As a result of the Coronavirus Stay At Home Order, we will now be holding virtual PFLAG meetings supported by an easy-to-use online meeting tool called Zoom. CLICK HERE to get set-up with Zoom.
Join us for our regular monthly meeting welcoming the entire spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community, friends, families, and allies for support and education. Our regular support group will follow the education portion.
Please RSVP to info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org
EDUCATION PORTION:
LGBTQ+ Sex Education: Health, Rights, and Pleasure
with Antón Castellanos Usigli, MPH (he/him/his)
This meeting's focus:
Sex education for LGBTQ+ youth tends to be very limited, both in formal and informal spaces. This session will raise awareness of the importance of providing LGBTQ+ youth with sex education that follows the “triangle approach” of linking sexual health, sexual rights, and sexual pleasure, which was formulated by the Global Advisory Board for Sexual Health and Wellbeing (GAB). This session will also provide the opportunity to discuss specific questions and fears that PFLAG parents might have about sex education.
About our presenter:
Antón Castellanos Usigli, MPH, is a public health leader with more of a decade-long career in sexual health and sexual rights. He is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Cheng Fellow at the Social Innovation and Change Initiative of the Harvard Kennedy School. Antón is a Consultant for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Global Public Health Institute at the University of Miami and for Wyckoff Hospital in Brooklyn, NY, where he previously served as the Director of HIV/STI Prevention Programs. He is a Member of the Global Advisory Board for Sexual Health and Wellbeing (GAB), a group of global experts brought together by Durex to advance the links between sexual health, sexual rights and sexual pleasure across policies and programs. He is also a Member of the National Board of Directors of PFLAG. Antón has a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Columbia University and has been a speaker in Congresses across twelve countries.
A NOTE ABOUT VIRTUAL MEETINGS:
We will be utilizing Zoom features that provide the highest level of safety and confidentiality possible. Zoom is free to you and you need not have an account to join us. If you are new to Zoom, you can follow the links [here] for brief tutorials on all you need to know to sign on to a Zoom meeting with us. We ask that each of you that would like to participate in the on-line support, contact us in advance by email at info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org to RSVP for the meeting. We will cut off RSVPs at 5 p.m. on the day of the meeting. All participants will receive a follow-up email with the link to the Zoom call and a password. For confidentiality’s sake, please do not forward these to another participant — they are welcome to contact us directly to receive the link.
We recognize that youth may be interested in the educational part of this meeting and they are welcome to join us. As usual, we ask that youth who may want to stick around for our support groups be joined by a parent. Some heavy emotions can emerge in the course of our sessions and having a parent on-hand helps to ensure that the needs of any youth on the call are met.
There are some benefits to utilizing new tools like Zoom. We recognize that our typical evening support group meetings are not feasible for everyone due to work, family or other demands. If there is a need, we would like to offer an additional support group Zoom conference call sometime during the daytime hours. If you are interested in a daytime support group, email us at info@pflagmanhattanbeach.org and let us know what times might be more workable for you.
If you need more personalized assistance and support, we remain here for you. Email us confidentially and we will work with you to identify the best member of our team to assist with your individual needs.