A SON’S REMEMBRANCE
Willy Jump, PFLAG NYC Pioneer, Dies at 83
Amsterdam-born activist Mom succumbed to complications of COVID-19
BY FRANK H. JUMP
Willy Jump was born
Willy Broekveldt in
Amsterdam, Netherlands,
on August 2,
1936 of Frisian origins. Willy emigrated
to the United States in 1958
to marry Harold Jump, whom she
had met in Amsterdam while Jump
was stationed in Germany during
the Korean War a few years prior.
In the early 1970s, I came out to
my parents and Willy pledged to
help other parents cope with learning
about their children’s sexual
orientation.
My mother fi rst marched with
me at the National March on Washington
for Lesbian and Gay Rights
in 1979, for which I was part of the
planning the year before in Philadelphia
as a representative of Gay
People at Queens College.
We went backstage to meet some
of the parents from what was then
called National Parents of Gays
— and we met the New York City
PFLAG co-chairs Amy and Dick
Ashworth.
Willy was immediately drawn to
Amy since they looked like sisters
(and later became as close as sisters)
and my mom heard a Dutch
accent they shared in common.
The following summer of 1980
was Willy’s fi rst of more than 20
consecutive years marching in the
New York City Pride March with
PFLAG. Parents of Gays had briefl y
become POLAGM — Parents of Lesbians
& Gay Men — before becoming
PFLAG. My suggestion to the
PFLAG board one year to continue
our course of ever greater inclusion
in the organization’s name was to
call ourselves PFLABAGASTR —
Parents & Friends of Lesbians &
Bisexuals & Gays & Sometimes
Transgenders. They didn’t go for
it.
In 1980 when the Pride Parade
was still a “march,” I told my mom
to meet me on the corner of Bedford
& Christopher Streets an hour
before the march actually began
its lurch uptown toward Central
Park — thinking it wouldn’t be
that crowded yet.
Willy Jump (right) with her son Frank and Amy Ashworth, marching with PFLAG in the 1987 New York
City Pride March.
Willy Jump and Amy Ashworth, marching together again in the 1992 Pride March.
So there I was looking for Willy
amongst the throngs of leather
queens, drag queens, dykes on
bikes, and twinks, screaming,
“MOM! MOM?” on a lightpost I
had climbed. Almost immediately
this handsome older guy with an
impish smile and a little space between
his teeth came up to me and
tugged at my pant leg, shouting
over the din in an incredibly hoarse
voice that seemed incongruous to
his appearance — putting his fi ngernail
up to his mouth to hide his
incredulity — “You really aren’t
looking for your MOM but some big
COURTESY OF FRANK H. JUMP
PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANK H. JUMP
queen you call MOM — right?”
“No, I said, slowly realizing who
it was that was inquiring. “I really
am looking for my Mom.”
Then in rapid-fi re, breathy-dragon
voice that sputtered like a typewriter
on steroids, he shouted, “OH
MY GOD! If my mother would just
even acknowledge my being gay let
alone come march with me! COME
MARCH WITH ME? I could just die
right now and go to heaven a happy
drag queen. Do you know how
lucky you are? I have to meet this
WOMAN! MOM! MOM! MOM!”
And almost as soon as he had
appeared, so did my mother.
“Hi Frankie. Who is your
friend?”
“This is the infamous Harvey Fierstein,”
I proudly exclaimed.
“Points! Points! You are scoring
here,” Harvey raspily whispered.
“And this is my mother, Willy
Jump,” I continued.
Harvey grabbed my mother
around the neck and planted a wet
one on her cheek.
Coincidentally, the two of them
would run into each other for the
next decade at LGBTQ events and
panel discussions.
When I ran into Harvey repeatedly
over the years — from
his book signings to rides on the
subway while he was going to the
theater to perform “Torch Song” to
spotting him on parade fl oats — he
always gave me a warm greeting,
“HOW’S YOUR MOTHER?”
Willy volunteered at PFLAG for
more than 20 years, counseling
parents of LGBTQ children and
fundraising for the group’s annual
dinners.
On Facebook, on the day I announced
my mother’s death, my
friend Jay Blotcher wrote, “What a
dynamo she was! What joyous energy
and awareness and defi ance.
I’m so sorry she has left us. Willy
was a perfect surrogate mother for
a generation of ACT UP and LGBTQ
people… her passing is a loss
to the entire progressive community.”
Willy Broekveldt Jump died on
April 22 of complications related to
COVID-19.
Donations in the name of Willy
Jump can be made to:
PFLAG NYC
130 East 25th Street, Suite M1
New York, NY 10010
Make checks payable to PFLAG
NYC. Donations can also be made
in memory of Willy Jump at pfl agnyc.
org/donate.
Frank Jump, who worked alongside
his mother Willy Jump for many
years in PFLAG and other LGBTQ
rights activism, is an artist and
educator and the author of “Fading
Ads of NYC” (History Press, 2011).
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