In this issue: October Meeting, Coming Out Day Film Screenings, and cancer allyship

Our October Meeting


Essential Mental Health Services: Spotlight on the Pacific Center for Human Growth with CEO Lasara Firefox Allen, MSW


Tuesday, October 28, 2025, 7 PM



Nationwide, half of LGBTQ youth who wanted mental health services were unable to receive them, according to the Trevor Project’s 2024 national survey. Luckily, in the East Bay, the Pacific Center for Human Growth helps fill that need. The oldest LGBTQIA+ center in the Bay Area, the Pacific Center operates the only sliding scale mental health clinic for LGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC people and their families in Alameda County. The Pacific Center was one of the recipients of fundraising proceeds from our chapter’s 40th Anniversary celebration last month!


At our October meeting, Lasara Firefox Allen, CEO, will describe the Pacific Center’s services and the impact on clients and programs of the current social/political climate and recent changes to preventative care in California. Lasara (they/them/Mx.) is author, coach, and Center Executive Officer (CEO) at Pacific Center for Human Growth. Parent to two queer folx, and of trans experience themself, Lasara resides in Oakland with/in the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Ohlone people. Lasara is a peer and a social work practitioner who works from a harm reduction-based, trauma-informed, intersectional, and anti-oppression-focused feminist framework.


After the program we'll hold time for confidential sharing and support.


Meetings are held from 7-9 PM in the Campbell Room at St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Avenue in Berkeley (look for the PFLAG banner). Masks are optional. We ask that you not attend if you are feeling unwell or if you've been in contact with anyone who is unwell. Between meetings, our board is still here to connect with you one-on-one. Email pflagoeb@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 510-562-7692 and we will call you back.

Thank you to everyone who marched with us in Oakland Pride last month!

Your Input Needed: Support for LGBTQ+ People with Cancer



Cancer Support Community San Francisco Bay Area is learning from the leadership of the National LGBT Cancer Network and making strides to meet on-the-ground needs of community members that they serve locally. They offer the below anonymous community needs surveys to help increase their understanding of the local needs of California residents living with and surviving cancer, as well as caregiving or allying with LGBTQ+ cancer survivors/patients. Your responses make a difference in their ability to support our shared communities in targeted and practical ways.


Cancer Survivor/Patient LGBTQ+ Community Needs Survey

Cancer Caregiver/Ally LGBTQ+ Community Needs Survey

Celebrating Our Community Impact


Thank you again for celebrating forty years of PFLAG Oakland/East Bay with us in September. Longtime chapter members Karen and Andy (pictured right) framed our impact beautifully: "We treasure the many ways PFLAG has helped us grow through our own changes and develop a better relationship with our trans child. 


We are so grateful for how PFLAG filled a space for needed support and community we had been lacking. Through one to one conversations, intimate groups, guest talks and educational materials we have learned so many helpful ways to be there for our kids through their transitions.   


PFLAG has also created a powerful forum for making political changes on both a local and national level that is so needed now. Having you there in our lives makes us feel safer and more empowered to become advocates in the larger community. 


Perhaps best of all has been making lasting connections with the local PFLAG chapter where we have made many friends, going through hard times and also coming together to celebrate at numerous pride marches, parties and mingling at the monthly meetings."


If you missed the party, there are still opportunities to donate to us and our community partners, see photos from the event, and read the Bay Area Reporter article about our collective impact.

National Coming Out Day Film Screenings


Tomorrow, October 11, is National Coming Out Day! Come to The New Parkway Theater at 12:30 PM for a special celebration of National Coming Out Day with a screening of Dead in Love. This heartfelt and playful film tells the story of a shy bisexual ghost who discovers a couple living in her old home and poltergeists her way into their hearts. Get your ticket here.


October 11 also launches a 48-hour #StandUpForLove Virtual Screening of Amma’s Pride, an Oscar-qualified short documentary that follows Valli, a mother in South India, as she supports her trans daughter, Srija, through falling in love, getting married, and seeking legal recognition for her marriage. Tickets are available for a nominal fee here.

Supporting Our Immigrant Neighbors


PFLAG fights for ALL families, and knows that immigrant justice can't be separated from LGBTQ+ justice. Here are some ideas, largely from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, for how you can directly and personally support immigrants during this ongoing crisis of anti-immigrant brutality and violence. 


  • If you are not at risk of deportation, show up in visible solidarity with immigrant workers at local hiring corners. Learn how to be a consistent, safe, and supportive presence here.
  • Save the number of your local rapid response network in your phone. If you see ICE on the streets, call them for assistance.
  • Contribute to an immigrant defense fund for legal aid, know-your-rights training, and community organizing.
  • Immerse yourself in this Immigrant Justice Study and Action Guide from Catalyst Project.
  • Support an immigrant-owned small business in a neighborhood where ICE has been active.
  • Volunteer to accompany someone to their immigration appointment. (Language skills required.) Your presence as a witness can offer protection and emotional support.
  • Attend a protest or vigil. Your physical presence sends a strong message that immigrant rights are human rights. Bay Resistance and Indivisible East Bay have good calendars.

Learning LGBTQ+ History


LGBTQ+ History Month feels different this year, what with 2025 being a nonstop orchestrated assault on LGBTQ+ history and identities nationwide.


But if there’s one thing our history tells us it is that we cannot—and WILL not—be erased. Every effort to silence, vilify, and keep our LGBTQ+ loved ones in the closet has failed. We’re here, and we’re NOT going anywhere.



Commit yourself this LGBTQ+ History Month to learning about those who came and fought before us, LGBTQ+ people and allies alike. Your pursuit of knowledge is not only a counterattack to this era of censorship, but it will ground, inspire, and motivate you to take action.



Unsure where to start? PFLAG has got you covered. For a plethora of LGBTQ+ history resources—including PFLAG Academy Online Learning Sessions, podcasts, websites, books, and essays—visit pflag.org/lgbtq-history-month.

New Queer Therapy Option


After 11 years of offering LGBTQ+ affirming summer camps, family camps, and backpacking trips, Brave Trails is expanding its support for queer and trans youth. The organization has partnered with The Relational Center to launch Queer Therapy, a program that provides affirming, sliding-scale individual therapy and support groups led by queer and trans therapists in California.


The new program offers individual therapy for LGBTQ+ youth ages 12–17 and includes support groups for both LGBTQ+ youth and their caregivers. Brave Trails encourages community members to share this flier widely. Anyone interested in learning more or signing up can visit the Brave Trails website.

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