acceptance in an increasingly complex world.
“Even at a very young age, kids have a sense of their sexuality and gender identity,” says Elaine. “Kids of that age need help and most importantly acceptance and support in exploring who, in fact, they are.” Elaine is fond of telling others that her school office is filled with rainbows, including a rainbow stuffed animal that her students can hold when they come in to see her. “I want to create a safe environment for kids to say and be whomever they are,” she says.
Elaine says PFLAG has a critical role in helping individuals of any age accept themselves for who they are. “My mission is to help support people, wherever they may be” on their journey toward self-acceptance, she says. She also believes PFLAG affords a place where the parents, families, and friends of people who identify as LGBTQ can find understanding, support, and community with one another.
So, what advice does Elaine offer to parents or family members who may have just learned that a loved one is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender? “Love them, listen to them, try not to be judgmental but do ask them: ‘How can I support you?’” she says. “Your job” in such situations, “is to help your child or other loved one be the individual they are, not to mold them into whom you think they should be.”
Elaine is the mother of three adult children. She lives in South Dennis.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Max Archer, Membership Coordinator & Social Media Administrator
Max has been on the PFLAG Cape Cod board since 2019. A trans-man and parent of four, he loves being a member of PFLAG as its mission is to offer support, education, and acceptance both to members of the LGBTQ community and to their friends, family members, and allies.
“I love PFLAG’s vision which is ‘to create a world where difference is celebrated and all people are valued inclusive of their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression,’” says Max.
“I strive to bring this vision to life through my own advocacy and involvement, and hope to leave this world a better place for my kids and future generations,” he says.
Max works as a nurse for a leading health insurance company. He received his Associate’s degree in nursing from Quincy College and his Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Chamberlain College of Nursing. Currently, he is working on an MBA with a dual concentration in Human Resources Management and Healthcare Management at Fitchburg State University.
Besides being a member of PFLAG Cape Cod’s Board of Directors, Max also serves on the Plymouth Public Schools Diversity Committee, the Cape Cod Transgender Day of Remembrance Planning Committee, and, as a board member of the organization, No Place for Hate (NPFH) - Plymouth.
Pronouns: he/his/him
Max has been on the PFLAG Cape Cod board since 2019. A trans-man and parent of four, he loves being a member of PFLAG as its mission is to offer support, education, and acceptance both to members of the LGBTQ community and to their friends, family members, and allies.
“I love PFLAG’s vision which is ‘to create a world where difference is celebrated and all people are valued inclusive of their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression,’” says Max.
“I strive to bring this vision to life through my own advocacy and involvement, and hope to leave this world a better place for my kids and future generations,” he says.
Max works as a nurse for a leading health insurance company. He received his Associate’s degree in nursing from Quincy College and his Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Chamberlain College of Nursing. Currently, he is working on an MBA with a dual concentration in Human Resources Management and Healthcare Management at Fitchburg State University.
Besides being a member of PFLAG Cape Cod’s Board of Directors, Max also serves on the Plymouth Public Schools Diversity Committee, the Cape Cod Transgender Day of Remembrance Planning Committee, and, as a board member of the organization, No Place for Hate (NPFH) - Plymouth.
Pronouns: he/his/him
Rick Koonce, Media Outreach/Coordinator
Rick Koonce attended his first PFLAG meeting 40 years ago, when he was a young graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, struggling with his gay sexuality, and looking for a safe space where he would be both accepted and affirmed as a young gay man. He found that acceptance and affirmation in a PFLAG group in the Washington, DC Area, that he was a member of throughout his graduate school years.
Forty years later, he’s delighted to serve as a member of the Board of PFLAG Cape Cod, helping to advocate for the rights of LGBTQ youth and their families. “Being on the board of PFLAG Cape Cod is an opportunity for me to give back to a group that was a true lifeline to me, back in the day.”
In 2020, Rick and his husband John, a teacher, celebrated 16 years as a married couple, having been one of the first gay male couples to wed in Massachusetts when it became legal in 2004. They have a 28-year-old daughter, Diana, and two “grand girls” whom they deeply adore. Rick and John live in Hyannis, and were among the earliest same-sex couples in the United States to adopt, a story that was the focus of a feature article in the Sunday New York Times in 1998.
Professionally, Rick is an executive coach and consultant who works with companies around the world. He’s also a retained coach at two leading business schools. Earlier in his career, he was a radio reporter, TV news associate producer, and commentator on National Public Radio.
Pronouns: he/his/him
Rick Koonce attended his first PFLAG meeting 40 years ago, when he was a young graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, struggling with his gay sexuality, and looking for a safe space where he would be both accepted and affirmed as a young gay man. He found that acceptance and affirmation in a PFLAG group in the Washington, DC Area, that he was a member of throughout his graduate school years.
Forty years later, he’s delighted to serve as a member of the Board of PFLAG Cape Cod, helping to advocate for the rights of LGBTQ youth and their families. “Being on the board of PFLAG Cape Cod is an opportunity for me to give back to a group that was a true lifeline to me, back in the day.”
In 2020, Rick and his husband John, a teacher, celebrated 16 years as a married couple, having been one of the first gay male couples to wed in Massachusetts when it became legal in 2004. They have a 28-year-old daughter, Diana, and two “grand girls” whom they deeply adore. Rick and John live in Hyannis, and were among the earliest same-sex couples in the United States to adopt, a story that was the focus of a feature article in the Sunday New York Times in 1998.
Professionally, Rick is an executive coach and consultant who works with companies around the world. He’s also a retained coach at two leading business schools. Earlier in his career, he was a radio reporter, TV news associate producer, and commentator on National Public Radio.
Pronouns: he/his/him
Denise LaBarre, Volunteer Liaison to Parents of Trans Youth
Denise LaBarre first became involved with PFLAG Cape Cod in 2014, when her son came out to her as transgender at age 19. “At the time, I didn’t know much about the Trans community,” she says. So, she did some internet research, discovered PFLAG, and began attending Cape Cod support meetings where she found community, friendship, and understanding. “PFLAG meetings provided a great place for me to talk about what I was going through,” she says. Denise, who with her husband also has a gay daughter, says one of the great strengths of PFLAG is that it gives people a “safe space in which to talk about the challenges of dealing with a child who’s come out as gay, bisexual or transgender.”
Processing such information requires a blend of knowledge, understanding, love, and acceptance, according to Denise. “When people first come to meetings they are often at different stages of acceptance. The mother of a child coming out may be at one place, and the father of that child at another.”
Attending PFLAG meetings can sometimes help put the families and parents of LGBTQ youth on the same page, notes Denise. At the early meetings she attended, she was comforted by and learned from the experiences of others. “People are there to provide you with support, regardless of where you are in your own process of acceptance. It was extremely helpful to my husband and me.”
Denise soon became heavily involved in PFLAG, eventually joining the board, and then becoming President. Today, as past President, she serves as a special liaison to the parents of transgender youth. “I always knew I wanted to do something to change the world, and for me, this is it,” she says.
Besides her involvement with PFLAG Cape Cod, Denise is also a member of Cape Cod’s Transgender Day of Remembrance Committee, and a former board member of Cape Cod Pride.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Denise LaBarre first became involved with PFLAG Cape Cod in 2014, when her son came out to her as transgender at age 19. “At the time, I didn’t know much about the Trans community,” she says. So, she did some internet research, discovered PFLAG, and began attending Cape Cod support meetings where she found community, friendship, and understanding. “PFLAG meetings provided a great place for me to talk about what I was going through,” she says. Denise, who with her husband also has a gay daughter, says one of the great strengths of PFLAG is that it gives people a “safe space in which to talk about the challenges of dealing with a child who’s come out as gay, bisexual or transgender.”
Processing such information requires a blend of knowledge, understanding, love, and acceptance, according to Denise. “When people first come to meetings they are often at different stages of acceptance. The mother of a child coming out may be at one place, and the father of that child at another.”
Attending PFLAG meetings can sometimes help put the families and parents of LGBTQ youth on the same page, notes Denise. At the early meetings she attended, she was comforted by and learned from the experiences of others. “People are there to provide you with support, regardless of where you are in your own process of acceptance. It was extremely helpful to my husband and me.”
Denise soon became heavily involved in PFLAG, eventually joining the board, and then becoming President. Today, as past President, she serves as a special liaison to the parents of transgender youth. “I always knew I wanted to do something to change the world, and for me, this is it,” she says.
Besides her involvement with PFLAG Cape Cod, Denise is also a member of Cape Cod’s Transgender Day of Remembrance Committee, and a former board member of Cape Cod Pride.
Pronouns: she/her/hers