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Garrett Wedel, who worked for the Trevor Project hotline, spoke about his own experience as a gay man growing up in Santa Clarita.

Santa Clarita Pride: Advocacy Group Hosts Celebration Of LGBTQ Community

In 1981, a high schooler named Trevor realized he was gay. Friends abandoned him, his parents ignored him and he is accused of being a pervert by the town priest, highlighting the lack of resources people in his position had.


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Trevor’s story, told through the 1994 short film TREVOR, inspired the first suicide hotline for LGBTQ people, called the Trevor Project.

Celebrating Pride Month, the Santa Clarita Chapter of PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group, hosted a showing of the film and a panel where PFLAG parents and children shared their stories and the issues they faced on the road to acceptance.

“We are celebrating our group and our parents and our LGBT members for the fact that they’ve come through the rain, they’ve come out on the other side,” said Peggy Stabile, the founder of the Santa Clarita PFLAG chapter. “Our kids are proud of who they are, and we are very proud of who they are.”

She said the movie resonates with many young people in the Santa Clarita Valley because many don’t have a support network.

“When a youngster is in the process of coming to terms with who he or she might be, many of the same fears and horrors and bad imaginations still exist until they get to the point of having that support network and feeling comfortable with who they are,” Stabile said.

The group’s leadership believes being vocal in the community is an important way to be recognized.

“The LGBT community just didn’t have a voice in Santa Clarita,” said Andrew Taban, a PFLAG board member. “I think it’s been coming out a lot more than back then.”

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As an openly gay man, Taban said seeing that voice come out, and the LGBTQ community in Santa Clarita being recognized for it, makes him proud.

“It feels and looks really nice to know all the hard work is finally paying off,” he said. “For example today I was talking to a young man and he said even from his freshman to his senior year of high school he has seen a change socially.”

While there is still advocacy work to be done, Taban said, progress is being made.

“It’s a good feeling to see that happening,” he said. “It shows the work is paying off. We have a long way to go … but it feels good.”

Several community leaders attending the screening agreed.

“We are starting to look like the rest of Los Angeles County,” said Christy Smith, a candidate for the 38th Assembly District. “And while historically we have been conservative, we are a much more diverse community.”

Another prominent member of the community, Bruce Fortine, the president of the Santa Clarita Community College District Board Of Trustees, said PFLAG and the LGBTQ community are vital parts of Santa Clarita.

“This is a very important part of our community,” Fortine said. “The support is very important (to) the community and the organization.”

While during the time period depicted in the film, resources for people questioning their sexuality or identity were scarce, Fortine said the Santa Clarita Valley has changed with the times.

“Times have changed, people have changed and this is part of what we are,” he said.

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Santa Clarita Pride: Advocacy Group Hosts Celebration Of LGBTQ Community

5 comments

  1. Unfortunately, I am no longer a member of the Santa Clarita Community College District Board of Trustees.

  2. Just when I figure out the initials for LGBT they add a Q. What is that?

  3. Q stands for questioning or queer …somewhere in the middle of the gender spectrum

  4. The event was co-hosted by St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church where the monthly PFLAG/SCV meetings are held.

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About Chris McCrory

Chris McCrory is the acting News Director for KHTS Radio. He set up a profile picture in his first week as an intern in 2015, and still isn't sure how to change it. He will graduate from Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism in December 2018.