Dana McCormick is president of PFLAG-Olympia, an organization for the parents and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people. The retired Army sergeant is married to Sgt. Jason McCormick. They have a gay son, Robert Kowalski, a recent graduate of North Thurston High School in Lacey.

In October 2011, Jason was deployed to Afghanistan. Robert was depressed. He would text his mother, but would not speak. She suspected he might be gay, so she came right out and asked.

He said, "I am, but I don't want to be treated differently."

He asked her not to tell his father. Dana did not know how to respond. She felt she needed to talk to someone but didn't know who, so she went on Google to search for help and found the Olympia PFLAG chapter. Within 72 hours, she had a meeting with a couple of parents from the organization who assured her that all of the parents in PFLAG had experienced the same fears and concerns. She attended her first meeting that month. Robert did not attend that first meeting because he thought it was just for parents. When he did start attending meetings, he found that for the first time he could talk openly and be comfortable.

When Jason came home for two weeks shortly before Christmas, Dana felt she had to tell him, and she did.  Robert was mad and stormed out, but was over it within an hour, and he was soon laughing with his mother.

Soon, the whole family was active in PFLAG. All three of them joined the board of directors; Robert served two years as vice president starting in January 2013. During that time, Dana spent a year in Korea on an unaccompanied tour of duty. She took over as the PFLAG chapter president at the beginning of this year. She retired from the Army, Feb. 1.

Robert was active in many school and community organizations during his years at North Thurston. He was on the board of Stonewall Youth, an Olympia-based LGBT youth organization. He's been on the Parks and Recreation Board of Commissioner's Youth Commission since September 2013 where he now serves as vice chair. He was in the Military Support Group at North Thurston, and he was recently given the school's Bonnie Evans Award for Multicultural Leadership. Also, he was advertising director for Capital City Pride in 2014.

PFLAG (originally known as Parents FLAG) is a nonprofit organization with more than 200,000 members and supporters and more than 350 affiliates in the United States whose mission is to promote the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, their families and friends. PFLAG provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.

The vision statement on the PFLAG-Olympia website states: "We celebrate diversity and envision a society that embraces everyone, including those of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Only with respect, dignity and equality for all will we reach our full potential as human beings, individually and collectively. PFLAG welcomes the participation and support of all who share in, and hope to realize this vision."

"PFLAG has provided me with comfort, security, and an extended family that is supportive and accepting and always willing to support family and friends of the LGBTQIAA community. I feel a sense of pride being involved with PFLAG-Olympia and knowing we are educating and promoting acceptance," Dana said.

"PFLAG gave me the opportunity to be a leader in my community and helped me build my skills to be a good leader," Robert said. "It's a second family, and I would not be here today without my second family."

For more information about the Olympia and Tacoma chapters, visit http://pflag-olympia.org/ or www.pflagtacoma.org.