26 of The Most Dangerous Female Criminals The World Has Seen Till Date

At a time when being a homosexual was considered a mental illness, Jeanne Manford took a stand… with her son. After her son, a gay activist, was attacked inside a hospital for distributing flyers advocating gay rights in the 1970s, Jeanne wrote to the editors of several newspapers registering her protest of police inaction against her son’s attacker who had kicked and stomped him while the police were leading her son away.

Later, she walked right along with her son in a New York Pride March, holding a hand-lettered sign reading “Parents of Gays Unite in Support for Our Children” – when homosexuality was a mental illness and sodomy was a crime. Jeanne later recalled that she was hugged and kissed by so many closeted gays, some even begging her to speak to their parents about their being gay.

And this led to Jeanne, who was a teacher, her husband, and a few others forming the support group organization Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), for which she was awarded the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal.