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Plaque Honoring PFLAG Founder to Be Installed at Village Church

 Jeanne Manford, who died in January 2013 at age 92, founded the LGBT allies' group PFLAG at the Church of the Village, located on West 13th Street.
PFLAG Founder Jeanne Manford
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GREENWICH VILLAGE — The woman who started the national LGBT allies' group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays will be honored this weekend in the Village.

A plaque memorializing PFLAG founder Jeanne Manford will be installed outside the Church of the Village, located at 201 W. 13th St., Sunday at 11:45 a.m., according to the church and plaque sponsor the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

Manford died in January, at age 92, 40 years after she convened the first meeting of the LGBT rights organization at the United Methodist church. The organization that now has more than 350 chapters nationally began with a room full of 20 people, according to PFLAG's website.

The Queens elementary school teacher and mother of a gay son helped change the lives of countless gay people, GVSHP executive director Andrew Berman said at a memorial for Manford held in April.

"Because of Jeanne and PFLAG, I, like many other LGBT people of my generation, had to struggle a little bit less, and found greater love and acceptance from family, friends and peers," he said.

PFLAG began soon after Manford carried a sign in the April 1972 Christopher Street Liberation Day march, reading “Parents of Gays: Unite in Support for Our Children," according to the organization's website. 

The plaque-installation ceremony is open to all, but reservations are encouraged. They can be made by calling (212) 475-9585 x35, or emailing rsvp@gvshp.org.