Adele Starr, the 90-year-old founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), passed away on Friday, leaving behind a legacy of courage and activism for equal rights.

Her son, Phillip Starr, came to her and told her he was gay in 1974, when being homosexual was still generally viewed as a mental illness and often seen as a result of bad parenting. Two years later, Adele began a support group at her home that eventually became PFLAG.

“Initially the impulse was that the group was really important to her because she wanted parents not to suffer like she had—not to be isolated, to have a place to go,” said Phillip Starr, “As she got more involved, she realized how oppressive the environment was. She really became an activist.” Over time, Adele Starr's activism eclipsed that of her son; he recalled that she often had to remind him to pay his PFLAG dues.

“We cannot understand those arrogant people who have decided that a heterosexual lifestyle must be imposed on everyone and that they have a monopoly on morality,” she wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Times in 1998. “The American way is respect for diversity with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

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