What We Stand For

Family Creation and Support

Families and caregiving networks come in many forms and do not require the inclusion of a child. These forms include but are not limited to biological, adoptive, foster, chosen, step, poly, and communal among them, and are not defined by structure, origin, or legal status. Families and caregivers deserve dignity, visibility, and support, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

PFLAG affirms and celebrates the right of LGBTQ+ people to become parents, regardless of marital status, through biological, adoptive, foster, or other affirming paths to caregiving. PFLAG will work to ensure that LGBTQ+ people seeking to become parents or caregivers receive fair and equal consideration without discrimination.

PFLAG is committed to protecting and uplifting the many forms of family, caregiver, and kinship structures, and ensuring they receive the same recognition, rights, and legal benefits as every other family.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

Getting to Zero New HIV Infections

HIV remains an urgent intersectional community priority, with disproportionately high infection rates among LGBTQ+ people, particularly gay and bisexual Black, African American and Latino/x/e young men and transgender people. Progress toward ending new infections has been undermined by funding cuts and policy rollbacks, which reduce access to prevention, education, treatment, and care.

PFLAG recognizes that achieving zero new HIV infections requires investment in research, prevention, education, treatment, services, and care and that inequalities in access and outcomes must be urgently addressed.

PFLAG is committed to calling for sustained and expanded funding, equitable access to care and preventative services, and the elimination of stigma that drives the epidemic.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

HIV Criminalization

In the U.S., many states criminalize otherwise legal conduct based on HIV exposure or transmission, prosecuting people based on their HIV status, charging people with assault or attempted assault even if behaviors don’t pose a significant risk of HIV transmission, or regardless of the person having an undetectable viral load (i.e. Undetectable equals Untransmittable, U=U). PFLAG advocates for justice and will call out discriminatory enforcement at every level of government.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

Public Accommodations

LGBTQ+ people have the right to access public spaces and facilities (e.g. restrooms, locker rooms, restaurants, malls, theaters, etc.) free from harassment by staff, customers, or any other person or entity representing or using those spaces or facilities. PFLAG works to ensure the protection of LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in public accommodations and for equal access to employment, housing, federally funded programs or services, and other settings, including jury service and businesses.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Safe Schools

PFLAG advocates for the right of all students to access no-cost publicly funded education that is safe, healthy, and respectful, free from violence, bullying, and discrimination. A school environment is considered safe when there are established, communicated, and enforced policies that respect and protect students, educators, counselors, staff, and administrators. Safe schools provide access to books and lessons that are honest, accurate, and inclusive and do not attempt to rewrite history or eliminate key historical figures and milestones. Safe schools also provide opportunities for all students to participate in extracurricular activities in accordance with their gender identity, including accessing public accommodations such as restrooms and locker rooms.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Voting Rights and Access

Registering to vote, voting without fear of discrimination or harassment, and keeping one’s vote private are all fundamental rights in a democracy. PFLAG advocates strengthening protections for all voters such that the voting process is accessible to all without undue constraints or challenges in terms of identification documents, access to polls, or other discriminatory policies or practices. PFLAG also encourages people to actively participate in the democratic process by making a plan to vote. This includes registering to vote, knowing registration status, learning all options for casting ballots, researching candidates, and getting informed about important election-related days and dates each year.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Privacy

PFLAG advocates to ensure that individuals’ personal information remains private across all of their intersectional identities and traits, protecting those individuals from having their information weaponized against them. PFLAG holds professionals accountable to adhere to ethical guidelines intended to protect individuals’ confidentiality and privacy in all cases. This includes but is not limited to sexual orientation, gender identity, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, disability, immigration status, socioeconomic condition, educational background, employment information, relationship status, and medical information.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

Data Collection 

Routine and systematic collection of data about and from LGBTQ+ people is needed in everything from healthcare access and school safety to the Census in order to create benchmarks and measure progress when it happens as well as to correct deficiencies when it does not. Data collection as a tool is needed across population issues, and attention to gathering information is key to standardizing research, assessing community needs, tracking discrimination to remove it, and establishing evidence-based policies to reduce disparities and deliver equitable treatment to all. That said, data must be subject to strict privacy controls so as to protect from the data being used to harass, harm, or prosecute those within the LGBTQ+ or other marginalized communities. PFLAG will work with federal, state and private research companies and organizations to broaden accurate data collection to include issues pertinent to the LGBTQ+ community.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Immigration Justice and Reform

PFLAG supports immigration reform that keeps immigrants, asylum seekers, Dreamers, and their families safe and united. PFLAG also supports immigration policies that ensure a timely, thorough, respectful, fair, and humane process for people who attempt to enter the United States from countries that criminalize their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. PFLAG supports maintaining a pathway to citizenship for immigrants, asylum seekers, Dreamers, and their families and opposes their mistreatment, including assault, wrongful detention, incorrect gender segregation, solitary confinement, or denial of medically necessary prescriptions, including gender-affirming hormone therapy and HIV prevention and treatment medications.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Censorship

PFLAG affirms the right to honest, accurate, inclusive, and informative education that upholds every person’s right to learn, grow, and thrive—especially youth. We support the right to learn about diverse and expansive topics, people, and histories, and strive to empower people to think critically, encouraging them to make informed decisions for themselves.

PFLAG opposes all forms of censorship—both overt and subtle—including the restriction, removal, or discouragement of materials or discussions related to LGBTQ+ identities, race, ethnicity, disabilities, or gender, and the intersections among these identities. We also support the right of educators to provide inclusive, fact-based instruction without fear of censorship or reprisal.

PFLAG is committed to advocating for inclusive curricula, resisting book bans, and partnering with communities to ensure affirming educational environments for all.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Identity Documents

PFLAG believes that the right to securing identity documents and records with correct names, images, and gender markers is essential for all Americans—including transgender, nonbinary, and intersex individuals—to have the equal rights and protections afforded by the U.S. Constitution. PFLAG supports granting and using identity documents and records that are consistent with how a person identifies. We oppose all efforts or barriers that prohibit people from attaining, retaining, using, or renewing any identity document to which they are to be recognized.

PFLAG will continue to advocate fiercely for people’s right to identity documents and records that reflect who they are to let people participate fully in society. We do this as part of efforts to minimize the risk of harassment, discrimination, or even violence that mismatching or incorrect documents can bring.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Marriage Equality

PFLAG believes that families and society benefit when all individuals are free to marry whom they love and are able to legalize their relationships through marriage. PFLAG supports freedom to marry, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, throughout the United States and the world. Marriage as a social institution confers rights and protections, both legal and practical. Among those rights are tax, inheritance and estate planning benefits; employment, disability and other public assistance; medical, death, family and housing benefits. The definition of marriage controls over 1,000 federal laws in which marital status is addressed.

PFLAG will continue working to uphold that the protected status that marriage confers remains in place as the law of the land.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Inclusive Sexuality Education

All students deserve inclusive, comprehensive, and affirming sexuality education as part of general education, and in recognition of best practices for public health, human development, and equity.

Sexuality education must be science- and evidence-based, developmentally relevant, and rooted in respect for the dignity, agency, and diversity of young people. It must go beyond biology to address the social, emotional, cultural, and relational dimensions of sexuality. This includes access to honest and scientific data about sexual and reproductive health, sex and gender identity, sexual orientation, consent, healthy relationships, bodily autonomy, and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and STI prevention.

PFLAG affirms that young people have the right to honest, accurate, and inclusive education that empowers them, reflects their diverse lived experiences, and equips them to build safer, healthy and fulfilling lives. PFLAG rejects efforts to censor or distort sexuality education, and will continue advocating for sexuality education that is inclusive and leads to fully informed health outcomes for youth.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

Conversion Therapy

“Conversion therapy” refers to a dangerous, discredited non-therapeutic practice that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

These practices—whether carried out by licensed professionals, religious leaders, or others—have been recognized by the United Nations as violations of human rights.  Those who push or provide this “therapy” can take advantage of sometimes well-meaning but misinformed parents and families. Research shows that individuals who undergo conversion “therapy” face significantly increased risks of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior.

PFLAG affirms that LGBTQ+ people of all ages thrive when supported and affirmed by their families and communities. PFLAG will continue working to ban this harmful practice at all levels, and to educate parents and families so they are not misled by those who promote it.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Medically Necessary, Gender-Affirming Care

Everyone deserves access to the healthcare they need, including gender-affirming care that supports their identity, expression, and well-being. This care is medically necessary for many transgender, intersex, nonbinary and gender-expansive people.

Medical decisions should be made between patients and their healthcare providers —or, in the case of minors, the young person in conjunction with their parents or guardians and their providers—not by legislators.

PFLAG will continue working to attain and protect the right of all people to access medically necessary gender-affirming care. When such care is covered by insurance—including Medicaid and Medicare—that coverage must be consistent, comprehensive, and free from discrimination.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Transgender Open Military Service and Honorable Discharge Status for Veterans 

PFLAG supports open military service for all people—including people who are transgender—who exhibit readiness for deployment. PFLAG advocates for a transgender-inclusive enlistment, retention, and promotion policy that allows all service members to serve and to be granted Honorable Discharge status when they have earned it through their committed service, without fear of discrimination.

PFLAG also calls for the completion of the Department of Defense’s process to evaluate and revert to Honorable Discharge any discharges that were other than honorable for reasons only of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression and to grant full veterans benefits to them and their families.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2025

Bodily Autonomy

Every person has the right to privacy and self-determination regarding their own body, including issues of reproductive rights and justice, sexual intimacy involving consenting adults, personal health and well-being, gender-affirming, medically necessary care, and self-care. Medical decisions should be made between patients and their healthcare providers—or in the case of minors, the young person in conjunction with their parents or guardians and their providers.

PFLAG advocates for bodily autonomy and privacy for all people, in all matters, including abortion and reproductive care, fertility treatments, medically necessary healthcare—including gender-affirming care—sexual intimacy between consenting adults, and any other practices or actions where restrictions are attempted or in place.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors November 14, 2021. Revised July 2026.

FDA Blood Ban

The FDA’s current policy permits gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships to donate blood, but still fails to follow the most current behavior-based scientific findings. The blood donation policy prohibits anyone with a new sexual partner or partners in the past three months. Also prohibited is anyone who had anal sex in the past three months or anyone taking HIV medications to treat or prevent HIV, including PrEP and PEP, which science advancement shows that a two-week deferral should suffice.

PFLAG will continue to call for the FDA to adopt a more current, evidence-based model to determine prohibition periods.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

Gun Violence Prevention

PFLAG is dedicated to building, maintaining, and expanding safe communities for all people, including LGBTQ+ people and their families.

LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately affected by hate crimes. In the U.S., 17.9% of hate crimes in 2016 were attributed to anti-LGBTQ+ bias*. While gun violence poses a significant threat to LGBTQ+ people, both underreporting and a lack of data leaves a gap in statistical evidence.

PFLAG supports common-sense gun laws which reduce and prevent gun violence. PFLAG also supports more rigorous collection of data and reporting of evidence in cases of gun violence involving LGBTQ+ people.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors October 25, 2019.

Anti-Transgender Violence and Discrimination

PFLAG was the first national LGBTQ+ organization to mandate the full inclusion of people who are transgender as part of its expressed mission statement, approved by the Board of Directors in 1998.

PFLAG recognizes that in the 20+ years since approving this inclusive mission, discrimination, violence, and harm against transgender and gender-expansive people has greatly increased, with violence against transgender people—in particular Black transgender women—growing to epidemic proportions. PFLAG also recognizes that transgender people of color experience a compounded negative impact from their intersectional identities, including poverty, homelessness, unemployment, and health disparities.

PFLAG commits to advocating with—and supporting—transgender and gender-expansive people; and to working to reduce and remove the root causes of this crisis of violence and injustice, including systemic racism, sexism, discrimination, and harassment. We are also committed to educating others and ourselves about gender identity and gender expression in order to meet unfounded fear with facts.

PFLAG will work to build communities that value transgender and gender-expansive people, and to reduce societal barriers that lead to harm, poverty and, too often, death. PFLAG will deploy its resources to listen to, engage, and bolster diverse transgender communities and the organizations that serve them, lifting up actions to increase opportunities for fair and just employment, housing, healthcare, and access to public services including law enforcement. PFLAG will also continue to educate law enforcement agencies and officers to reduce harm, and end the high rates of mistreatment, incarceration, denial of necessary medications, and physical and sexual assault in jails and prisons that transgender and gender-expansive people—especially Black transgender women—experience.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors on November 15, 2019.

Hate Crimes

Everyone has the right to live free from violence, harassment, and intimidation in public spaces, online, in their homes, and in their own communities. PFLAG advocates for civil rights protections that create safer environments for all people, recognizing that individuals hold multiple, intersecting identities that may increase their risk of being targeted. Violence motivated, in whole or in part, by an offender’s bias against the victim’s actual or perceived protected characteristics—including but not limited to their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression—is considered a hate crime.

PFLAG is committed to advancing justice for all victims of hate crimes and to holding perpetrators, systems, and leaders accountable for equitable response and enforcement.

(Adopted by the PFLAG National Board of Directors July 23, 2001. Revised April 1, 2012. Revised July 21, 2016. Revised March 18, 2017. Revised July 2026. )

Intersex

The term intersex is an umbrella term referring to people born with differences or variations in their sex characteristics or reproductive anatomy. The term is also used in some instances as a descriptor of identity or community, such as LGBTQI+. PFLAG believes that, like all individuals, intersex people—who often experience significant barriers to health equity—should be able to make decisions about their own bodies and medical care.

PFLAG supports the evidence-based guidelines that oppose medically unnecessary, non-consensual medical and surgical interventions on infants to change their sex characteristics to conform with a single sex, rather than meeting the healthcare needs of the intersex infant.

PFLAG advocates for parents of intersex children to receive complete and accurate information, free from pressure to consent. This includes clear information that deferring intervention is a legitimate option and that psychosocial support is available to families who need it.

PFLAG affirms that the decision about non-urgent interventions belongs to the intersex person themselves, once they are able to participate in making that decision.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors September 27, 2002. Revised 2009. Revised July 22, 2012. Revised July 8, 2017. Revised July 2026.

Incarceration

Incarcerated people, including those from historically marginalized communities who are incarcerated at a disproportionately higher rate and degree of sentencing severity, should be transported, housed, and treated respectfully. Incarcerated individuals must also be provided access to medical care when needed, including gender-affirming care and HIV medications. Incarcerated people must be protected from all forms of violence, including hate-motivated crimes, abuse, and neglect within detention facilities. Ensuring these rights is essential to advancing dignity, safety, and equity for all.

PFLAG commits to working with partners to advocate for equity, respect, and privacy for incarcerated individuals, to take action on policies related to their safe and equitable treatment, and to hold institutions accountable.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

Workplace Equality

The U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, GA, decided on June 15, 2020, remains the law of the land, affirming that legal protection against workplace discrimination on the basis of sex includes gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. Despite the current Administration’s assertions through Executive Order, the Bostock decision remains intact as federal law.

PFLAG commits to ensuring that the public is aware of the Bostock ruling and that the government follows this law.  PFLAG will work with elected and appointed officials, community leaders, and employers to create, improve, promote, and advocate for fully inclusive, equitable, and accessible workplaces. This includes enforcing already-existing protections against discrimination on the basis of current legally protected classes, including race, disability, and others.

PFLAG National is a union organization. As such, PFLAG fully endorses and honors the right for workers to organize and maintain unions.

Approved  by the PFLAG National Board of Directors July 23, 2001. Revised May 22, 1994. Revised April 1, 2012. Revised March 18, 2017. Revised July 2026.

Recognizing Protected Class Status

A protected class is a group of people who share particular characteristics and have legal protections against discrimination, retaliation, or harassment. Protected class status is essential to addressing discrimination in laws, policies, and practices that have historically excluded and harmed marginalized communities. These protections help ensure equity, dignity, and safety across workplaces, schools, healthcare, housing, neighborhoods, and in public life.

In this work, PFLAG upholds the principles of self-determination, free expression, and equitable treatment, recognizing that legal protections are only meaningful when they are both enforced and lived in ways that affirm the rights and humanity of every person.

PFLAG will work to establish, defend, and strengthen protected class status to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all instances.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors; July 26, 2026

Youth are particularly vulnerable to sex exploitation and sex trafficking, which is when someone forces or coerces a child into engaging in sexual acts for the trafficker’s profit or benefit. That 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+ adds additional layers of vulnerability.

PFLAG condemns the sexual exploitation of youth by any individual, group, or organization, in any form and under any circumstance.

With family rejection often being a root cause of LGBTQ+ youth homelessness and exploitation, PFLAG will continue its work with parents and families to ensure they get the community, peer-to-peer support, and education they need so that their LGBTQ+ children are supported and can remain safely at home.

Approved by the PFLAG National Board of Directors February 1997. Revised November 4, 2011. Revised July 2026.