PFLAG Cape Cod In The News

​Click on a link below to view a news article featuring PFLAG Cape Cod

March 13, 2025
​Local advocates are reacting to Tuesday’s confrontation between Congressman Bill Keating and a Republican who intentionally used the wrong gender language for U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first openly transgender member of Congress.

Paula Degree, a board member at PFLAG Cape Cod who is transgender, said she’s glad Keating spoke out. “It is so important that we reject this idea that any group of people can decide who is legitimate and who is not, who is entitled to exist and who shouldn't,” she said, adding, “Every marginalized minority is being slammed.”
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“Transgender people are just one part of this whole trend,” she said. “And we as citizens have to speak up … for all marginalized people in this country.”

Click this link to view the entire article and hear audio of Paula's comments.​

May 26, 2023
​The public is invited to kick off LGBT Pride Month on Friday, June 2, at Highfield Hall & Gardens, with a program celebrating PFLAG’s 50th anniversary.

Joe Lima, president of PFLAG Cape Cod since 2019, will talk about PFLAG, its history, mission and vision.

Click this link to view the entire article.​

March 27, 2023
PFLAG celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and PFLAG Cape Cod's Anne Toran Scholarship will soon be awarding up to three $2,500 scholarships/toolships to graduating high school seniors from the Cape and Islands who are advocates for equality! 

WCAI's Patrick Flanary spoke with PFLAG Cape Cod President Joe Lima about how PFLAG was founded after Jeanne Manford marched with her son in the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, the struggles and successes since then, and how PFLAG Cape Cod's scholarship came to be named after Anne Toran. Both Jeanne and Anne were mothers who were champions of equality, working tirelessly to make the world a better place.

Click this link for audio of the entire interview.​

October 26, 2022
Educators from around the Cape and Islands will gather in Hyannis Wednesday for a symposium to hear from LGBTQ+ lawmakers, and to learn about a state-wide program called 
Safe Schools, which provides resources to teachers and school administrators to support LGBTQ+ students.

WCAI's Kathryn Eident talked with PFLAG Cape Cod President Joe Lima about the event and what he’s hoping educators will take from it.

Click this link for the transcript and audio of the interview.​

March 23, 2021
Rick Koonce knows about the power of sharing one’s story. Three decades ago, the New York Times interviewed him and his partner about a new trend: openly gay couples adopting children. At the time, it was illegal for gay people to openly serve in the military, and marriage equality was still a fringe cause. Koonce couldn’t even legally adopt his own daughter because his state, Virginia, wouldn’t allow it.  

These days, the landscape is more favorable for openly gay cisgender men. But that isn’t the case for all LGBTQ+ people. On a new podcast, “Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage,” Koonce, who lives with his husband in Hyannis, interviews local PFLAG Cape Cod members, highlighting the stories of the marginalized.​

​Click this link to view the entire article.​

July 3, 2020
The first time Joe Lima came to Provincetown years ago, he felt as though he’d arrived in another world. “You don’t even feel like you’re still on the Cape,” he said. “You almost don’t feel like you’re on this planet.” 

Now, Lima is president of PFLAG Cape Cod, an organization that supports members of the LGBTQ community and their families. And even though he's been out and proud for decades, escaping to Provincetown still feels important.
“It’s really the only time my husband and I will be openly demonstrative, where we might  hold hands and kiss each other in public,” he said. 

​Click this link for the transcript and audio of the article.​​

​June 15, 2020
Members and supporters of the Cape’s LGBTQ community rejoiced Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court barred employers from discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, though the quest for equal rights is not yet over, they said.
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​Click this link to view the article.