Politics

PFLAG to host transgender panel

By Bill Moss, Published: June 1, 2016

The Flat Rock-Hendersonville Chapter of PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) is co-sponsoring Cultivating Community Across the Gender Spectrum, a transgender panel discussion, at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 18, in Pisgah Ballroom A at the Biltmore Park Hilton, 1 Town Square Blvd., Asheville. The event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by MCC Sacred Journey, Gender Spectrum is part of Transgender Education, a weekend of events planned in Asheville and Hendersonville. The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hendersonville and PFLAG are co-sponsors. Additional sponsors include Renaissance Hotel Asheville, SunTrust, Tranzmission, and Jubilee Community Church. All events and activities are free and open to the public.

The panel for Cultivating Community Across the Gender Spectrum will be moderated by Reverend Mykal Slack, Director of Congregational Life, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh. Panelists include Zeke Christopoulos, Allison Scott and Tuesday Feral from Tranzmission, Archer Faust from Hendersonville Transformers and Hendersonville community activist Becky Doyle.

“HB2 is much more than the bathroom issue, even for transgender people. It is about respecting the person who happens to be of a different gender identity than some of us,” PFLAG president Jerry Miller said in a news release. “It is about accepting them as a people of equal value and worth. We as a community need to better understand trans people – their struggles to accept themselves as well as their hopes, dreams and fears. PFLAG is proud to co-sponsor this event and hope people will put aside their prejudices and come learn what it is like to be a misunderstood minority, and also to show support.”