“Closets are for clothes, not for our kids” was the sign on the Independence Day float pulled by the Carnation and Bellevue, WA chapters of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays, or PFLAG.

About 20 members of the

Great reception the entire parade route.

VERY HAPPY: Just returned from Carnation, WA, where PFLAG marched for the first time in the July 4th parade. Some in this rural town greeted us with silence and poker faces, but there were also plenty of exuberant whoops, silently-mouthed “thank you”s and plain old hearty cheers. This is the sort of place PFLAG is needed the most and I am happy I could help support the local chapter.

And now we have PFLAG

Closets are for clothes, not for our kids

The Carnation and Bellevue chapters of PFLAG are participating in the parade.  They’re bringing a float with a closet on it with a sign that says “Closets are for clothes, not our kids”.  The closet has been in parades in Renton, Seattle and Bellingham.

Parade participants will be form the east side

Seattle Times 

Issaquah Salmon Days

A PFLAG member who was watching the parade relayed a comment she heard from the people next her on the curb

They seemed to be, or I thought they were, rather conservative (yeah, what can you tell by the cover?) but they cheered for Kathy Lambert. Then when PFLAG came by, they applauded and cheered. The man told the woman: “WOW!! Those people really have some cojones!” And he said it in a way that was appreciative.

What a gorgeous day, and a good turn out for PFLAG. John said someone stopped him on his way back to find me, and asked if there were a PFLAG group in “that area.” Too bad he didn’t have a card to hand out with details, but he did tell them about the first Wednesday at the church. Maybe the parade will have brought some new attendance out there…. we can hope, anyway.