Lesbian American history
Encyclopedia
Lesbian American history addresses the history of lesbians in the United States. Primary resources for lesbian American history are scant.
However, in 1649 in Plymouth Colony
, Sarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon were prosecuted for "lewd behavior each with other upon a bed"; their trial documents are the only known record of sex between female English colonists in North America in the 17th century .
Mary was only admonished, perhaps because she was younger than sixteen , but in 1650 Sarah Norman was convicted and required to acknowledge publicly her "unchaste behavior" with Mary Hammon, as well as warned against future offenses . This may be the only conviction for lesbianism in American history .
In 1779, Thomas Jefferson proposed a law stating that, "Whosoever shall be guilty of rape, polygamy, or sodomy with man or woman shall be punished, if a man, by castration, if a woman, by cutting thro' the cartilage of her nose a hole of one half inch diameter at the least ," but the law was not enacted.
In the 19th century the term "Boston Marriage" was used to describe a committed relationship between two unmarried women who were usually financially independent and often shared a house ; these relationships were presumed to be asexual, and hence the women were respected as "spinsters" by their communities . Notable women in Boston Marriages included Sarah Jewett and Annie Adams Fields
, as well as Jane Addams
and Mary Rozet Smith .
However, in the 19th century lesbians were thought to be mentally ill. Those admitted to insane asylums often faced forced marriages. While in asylums, furthermore, they were subject to being sexually abused and raped under the care of their physicians in the belief that sexual encounters with men would "cure" them.
The first known reference to lesbians in Mormon history occurred in 1856, when a Salt Lake man noted in his diary that a Mormon woman was "trying to seduce a young girl ."
The earliest published studies of lesbian activity were written in the early 19th century, and many were based on observations of, and data gathered from, incarcerated women
. Margaret Otis published "A Perversion Not Commonly Noted" in the 1913 Journal of American Psychology, coupling a decidedly Puritanical moral foundation
with an almost revolutionary sympathy for lesbian relationships; her focus revolved more around her revulsion for sexual contact between those of different ethnic backgrounds, yet offered an almost radical tolerance of the lesbian relations themselves, as Otis noted "...sometimes the love [of one young woman for another] is very real and seems almost ennobling ". This document provided a rare view from a tightly controlled setting monitored by a corrections
supervisor.
Kate Richards O'Hare
, imprisoned in 1917 for five years under the Espionage Act of 1917
, published a firsthand account of the life of incarcerated women In Prison complete with frightening accounts of lesbian sexual abuse
among inmates. So wrote O'Hare: "...A thorough education in sex perversions is part of the educational system of most prisons, and for the most part the underkeepers [sic] and the stool pigeons are very efficient teachers..." O'Hare then recounted a systematic induction of women into a cycle of forced prostitution
to which authorities turned a blind eye: "...there seems to be considerable ground for the commonly accepted belief of the prison inmates that much of its graft and profits may percolate upward to the under officials...the...stool pigeon...handled the vices so rampant in the prison...she, in fact, held the power of life and death over us, by being able to secure endless punishments in the blind cell, she could and did compel indulgence in this vice in order that its profits might be secured ".
In the early 20th century Paris became a haven for many lesbian writers who set up salons there and were able to live their lives in relative openness; the most famous Americans of these were Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, who lived together there as a couple for many years. In 1922, Gertrude Stein published "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene", a story based on the real-life American lesbian couple Maud Hunt Squire and Ethel Mars, who had come to see Stein and Toklas in Paris .
In 1912, the first explicit reference to lesbianism in a Mormon magazine occurred when the "Young Woman's Journal" paid tribute to "Sappho of Lesbos ." Nine years earlier, in 1903, the same magazine had published a poem by Kate Thomas celebrating her same-sex love; Thomas, a devout Mormon who never married, wrote of her lover, "from her lips I take Joy never-ceasing ." Furthermore, around 1919, Mildred J. Berryman began a study of 24 lesbians living in Salt Lake; Berryman's work has the distinction of being the first community study of lesbians performed in America .
In 1928, British lesbian author Radclyffe Hall wrote a tragic novel of lesbian love called "The Well of Loneliness
"; after the book was banned in England, Hall lost her first
American publisher . In New York, John Saxton Sumner of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and several police detectives seized 865 copies of The Well from her second American publisher's offices, and Donald Friede was charged with selling an obscene publication. But Friede and his publishing partner Pascal Covici had already moved the printing plates out of New York in order to continue publishing the book. By the time the case came to trial, it had already been reprinted six times. Despite its price of $5 — twice the cost of an average novel — it would sell over 100,000 copies in its first year.
In the US, as in the UK, the Hicklin test of obscenity applied, but New York case law
had established that books should be judged by their effects on adults rather than on children and that literary merit was relevant. Morris Ernst, co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, obtained statements from authors including Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway
, F. Scott Fitzgerald
, Edna St. Vincent Millay
, Sinclair Lewis
, Sherwood Anderson
, H. L. Mencken
, Upton Sinclair
, Ellen Glasgow
, and John Dos Passos
. To make sure these supporters did not go unheard, he incorporated their opinions into his brief
. His argument relied on a comparison with Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier
, which had been cleared of obscenity in the 1922 case Halsey v. New York. Mademoiselle de Maupin described a lesbian relationship in more explicit terms than The Well did. According to Ernst, The Well had greater social value because it was more serious in tone and made a case against misunderstanding and intolerance.
In an opinion issued on 19 February 1929, Magistrate Hyman Bushel declined to take the book's literary qualities into account and said The Well was "calculated to deprave and corrupt minds open to its immoral influences". Under New York law, however, Bushel was not a trier of fact
; he could only remand the case to the New York Court of Special Sessions for judgment. On 19 April, that court issued a three-paragraph decision stating that The Wells theme — a "delicate social problem" — did not violate the law unless written in such a way as to make it obscene. After "a careful reading of the entire book", they cleared it of all charges.
Covici-Friede then imported a copy of the Pegasus Press edition from France as a further test case and to solidify the book's U.S. copyright. Customs barred the book from entering the country, which might also have prevented it from being shipped from state
to state. The United States Customs Court, however, ruled that the book did not contain "one word, phrase, sentence or paragraph which could be truthfully pointed out as offensive to modesty". Paperback editions of The Well became available in the 1950s.
Most literature of the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s presented lesbian life as tragedy, ending with either the suicide of the lesbian character or her conversion to heterosexuality . This was required so that the authorities did not declare the literature obscene . Furthermore, the Hays Code, which was in operation from 1930 until 1967, prohibited the depiction of homosexuality in all Hollywood films . In 1930, The Stone Wall, a lesbian autobiography with an unhappy ending, was published under the pseudonym Mary Casal . It was one of the first lesbian autobiographies. In 1939, Frances V. Rummell, an educator and a teacher of French at Stephens College, published an autobiography under the title Diana: A Strange Autobiography; it was the first explicitly lesbian autobiography in which two women end up happily together . This autobiography was published with a note saying, "The publishers wish it expressly understood that this is a true story, the first of its kind ever offered to the general reading public" .
Mona's 440 Club, the first lesbian bar in America, opened in San Francisco in 1936 . Mona's waitresses and female performers wore tuxedos and patrons dressed their roles .
From World War I until 1993 lesbians were not allowed to serve in the U.S. military, but some served while keeping their sexuality secret, knowing they would be dismissed if they were found out. . From 1993 until 2011 lesbians were only allowed to serve in the military if they kept their sexuality secret which was known as the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. Over the years the military not only dismissed women who announced their lesbianism, but sometimes went on "witch hunts" for lesbians in the ranks . In 1947, Johnnie Phelps, a member of the Women's Army Corps (WACs) and a lesbian, was told by General Eisenhower, "It's come to my attention that there are lesbians in the WACs, we need to ferret them out...." Johnnie Phelps said, "If the General pleases, sir, I'll be happy to do that, but the first name on the list will be mine ." Eisenhower's secretary added, "If the General pleases, sir, my name will be first and hers will be second ." Phelps then told Eisenhower, "Sir, you're right, there are lesbians in the WACs – and if you want to replace all the file clerks, section commanders, drivers, every woman in the WAC detachment, I will be happy to make that list . But you must know, sir, that they are the most decorated group – there have been no illegal pregnancies, no AWOLs, no charges of misconduct ." Eisenhower dropped the idea .
From 1947–1948 a lesbian secretary named Edith Eyde, writing under the pen name Lisa Ben, an anagram for lesbian, was the founder, editor, and chief writer of the first American magazine written for lesbians, "Vice Versa: America's Gayest Magazine," . She produced only nine issues of Vice Versa, typing two originals of each with carbons . She learned that she could not mail them due to possible obscenity charges, and even had difficulty distributing them by hand in lesbian bars such as the If Club .
"Spring Fire," the first lesbian paperback novel, and the beginning of the lesbian pulp fiction genre, was published in 1952 and sold 1.5 million copies . It was written by
lesbian Marijane Meaker under the false name Vin Packer , and ended unhappily . 1952 also saw the publication of lesbian classic "The Price of Salt", written by lesbian Patricia Highsmith
under the false name Clare Morgan, in which the women break up but are implied to possibly get back together in the end . In the middle of the 1950s the obscenity regulations began to relax, and happy endings to lesbian romances became possible . However, publications addressing homosexuality were officially deemed obscene under the Comstock Act until 1958 .
In 1953, Alfred Kinsey
published "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female," in which he noted that 13% of the women he studied had at least one homosexual experience to orgasm (vs. 37% for men); while including homosexual experience that did not lead to orgasm raised the figure for women to 20% . In addition, he noted that somewhere between 1% and 2% of the women he studied were exclusively homosexual (vs. 4% of the men) .
Also in 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, which required all people in or applying for American government jobs to declare that they were heterosexual; otherwise they would be dismissed . This ban on gay and lesbian government employees was not lifted until 1975 .
The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was founded in San Francisco in 1955 by four lesbian couples (including Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
) and was the first national lesbian political and social organization in the United States . The group's name came from "Songs of Bilitis," a lesbian-themed song cycle by French poet Pierre Louÿs, which described the fictional Bilitis as a resident of the Isle of Lesbos alongside Sappho . DOB's activities included hosting public forums on homosexuality, offering support to isolated, married, and mothering lesbians, and participating in research activities .
Del Martin became DOB's first president, and Phyllis Lyon became the editor of the organization's monthly lesbian magazine, "The Ladder", which was launched in October 1956 and continued until 1972, having reached print runs of almost 3,800 copies . Kay Lahusen
, the first openly gay or lesbian photojournalist of the gay rights movement , photographed lesbian
s for several of the covers of The Ladder
from 1964 to 1966 while her partner, Barbara Gittings
, was the editor; previously there had been drawings of people and cats and such on the covers . The first photograph of lesbians on the cover was done in September 1964, showing two women from the back, on a beach looking out to sea . The first lesbian to appear on the cover with her face showing was Lilli Vincenz in January 1966 . Daughters of Bilitis ended in 1970 .
The first public protests for equal rights for gay and lesbian people were staged at governmental offices and historic landmarks in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. between 1964 and 1969 . In DC, protesters picketed in front of the White House, Pentagon, and the U.S. Civil Service Commission . In Philadelphia an annual picket march was organized outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia from 1965–69 to tell Americans that homosexuals were entitled to equal treatment like all other citizens . Lesbian activist Barbara Gittings
was among the picketers of the White House in 1965, and often among the annual picketers outside Independence Hall .
In 1969, when police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn, lesbian Stormé DeLarverie
was clubbed by the police, which became the pivotal moment in the street disturbances that spurred the crowd to start rioting against the police . The Stonewall Riot, as it was called, marked the beginning of the modern lesbian and gay civil rights movement . Lesbian Martha Shelley
was in Greenwich Village the night of the Stonewall Riot with women who were starting a Daughters of Bilitis chapter in Boston. Recognizing the significance of the event and being politically aware she proposed a protest march and as a result DOB and Mattachine sponsored a demonstration. According to an article in the program for the first San Francisco pride march she was also one of the first four members of the Gay Liberation Front
, the others being Michael Brown, Jerry Hoose, and Jim Owles.
In 1969, National Organization for Women
president Betty Friedan
had referred to growing lesbian visibility as a "lavender menace" and fired openly lesbian newsletter editor Rita Mae Brown
. Furthermore, in 1970 Betty Friedan engineered the expulsion of lesbians, including local president Ivy Bottini, from NOW's New York chapter . In 1970, at the Congress to Unite Women, on the first evening when all four hundred feminists were assembeled in the auditorium, the lights were shut off, and when they were turned on again twenty women wearing t-shirts that read "Lavender Menace" stood at the front of the room, facing the audience . One of the women then read their group's paper "The Woman-Identified Woman", which was the first major lesbian feminist statement . The group, who later named themselves "Radicalesbians", were among the first to challenge the heterosexism of heterosexual feminists and to describe lesbian experience in positive terms . In 1971 NOW expanded its agenda to include lesbian rights .
On June 28, 1970, the first gay and lesbian pride parade in the world was held in Los Angeles to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riot . Today such parades are held annually throughout the country .
In 1970, seven women (including Del Martin) confronted the North American Conference of Homophile [meaning homosexual] Organizations about the relevance of the gay rights movement to the women within it. The delegates passed a resolution in favor of women's liberation, but Del Martin felt they had not done enough, and wrote "If That's All There Is", an influential 1970 essay in which she decried gay rights organizations as sexist .
In the summer of 1971, a lesbian group calling themselves "The Furies" formed a commune open to lesbians only, where they put out a monthly newspaper. "The Furies" consisted of twelve women, aged eighteen to twenty-eight, all feminists, all lesbians, all white, with three children among them . They shared chores and clothes, lived together, held some of their money in common, and slept on mattresses on a common floor . They also started a school to teach women auto and home repair so they would not be dependent on men . The newspaper lasted from January 1972 to June 1973 ; the commune itself ended in 1972 .
In 1971, Barbara Gittings
was a discussion leader for the American Psychiatric Association panel on "Life Styles of Non-Patient Homosexuals," which included Del Martin as one of six panelists . In 1972, she organized the appearance of "Dr. H. Anonymous," a gay psychiatrist who appeared wearing a mask to conceal his identity and joined a panel that she and others participated in titled "Psychiatry: Friend or Foe to Homosexuals? A Dialogue" . This spurred the beginning of an official homosexual group within the APA . Also in 1972, and again in 1976 and 1978, Barbara organized and staffed exhibits on homosexuality at yearly APA conferences . Largely due to these efforts, the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973 . For many years Barbara was also the head of the American Library Association’s Gay Task Force, which is known today as the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table . Gay rights activist Frank Kameny called her the "Founding Mother" of the movement .
In 1971, Village Voice columnist Jill Johnston came out as a lesbian on March 4 in her article, “Lois Lane is a Lesbian,” sparking a controversy between feminism and lesbianism that resulted in various antics by her, including her simulating an orgy during a panel discussion moderated by Norman Mailer .
In 1972, Nancy Wechsler became the first openly gay or lesbian person in political office in America; she was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in 1972 as a member of the Human Rights Party and came out as a lesbian during her first and only term there . Also in 1972, Camille Mitchell became the first open lesbian to be awarded custody of her children in a divorce case, although the judge restricted the arrangement by precluding Ms. Mitchell's lover from moving in with her and the children .
In 1972 Freda Smith became the first openly lesbian minister in the Metropolitan Community Church (she was also the first female minister).
In 1973, Sally Miller Gearhart
became the first open lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position when she was hired by San Francisco State University, where she helped establish one of the first women and gender study programs in the country . Also, in 1973 in San Francisco gay minister Rev. Ray Broshears performed a non-legally-recognized marriage ceremony for three lesbian couples from the Women's Army Corps, attracting much media attention .
In 1974, Elaine Noble
became the first openly gay or lesbian candidate ever elected to a state-level office in America when she was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives . She had come out as a lesbian during her campaign . Furthermore, the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected to any political office in America was Kathy Kozachenko
, who was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in April 1974 . Also in 1974, the "Lesbian Herstory Archives" opened to the public in the New York apartment of lesbian couple Joan Nestle and Deborah Edel; it has the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities .
In 1977, Anne Kronenberg, who was openly lesbian, was Harvey Milk's campaign manager during his San Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign, and later worked as his aide while he held that office .
In 1978, Sally Miller Gearhart
fought alongside Harvey Milk
to defeat Proposition 6 (also known as the "Briggs Initiative" because it was sponsored by John Briggs
), which would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools in California . Gearhart debated John Briggs
about the initiative, which was defeated . A clip of their debate appeared in the documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk
, which also included Gearhart talking about working with Milk against Proposition 6, and appearances by Anne Kronenberg.
In 1977, Anne Holmes
became the first openly lesbian minister ordained by the United Church of Christ .
In 1977, Ellen Barrett
became the first openly lesbian priest ordained by the Episcopal Church of the United States
(serving the Diocese of New York) .
In 1977, the first lesbian mystery novel in America was published; it was Angel Dance, by Mary F. Beal.
In 1981, Mary C. Morgan
became the first openly gay or lesbian judge when she was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the San Francisco Municipal Court.
In 1981, tennis player Billie Jean King
became the first prominent professional athlete to come out as a lesbian, when her relationship with her secretary Marilyn Barnett became public in a May 1981 "palimony
" lawsuit filed by Barnett. Due to this she lost all of her endorsements.
In 1984 Reconstructionist Judaism became the first Jewish denomination to allow openly lesbian rabbis and cantors. In 1985 the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
ordained Deborah Brin
as the first openly gay or lesbian rabbi in Judaism.
In 1986, Becky Smith and Annie Afleck became the first openly lesbian couple granted legal, joint adoption of a child .
In 1988 Stacy Offner
became the first openly lesbian rabbi hired by a mainstream Jewish congregation, Shir Tikvah Congregation of Minneapolis (a Reform Jewish congregation) .
In 1989, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change
was founded to educate and encourage American lesbians over the age of 60 to fight ageism .
In 1990, Reform Judaism decided to allow openly lesbian rabbis and cantors.
In 1990, Dale McCormick
became the first open lesbian elected to a state Senate (she was elected to the Maine Senate).
In 1991, Karen Thompson won legal guardianship of her lover Sharon Kowalski, who had been in a car accident which left her in a coma for several months and afterwards permanently quadriplegic and severely brain-damaged . Despite Sharon's wishes to be cared for by Karen, Sharon's parents had refused Karen full access or input into her care since the accident occurred in 1983 .
In 1991, Sherry Harris was elected to the City Council in Seattle, Washington, making her the first openly lesbian African-American elected official.
In 1991, the first lesbian kiss on television occurred; it was on "L.A. Law" between the fictional characters of C.J. Lamb (played by Amanda Donohoe) and Abby (Michele Greene) .
In 1993, the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted, which mandated that the military could not ask servicemembers about their sexual orientation or go on "witch hunts" to find and expel homosexual service members . However, until the policy was ended in 2011 service members were still expelled from the military if they engaged in sexual conduct with a member of the same sex, stated that they were lesbian, and/or married or attempted to marry someone of the same sex . Also, in 1993 in Washington D.C, the first Dyke March
(a march for lesbians and their straight female allies) was held, with 20,000 women marching . Today such marches are held annually
throughout the country . Also in 1993, during the Triangle Ball, the first inaugural ball to ever be held in honor of gays and lesbians, Melissa Etheridge
came out as a lesbian, one of the first celebrities to do so . Subsequently her album "Your Little Secret" went multiplatinum, making her one of the most successful openly lesbian singers ever. She also won a Grammy Award in 1995 for Best Female Rock Vocalist, and won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "I Need To Wake Up," which she wrote and performed.
In 1993, Roberta Achtenberg became the first openly gay or lesbian person to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate when she was appointed to the position of Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity by President Bill Clinton.
In 1994, Deborah Batts became the first openly gay or lesbian federal judge; she was appointed to the U.S. District Court in New York.
In 1994, fear of persecution due to sexual orientation became grounds for asylum in the United States.
In 1996, the first lesbian wedding on television occurred, held for fictional characters Carol (played by Jane Sibbett) and Susan (played by Jessica Hecht) on the TV show "Friends" .
In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres
came out as a lesbian, one of the first celebrities to do so . Furthermore, later that year her character Ellen Morgan came out as a lesbian on the TV show "Ellen", making Ellen DeGeneres the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television .
In 1998, Tammy Baldwin
became the first openly gay or lesbian non-incumbent ever elected to Congress, and the first open lesbian ever elected to Congress, winning Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district seat over
Josephine Musser .
In 1999, domestic partnerships were legalized in California - the first state to do so, and therefore, the first state to legally recognize same-sex relationships. Lesbian legislator Carole Migden
was the primary author and sponsor of the domestic partnership bills. Several other states have legalized domestic partnerships since.
In 2000, civil unions were legalized in Vermont (the first state to do so) and Carolyn Conrad and Kathleen Peterson became the first couple in the United States to be civilly united. Several other states have legalized civil unions since.
In 2004, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in the United States , when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom allowed city hall to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples . However, all same-sex marriages done in 2004 in California were annulled . After the California Supreme Court decision in 2008 that granted same-sex couples in California the right to marry, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon remarried, and were again the first same-sex couple in the state to marry . Later in 2008 Prop 8 illegalized same-sex
marriage in California , but the marriages that occurred between the California Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage and the approval of Prop 8 illegalizing it are still considered valid, including the marriage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon . However, Del Martin died in 2008 .
In 2004, same-sex marriage was legalized in the state of Massachusetts, and Marcia Hams and Sue Shepard became the first same-sex couple
to marry in Massachusetts ,.
In March 2004, same-sex marriage was legalized in part of Oregon, as after researching the issue and getting two legal opinions, the commissioners decided Oregon's Constitution would not allow them to discriminate against same-sex couples. The Chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners ordered the clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses. Mary Li of Portland and her partner, 42-year-old Becky Kennedy, became the first same-sex couple to marry in Oregon. However, later that year, Oregon voters passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as involving one man and one woman. The same-sex marriages from 2004 were ruled void by the Oregon Supreme Court.
In January 2006, Chaya Gusfield
and Rabbi Lori Klein
, both ordained in America, became the first openly lesbian rabbis ordained by the Jewish Renewal movement.
In 2006, lesbian police officer Laurel Hester
won a long campaign to pass on pension benefits to her domestic partner Stacie Andree (and to allow all other police and fire department employees in New Jersey to name anyone, not just a spouse, as a beneficiary); Hester died shortly after of cancer, but a documentary called "Freeheld" was made of her struggle which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Short Documentary, as well as
many other awards . A feature film adaptation is slated to be made of this documentary, with Ellen Page as Stacie Andree .
In 2006, Conservative Judaism decided to allow openly lesbian rabbis and cantors. In 2011, Rachel Isaacs
became the first openly lesbian rabbi ordained by the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary
.
In 2007, Yalda Rebling, a German woman born in Holland and ordained in America, became the first openly lesbian cantor ordained by the Jewish Renewal movement.
In 2008, same-sex marriage was legalized in Connecticut, and state Rep. Beth Bye and her girlfriend Tracey Wilson became the first same-sex couple to marry in Connecticut .
In 2008, at the request of a lesbian couple (Kitzen and Jeni Branting), the Coquille Indian Tribe on the southern Oregon coast adopted a law recognizing same-sex marriage. Tribal law specialists said the Coquille may be the first tribe to sanction such marriages. In 2009 Kitzen and Jeni Branting married in the Coquille Indian tribe's Coos Bay plankhouse, a 3-year-old meeting hall built in traditional Coquille style with cedar plank walls. They were the first same-sex couple to have their marriage recognized by the tribe, of which Kitzen was a member.
In 2009, same-sex marriage was legalized in Iowa, and Shelley Wolfe and Melisa Keeton became the first lesbian couple (and the second same-sex couple) to marry in Iowa .
In 2009, same-sex marriage was legalized in Vermont , and Claire Williams and Cori Giroux became one of the first same-sex couples to marry in Vermont (others including them married the moment same-sex marriage was legalized).
In 2009, due to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act being signed into law, the definition of federal hate crime was expanded to include those violent crimes in which the victim is selected due to their sexual orientation; previously federal hate crimes were defined as only those violent crimes where the victim is selected due to their race, color, religion, or national origin.
In 2010, same-sex marriage was legalized in the District of Columbia, and Sinjoyla Townsend and Angelisa Young became the first same-sex couple to marry in the District of Columbia .
In 2010, same-sex marriage was legalized in New Hampshire , and Linda Murphy and Donna Swartwout became one of the first same-sex couples to marry in New Hampshire (others including them married the moment same-sex marriage was legalized) .
In 2010, Mary Glasspool became the first openly lesbian bishop ordained by the Episcopal Church of the United States
(serving the Diocese of Los Angeles) .
In 2010, Mary Albing became the first openly lesbian minister ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
, serving the Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer on the south side of Minneapolis .
In 2011, the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was ended, allowing lesbians in the U.S. military to be open about their sexuality.
In 2011, Courtney Mitchell and Sarah Welton, both from Colorado, were married in Nepal
's first public lesbian wedding ceremony, although the marriage was not legally recognized in Nepal.
In 2011, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to allow the ordination of openly gay and lesbian ministers.
In 2011, same-sex marriage was legalized in New York state, and Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd became the first same-sex couple to be married in New York state.
In 2011, the Suquamish tribe of Washington State adopted a law proposed by a young lesbian tribal member (Heather Purser) recognizing same-sex marriage.
1600 to 1900
In 1636, John Cotton proposed a law for Massachusetts Bay making sex between two women (or two men) a capital offense, but the law was not enacted . It would have read, "Unnatural filthiness, to be punished with death, whether sodomy, which is carnal fellowship of man with man, or woman with woman, or buggery, which is carnal fellowship of man or woman with beasts or fowls ".However, in 1649 in Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
, Sarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon were prosecuted for "lewd behavior each with other upon a bed"; their trial documents are the only known record of sex between female English colonists in North America in the 17th century .
Mary was only admonished, perhaps because she was younger than sixteen , but in 1650 Sarah Norman was convicted and required to acknowledge publicly her "unchaste behavior" with Mary Hammon, as well as warned against future offenses . This may be the only conviction for lesbianism in American history .
In 1779, Thomas Jefferson proposed a law stating that, "Whosoever shall be guilty of rape, polygamy, or sodomy with man or woman shall be punished, if a man, by castration, if a woman, by cutting thro' the cartilage of her nose a hole of one half inch diameter at the least ," but the law was not enacted.
In the 19th century the term "Boston Marriage" was used to describe a committed relationship between two unmarried women who were usually financially independent and often shared a house ; these relationships were presumed to be asexual, and hence the women were respected as "spinsters" by their communities . Notable women in Boston Marriages included Sarah Jewett and Annie Adams Fields
Annie Adams Fields
Annie Adams Fields was a United States writer.- 1834 -1881 :Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she was the second wife of the publisher and author James Thomas Fields, whom she married in 1854, and with whom she encouraged up and coming writers such as Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary Freeman, and Emma Lazarus...
, as well as Jane Addams
Jane Addams
Jane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
and Mary Rozet Smith .
However, in the 19th century lesbians were thought to be mentally ill. Those admitted to insane asylums often faced forced marriages. While in asylums, furthermore, they were subject to being sexually abused and raped under the care of their physicians in the belief that sexual encounters with men would "cure" them.
The first known reference to lesbians in Mormon history occurred in 1856, when a Salt Lake man noted in his diary that a Mormon woman was "trying to seduce a young girl ."
1900 to 1950
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
. Margaret Otis published "A Perversion Not Commonly Noted" in the 1913 Journal of American Psychology, coupling a decidedly Puritanical moral foundation
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
with an almost revolutionary sympathy for lesbian relationships; her focus revolved more around her revulsion for sexual contact between those of different ethnic backgrounds, yet offered an almost radical tolerance of the lesbian relations themselves, as Otis noted "...sometimes the love [of one young woman for another] is very real and seems almost ennobling ". This document provided a rare view from a tightly controlled setting monitored by a corrections
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
supervisor.
Kate Richards O'Hare
Kate Richards O'Hare
Kate Richards O'Hare was an American Socialist Party activist, editor, and orator best known for her controversial imprisonment during World War I.-Biography:...
, imprisoned in 1917 for five years under the Espionage Act of 1917
Espionage Act of 1917
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18, Crime...
, published a firsthand account of the life of incarcerated women In Prison complete with frightening accounts of lesbian sexual abuse
Sexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
among inmates. So wrote O'Hare: "...A thorough education in sex perversions is part of the educational system of most prisons, and for the most part the underkeepers [sic] and the stool pigeons are very efficient teachers..." O'Hare then recounted a systematic induction of women into a cycle of forced prostitution
Sexual slavery
Sexual slavery is when unwilling people are coerced into slavery for sexual exploitation. The incidence of sexual slavery by country has been studied and tabulated by UNESCO, with the cooperation of various international agencies...
to which authorities turned a blind eye: "...there seems to be considerable ground for the commonly accepted belief of the prison inmates that much of its graft and profits may percolate upward to the under officials...the...stool pigeon...handled the vices so rampant in the prison...she, in fact, held the power of life and death over us, by being able to secure endless punishments in the blind cell, she could and did compel indulgence in this vice in order that its profits might be secured ".
In the early 20th century Paris became a haven for many lesbian writers who set up salons there and were able to live their lives in relative openness; the most famous Americans of these were Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, who lived together there as a couple for many years. In 1922, Gertrude Stein published "Miss Furr and Miss Skeene", a story based on the real-life American lesbian couple Maud Hunt Squire and Ethel Mars, who had come to see Stein and Toklas in Paris .
In 1912, the first explicit reference to lesbianism in a Mormon magazine occurred when the "Young Woman's Journal" paid tribute to "Sappho of Lesbos ." Nine years earlier, in 1903, the same magazine had published a poem by Kate Thomas celebrating her same-sex love; Thomas, a devout Mormon who never married, wrote of her lover, "from her lips I take Joy never-ceasing ." Furthermore, around 1919, Mildred J. Berryman began a study of 24 lesbians living in Salt Lake; Berryman's work has the distinction of being the first community study of lesbians performed in America .
In 1928, British lesbian author Radclyffe Hall wrote a tragic novel of lesbian love called "The Well of Loneliness
The Well of Loneliness
The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" is apparent from an early age...
"; after the book was banned in England, Hall lost her first
American publisher . In New York, John Saxton Sumner of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and several police detectives seized 865 copies of The Well from her second American publisher's offices, and Donald Friede was charged with selling an obscene publication. But Friede and his publishing partner Pascal Covici had already moved the printing plates out of New York in order to continue publishing the book. By the time the case came to trial, it had already been reprinted six times. Despite its price of $5 — twice the cost of an average novel — it would sell over 100,000 copies in its first year.
In the US, as in the UK, the Hicklin test of obscenity applied, but New York case law
Case law
In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...
had established that books should be judged by their effects on adults rather than on children and that literary merit was relevant. Morris Ernst, co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, obtained statements from authors including Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyrical poet, playwright and feminist. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and was known for her activism and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work...
, Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis
Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...
, Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson was an American novelist and short story writer. His most enduring work is the short story sequence Winesburg, Ohio. Writers he has influenced include Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, J. D. Salinger, and Amos Oz.-Early life:Anderson was born in Clyde, Ohio,...
, H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, acerbic critic of American life and culture, and a scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the...
, Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
, Ellen Glasgow
Ellen Glasgow
Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist who portrayed the changing world of the contemporary south.-Biography:...
, and John Dos Passos
John Dos Passos
John Roderigo Dos Passos was an American novelist and artist.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dos Passos was the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos , a distinguished lawyer of Madeiran Portuguese descent, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of Petersburg, Virginia. The elder Dos Passos...
. To make sure these supporters did not go unheard, he incorporated their opinions into his brief
Brief (law)
A brief is a written legal document used in various legal adversarial systems that is presented to a court arguing why the party to the case should prevail....
. His argument relied on a comparison with Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
, which had been cleared of obscenity in the 1922 case Halsey v. New York. Mademoiselle de Maupin described a lesbian relationship in more explicit terms than The Well did. According to Ernst, The Well had greater social value because it was more serious in tone and made a case against misunderstanding and intolerance.
In an opinion issued on 19 February 1929, Magistrate Hyman Bushel declined to take the book's literary qualities into account and said The Well was "calculated to deprave and corrupt minds open to its immoral influences". Under New York law, however, Bushel was not a trier of fact
Trier of fact
A trier of fact is a person, or group of persons, who determines facts in a legal proceeding, usually a trial. To determine a fact is to decide, from the evidence, whether something existed or some event occurred.-Juries:...
; he could only remand the case to the New York Court of Special Sessions for judgment. On 19 April, that court issued a three-paragraph decision stating that The Wells theme — a "delicate social problem" — did not violate the law unless written in such a way as to make it obscene. After "a careful reading of the entire book", they cleared it of all charges.
Covici-Friede then imported a copy of the Pegasus Press edition from France as a further test case and to solidify the book's U.S. copyright. Customs barred the book from entering the country, which might also have prevented it from being shipped from state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
to state. The United States Customs Court, however, ruled that the book did not contain "one word, phrase, sentence or paragraph which could be truthfully pointed out as offensive to modesty". Paperback editions of The Well became available in the 1950s.
Most literature of the 1930s, 40s, and early 50s presented lesbian life as tragedy, ending with either the suicide of the lesbian character or her conversion to heterosexuality . This was required so that the authorities did not declare the literature obscene . Furthermore, the Hays Code, which was in operation from 1930 until 1967, prohibited the depiction of homosexuality in all Hollywood films . In 1930, The Stone Wall, a lesbian autobiography with an unhappy ending, was published under the pseudonym Mary Casal . It was one of the first lesbian autobiographies. In 1939, Frances V. Rummell, an educator and a teacher of French at Stephens College, published an autobiography under the title Diana: A Strange Autobiography; it was the first explicitly lesbian autobiography in which two women end up happily together . This autobiography was published with a note saying, "The publishers wish it expressly understood that this is a true story, the first of its kind ever offered to the general reading public" .
Mona's 440 Club, the first lesbian bar in America, opened in San Francisco in 1936 . Mona's waitresses and female performers wore tuxedos and patrons dressed their roles .
From World War I until 1993 lesbians were not allowed to serve in the U.S. military, but some served while keeping their sexuality secret, knowing they would be dismissed if they were found out. . From 1993 until 2011 lesbians were only allowed to serve in the military if they kept their sexuality secret which was known as the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. Over the years the military not only dismissed women who announced their lesbianism, but sometimes went on "witch hunts" for lesbians in the ranks . In 1947, Johnnie Phelps, a member of the Women's Army Corps (WACs) and a lesbian, was told by General Eisenhower, "It's come to my attention that there are lesbians in the WACs, we need to ferret them out...." Johnnie Phelps said, "If the General pleases, sir, I'll be happy to do that, but the first name on the list will be mine ." Eisenhower's secretary added, "If the General pleases, sir, my name will be first and hers will be second ." Phelps then told Eisenhower, "Sir, you're right, there are lesbians in the WACs – and if you want to replace all the file clerks, section commanders, drivers, every woman in the WAC detachment, I will be happy to make that list . But you must know, sir, that they are the most decorated group – there have been no illegal pregnancies, no AWOLs, no charges of misconduct ." Eisenhower dropped the idea .
From 1947–1948 a lesbian secretary named Edith Eyde, writing under the pen name Lisa Ben, an anagram for lesbian, was the founder, editor, and chief writer of the first American magazine written for lesbians, "Vice Versa: America's Gayest Magazine," . She produced only nine issues of Vice Versa, typing two originals of each with carbons . She learned that she could not mail them due to possible obscenity charges, and even had difficulty distributing them by hand in lesbian bars such as the If Club .
1950 to present
Until the 1950s female genital mutilation was used in the United States as a "treatment" for lesbianism."Spring Fire," the first lesbian paperback novel, and the beginning of the lesbian pulp fiction genre, was published in 1952 and sold 1.5 million copies . It was written by
lesbian Marijane Meaker under the false name Vin Packer , and ended unhappily . 1952 also saw the publication of lesbian classic "The Price of Salt", written by lesbian Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951...
under the false name Clare Morgan, in which the women break up but are implied to possibly get back together in the end . In the middle of the 1950s the obscenity regulations began to relax, and happy endings to lesbian romances became possible . However, publications addressing homosexuality were officially deemed obscene under the Comstock Act until 1958 .
In 1953, Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, as well as producing the Kinsey Reports and the Kinsey...
published "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female," in which he noted that 13% of the women he studied had at least one homosexual experience to orgasm (vs. 37% for men); while including homosexual experience that did not lead to orgasm raised the figure for women to 20% . In addition, he noted that somewhere between 1% and 2% of the women he studied were exclusively homosexual (vs. 4% of the men) .
Also in 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, which required all people in or applying for American government jobs to declare that they were heterosexual; otherwise they would be dismissed . This ban on gay and lesbian government employees was not lifted until 1975 .
The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was founded in San Francisco in 1955 by four lesbian couples (including Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
Dorothy Louise Taliaferro "Del" Martin and Phyllis Ann Lyon were an American lesbian couple known as feminist and gay-rights activists...
) and was the first national lesbian political and social organization in the United States . The group's name came from "Songs of Bilitis," a lesbian-themed song cycle by French poet Pierre Louÿs, which described the fictional Bilitis as a resident of the Isle of Lesbos alongside Sappho . DOB's activities included hosting public forums on homosexuality, offering support to isolated, married, and mothering lesbians, and participating in research activities .
Del Martin became DOB's first president, and Phyllis Lyon became the editor of the organization's monthly lesbian magazine, "The Ladder", which was launched in October 1956 and continued until 1972, having reached print runs of almost 3,800 copies . Kay Lahusen
Kay Lahusen
Kay Lahusen is considered the first openly gay photojournalist of the gay rights movement. Lahusen's photographs of lesbians appeared on several of the covers of The Ladder from 1964 to 1966 while her partner, Barbara Gittings, was the editor...
, the first openly gay or lesbian photojournalist of the gay rights movement , photographed lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
s for several of the covers of The Ladder
The Ladder (magazine)
The Ladder was the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the United States. It was published monthly from 1956 to 1970, and once every other month in 1971 and 1972. It was the primary publication and method of communication for the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization...
from 1964 to 1966 while her partner, Barbara Gittings
Barbara Gittings
Barbara Gittings was a prominent American activist for gay equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine The Ladder from 1963 to 1966, and worked closely with Frank Kameny in the 1960s on the first picket lines that...
, was the editor; previously there had been drawings of people and cats and such on the covers . The first photograph of lesbians on the cover was done in September 1964, showing two women from the back, on a beach looking out to sea . The first lesbian to appear on the cover with her face showing was Lilli Vincenz in January 1966 . Daughters of Bilitis ended in 1970 .
Barbara Gittings
Barbara Gittings was a prominent American activist for gay equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine The Ladder from 1963 to 1966, and worked closely with Frank Kameny in the 1960s on the first picket lines that...
was among the picketers of the White House in 1965, and often among the annual picketers outside Independence Hall .
In 1969, when police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn, lesbian Stormé DeLarverie
Stormé DeLarverie
Stormé DeLarverie, born in New Orleans in 1920 to a black father and a white mother, is a lesbian whose scuffle with the police was one of the defining moments of the Stonewall riots, and spurred the crowd to action...
was clubbed by the police, which became the pivotal moment in the street disturbances that spurred the crowd to start rioting against the police . The Stonewall Riot, as it was called, marked the beginning of the modern lesbian and gay civil rights movement . Lesbian Martha Shelley
Martha Shelley
-Life and early work:Martha Altman, later Martha Shelley, was born on December 27, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, to parents of Russian-Polish Jewish descent. Samuel R. Delany was a Bronx High School of Science friend. She was involved in a group based on the work of Harry Stack Sullivan which led to...
was in Greenwich Village the night of the Stonewall Riot with women who were starting a Daughters of Bilitis chapter in Boston. Recognizing the significance of the event and being politically aware she proposed a protest march and as a result DOB and Mattachine sponsored a demonstration. According to an article in the program for the first San Francisco pride march she was also one of the first four members of the Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front:...
, the others being Michael Brown, Jerry Hoose, and Jim Owles.
In 1969, National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
president Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist.A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of American feminism in the twentieth century...
had referred to growing lesbian visibility as a "lavender menace" and fired openly lesbian newsletter editor Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time...
. Furthermore, in 1970 Betty Friedan engineered the expulsion of lesbians, including local president Ivy Bottini, from NOW's New York chapter . In 1970, at the Congress to Unite Women, on the first evening when all four hundred feminists were assembeled in the auditorium, the lights were shut off, and when they were turned on again twenty women wearing t-shirts that read "Lavender Menace" stood at the front of the room, facing the audience . One of the women then read their group's paper "The Woman-Identified Woman", which was the first major lesbian feminist statement . The group, who later named themselves "Radicalesbians", were among the first to challenge the heterosexism of heterosexual feminists and to describe lesbian experience in positive terms . In 1971 NOW expanded its agenda to include lesbian rights .
On June 28, 1970, the first gay and lesbian pride parade in the world was held in Los Angeles to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riot . Today such parades are held annually throughout the country .
In 1970, seven women (including Del Martin) confronted the North American Conference of Homophile [meaning homosexual] Organizations about the relevance of the gay rights movement to the women within it. The delegates passed a resolution in favor of women's liberation, but Del Martin felt they had not done enough, and wrote "If That's All There Is", an influential 1970 essay in which she decried gay rights organizations as sexist .
In the summer of 1971, a lesbian group calling themselves "The Furies" formed a commune open to lesbians only, where they put out a monthly newspaper. "The Furies" consisted of twelve women, aged eighteen to twenty-eight, all feminists, all lesbians, all white, with three children among them . They shared chores and clothes, lived together, held some of their money in common, and slept on mattresses on a common floor . They also started a school to teach women auto and home repair so they would not be dependent on men . The newspaper lasted from January 1972 to June 1973 ; the commune itself ended in 1972 .
In 1971, Barbara Gittings
Barbara Gittings
Barbara Gittings was a prominent American activist for gay equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine The Ladder from 1963 to 1966, and worked closely with Frank Kameny in the 1960s on the first picket lines that...
was a discussion leader for the American Psychiatric Association panel on "Life Styles of Non-Patient Homosexuals," which included Del Martin as one of six panelists . In 1972, she organized the appearance of "Dr. H. Anonymous," a gay psychiatrist who appeared wearing a mask to conceal his identity and joined a panel that she and others participated in titled "Psychiatry: Friend or Foe to Homosexuals? A Dialogue" . This spurred the beginning of an official homosexual group within the APA . Also in 1972, and again in 1976 and 1978, Barbara organized and staffed exhibits on homosexuality at yearly APA conferences . Largely due to these efforts, the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973 . For many years Barbara was also the head of the American Library Association’s Gay Task Force, which is known today as the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table . Gay rights activist Frank Kameny called her the "Founding Mother" of the movement .
In 1971, Village Voice columnist Jill Johnston came out as a lesbian on March 4 in her article, “Lois Lane is a Lesbian,” sparking a controversy between feminism and lesbianism that resulted in various antics by her, including her simulating an orgy during a panel discussion moderated by Norman Mailer .
In 1972, Nancy Wechsler became the first openly gay or lesbian person in political office in America; she was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in 1972 as a member of the Human Rights Party and came out as a lesbian during her first and only term there . Also in 1972, Camille Mitchell became the first open lesbian to be awarded custody of her children in a divorce case, although the judge restricted the arrangement by precluding Ms. Mitchell's lover from moving in with her and the children .
In 1972 Freda Smith became the first openly lesbian minister in the Metropolitan Community Church (she was also the first female minister).
In 1973, Sally Miller Gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart is an American teacher, feminist, science fiction writer, and political activist. In 1973 she became the first open lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position when she was hired by San Francisco State University, where she helped establish one of the first women and...
became the first open lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position when she was hired by San Francisco State University, where she helped establish one of the first women and gender study programs in the country . Also, in 1973 in San Francisco gay minister Rev. Ray Broshears performed a non-legally-recognized marriage ceremony for three lesbian couples from the Women's Army Corps, attracting much media attention .
In 1974, Elaine Noble
Elaine Noble
Elaine Noble is an American politician and LGBT activist who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for two terms starting in January 1975. She was the first openly lesbian or gay candidate elected to a state legislature...
became the first openly gay or lesbian candidate ever elected to a state-level office in America when she was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives . She had come out as a lesbian during her campaign . Furthermore, the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected to any political office in America was Kathy Kozachenko
Kathy Kozachenko
In April 1974, Kathy Kozachenkos successful bid for a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan city council made her the first openly gay or lesbian candidate to run successfully for political office in the United States....
, who was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in April 1974 . Also in 1974, the "Lesbian Herstory Archives" opened to the public in the New York apartment of lesbian couple Joan Nestle and Deborah Edel; it has the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities .
In 1977, Anne Kronenberg, who was openly lesbian, was Harvey Milk's campaign manager during his San Francisco Board of Supervisors campaign, and later worked as his aide while he held that office .
In 1978, Sally Miller Gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart is an American teacher, feminist, science fiction writer, and political activist. In 1973 she became the first open lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position when she was hired by San Francisco State University, where she helped establish one of the first women and...
fought alongside Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
to defeat Proposition 6 (also known as the "Briggs Initiative" because it was sponsored by John Briggs
John Briggs (politician)
John V. Briggs is a retired California state politician who served in the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring Proposition 6 in 1978, also known as the Briggs Initiative, which attempted to remove all gay or lesbian school employees or...
), which would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools in California . Gearhart debated John Briggs
John Briggs (politician)
John V. Briggs is a retired California state politician who served in the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. He is perhaps best known for sponsoring Proposition 6 in 1978, also known as the Briggs Initiative, which attempted to remove all gay or lesbian school employees or...
about the initiative, which was defeated . A clip of their debate appeared in the documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk
The Times of Harvey Milk is an American documentary film that premiered at The Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and then on November 1, 1984 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco...
, which also included Gearhart talking about working with Milk against Proposition 6, and appearances by Anne Kronenberg.
In 1977, Anne Holmes
Ann Holmes Redding
Ann Holmes Redding is a former Episcopal priest, who was defrocked in April 2009 for having become a Muslim in March 2006....
became the first openly lesbian minister ordained by the United Church of Christ .
In 1977, Ellen Barrett
Ellen Barrett
Ellen Marie Barrett was the first openly lesbian priest to be properly ordained by the Episcopal Church, shortly after the General Convention approved the ordination of women in 1977. Barrett's candor about her homosexuality caused great controversy within the church...
became the first openly lesbian priest ordained by the Episcopal Church of the United States
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
(serving the Diocese of New York) .
In 1977, the first lesbian mystery novel in America was published; it was Angel Dance, by Mary F. Beal.
In 1981, Mary C. Morgan
Mary C. Morgan
Mary Carolyn Morgan is a judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court and former judge of the San Francisco Municipal Court. She was the first openly lesbian judge appointed in the United States.-Early life and education:...
became the first openly gay or lesbian judge when she was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the San Francisco Municipal Court.
In 1981, tennis player Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
became the first prominent professional athlete to come out as a lesbian, when her relationship with her secretary Marilyn Barnett became public in a May 1981 "palimony
Palimony
Palimony is a popular term used to describe the division of financial assets and real property on the termination of a personal live-in relationship wherein the parties are not legally married. The term is a portmanteau of the words pal and alimony...
" lawsuit filed by Barnett. Due to this she lost all of her endorsements.
In 1984 Reconstructionist Judaism became the first Jewish denomination to allow openly lesbian rabbis and cantors. In 1985 the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College , is located in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, about 10 miles north of central Philadelphia. RRC is the only seminary affiliated with Reconstructionist Judaism. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and...
ordained Deborah Brin
Deborah Brin
Deborah Brin is the first openly gay rabbi in Judaism. She was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1985. She is now the rabbi of Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque, New Mexico....
as the first openly gay or lesbian rabbi in Judaism.
In 1986, Becky Smith and Annie Afleck became the first openly lesbian couple granted legal, joint adoption of a child .
In 1988 Stacy Offner
Stacy Offner
Stacy Offner is an openly lesbian American rabbi who has accomplished some important firsts for women and lesbians in the rabbinate. She was the first female vice president of the Union for Reform Judaism, the first rabbi in a traditional congregation to come out as a lesbian, the first openly...
became the first openly lesbian rabbi hired by a mainstream Jewish congregation, Shir Tikvah Congregation of Minneapolis (a Reform Jewish congregation) .
In 1989, Old Lesbians Organizing for Change
Old Lesbians Organizing for Change
Old Lesbians Organizing For Change is a national organization founded in 1989 that educates and empowers American lesbians over the age of 60 to oppose ageism in their lives and their communities....
was founded to educate and encourage American lesbians over the age of 60 to fight ageism .
In 1990, Reform Judaism decided to allow openly lesbian rabbis and cantors.
In 1990, Dale McCormick
Dale McCormick
Dale McCormick is an American politician from the state of Maine, who was elected in 1990 as the first openly gay member of the Maine State Legislature...
became the first open lesbian elected to a state Senate (she was elected to the Maine Senate).
In 1991, Karen Thompson won legal guardianship of her lover Sharon Kowalski, who had been in a car accident which left her in a coma for several months and afterwards permanently quadriplegic and severely brain-damaged . Despite Sharon's wishes to be cared for by Karen, Sharon's parents had refused Karen full access or input into her care since the accident occurred in 1983 .
In 1991, Sherry Harris was elected to the City Council in Seattle, Washington, making her the first openly lesbian African-American elected official.
In 1991, the first lesbian kiss on television occurred; it was on "L.A. Law" between the fictional characters of C.J. Lamb (played by Amanda Donohoe) and Abby (Michele Greene) .
In 1993, the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was enacted, which mandated that the military could not ask servicemembers about their sexual orientation or go on "witch hunts" to find and expel homosexual service members . However, until the policy was ended in 2011 service members were still expelled from the military if they engaged in sexual conduct with a member of the same sex, stated that they were lesbian, and/or married or attempted to marry someone of the same sex . Also, in 1993 in Washington D.C, the first Dyke March
Dyke March
Dyke March is a mostly lesbian-led and inclusive gathering and protest march much like the original gay pride parades and marches. They usually occur the Friday or Saturday before LGBT pride parades and larger metropolitan areas have related events both before and after the event to further...
(a march for lesbians and their straight female allies) was held, with 20,000 women marching . Today such marches are held annually
throughout the country . Also in 1993, during the Triangle Ball, the first inaugural ball to ever be held in honor of gays and lesbians, Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
came out as a lesbian, one of the first celebrities to do so . Subsequently her album "Your Little Secret" went multiplatinum, making her one of the most successful openly lesbian singers ever. She also won a Grammy Award in 1995 for Best Female Rock Vocalist, and won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "I Need To Wake Up," which she wrote and performed.
In 1993, Roberta Achtenberg became the first openly gay or lesbian person to be nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate when she was appointed to the position of Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity by President Bill Clinton.
In 1994, Deborah Batts became the first openly gay or lesbian federal judge; she was appointed to the U.S. District Court in New York.
In 1994, fear of persecution due to sexual orientation became grounds for asylum in the United States.
In 1996, the first lesbian wedding on television occurred, held for fictional characters Carol (played by Jane Sibbett) and Susan (played by Jessica Hecht) on the TV show "Friends" .
In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American stand-up comedienne, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was also a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season....
came out as a lesbian, one of the first celebrities to do so . Furthermore, later that year her character Ellen Morgan came out as a lesbian on the TV show "Ellen", making Ellen DeGeneres the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television .
In 1998, Tammy Baldwin
Tammy Baldwin
Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin is the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, serving since 1999. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In September 2011, Baldwin announced she would be a candidate in the 2012 U.S...
became the first openly gay or lesbian non-incumbent ever elected to Congress, and the first open lesbian ever elected to Congress, winning Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district seat over
Josephine Musser .
In 1999, domestic partnerships were legalized in California - the first state to do so, and therefore, the first state to legally recognize same-sex relationships. Lesbian legislator Carole Migden
Carole Migden
Carole Migden is an American politician from San Francisco, California who represented the third district of the California State Senate from 2004 to 2008 and the 13th district of the California State Assembly from 1996 to 2002....
was the primary author and sponsor of the domestic partnership bills. Several other states have legalized domestic partnerships since.
In 2000, civil unions were legalized in Vermont (the first state to do so) and Carolyn Conrad and Kathleen Peterson became the first couple in the United States to be civilly united. Several other states have legalized civil unions since.
In 2004, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon became the first same-sex couple to be legally married in the United States , when San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom allowed city hall to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples . However, all same-sex marriages done in 2004 in California were annulled . After the California Supreme Court decision in 2008 that granted same-sex couples in California the right to marry, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon remarried, and were again the first same-sex couple in the state to marry . Later in 2008 Prop 8 illegalized same-sex
marriage in California , but the marriages that occurred between the California Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage and the approval of Prop 8 illegalizing it are still considered valid, including the marriage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon . However, Del Martin died in 2008 .
In 2004, same-sex marriage was legalized in the state of Massachusetts, and Marcia Hams and Sue Shepard became the first same-sex couple
to marry in Massachusetts ,.
In March 2004, same-sex marriage was legalized in part of Oregon, as after researching the issue and getting two legal opinions, the commissioners decided Oregon's Constitution would not allow them to discriminate against same-sex couples. The Chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners ordered the clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses. Mary Li of Portland and her partner, 42-year-old Becky Kennedy, became the first same-sex couple to marry in Oregon. However, later that year, Oregon voters passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as involving one man and one woman. The same-sex marriages from 2004 were ruled void by the Oregon Supreme Court.
In January 2006, Chaya Gusfield
Chaya Gusfield
Chaya Gusfield is, along with Rabbi Lori Klein, one of the two first openly lesbian rabbis ordained by the Jewish Renewal movement. They were both ordained at the same time in January 2006. Gusfield was a legal services lawyer and director of a community mediation program prior to joining the...
and Rabbi Lori Klein
Rabbi Lori Klein
Rabbi Lori Klein is, along with Chaya Gusfield, one of the two first openly lesbian rabbis ordained by the Jewish Renewal movement. They were both ordained at the same time in January 2006. She now serves as an oncology hospital chaplain at Stanford University Medical Center, and as Chair of the...
, both ordained in America, became the first openly lesbian rabbis ordained by the Jewish Renewal movement.
In 2006, lesbian police officer Laurel Hester
Laurel Hester
Lt. Laurel Hester was a New Jersey police officer who rose to national attention with her deathbed appeal for the extension of pension benefits to domestic partners....
won a long campaign to pass on pension benefits to her domestic partner Stacie Andree (and to allow all other police and fire department employees in New Jersey to name anyone, not just a spouse, as a beneficiary); Hester died shortly after of cancer, but a documentary called "Freeheld" was made of her struggle which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Short Documentary, as well as
many other awards . A feature film adaptation is slated to be made of this documentary, with Ellen Page as Stacie Andree .
In 2006, Conservative Judaism decided to allow openly lesbian rabbis and cantors. In 2011, Rachel Isaacs
Rachel Isaacs
Rachel Isaacs is the first openly lesbian rabbi ordained by the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary , which occurred in May 2011. She transferred to JTS from the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in her third year of rabbinical school. Isaacs...
became the first openly lesbian rabbi ordained by the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
.
In 2007, Yalda Rebling, a German woman born in Holland and ordained in America, became the first openly lesbian cantor ordained by the Jewish Renewal movement.
In 2008, same-sex marriage was legalized in Connecticut, and state Rep. Beth Bye and her girlfriend Tracey Wilson became the first same-sex couple to marry in Connecticut .
In 2008, at the request of a lesbian couple (Kitzen and Jeni Branting), the Coquille Indian Tribe on the southern Oregon coast adopted a law recognizing same-sex marriage. Tribal law specialists said the Coquille may be the first tribe to sanction such marriages. In 2009 Kitzen and Jeni Branting married in the Coquille Indian tribe's Coos Bay plankhouse, a 3-year-old meeting hall built in traditional Coquille style with cedar plank walls. They were the first same-sex couple to have their marriage recognized by the tribe, of which Kitzen was a member.
In 2009, same-sex marriage was legalized in Iowa, and Shelley Wolfe and Melisa Keeton became the first lesbian couple (and the second same-sex couple) to marry in Iowa .
In 2009, same-sex marriage was legalized in Vermont , and Claire Williams and Cori Giroux became one of the first same-sex couples to marry in Vermont (others including them married the moment same-sex marriage was legalized).
In 2009, due to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act being signed into law, the definition of federal hate crime was expanded to include those violent crimes in which the victim is selected due to their sexual orientation; previously federal hate crimes were defined as only those violent crimes where the victim is selected due to their race, color, religion, or national origin.
In 2010, same-sex marriage was legalized in the District of Columbia, and Sinjoyla Townsend and Angelisa Young became the first same-sex couple to marry in the District of Columbia .
In 2010, same-sex marriage was legalized in New Hampshire , and Linda Murphy and Donna Swartwout became one of the first same-sex couples to marry in New Hampshire (others including them married the moment same-sex marriage was legalized) .
In 2010, Mary Glasspool became the first openly lesbian bishop ordained by the Episcopal Church of the United States
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
(serving the Diocese of Los Angeles) .
In 2010, Mary Albing became the first openly lesbian minister ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...
, serving the Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer on the south side of Minneapolis .
In 2011, the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy was ended, allowing lesbians in the U.S. military to be open about their sexuality.
In 2011, Courtney Mitchell and Sarah Welton, both from Colorado, were married in Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
's first public lesbian wedding ceremony, although the marriage was not legally recognized in Nepal.
In 2011, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to allow the ordination of openly gay and lesbian ministers.
In 2011, same-sex marriage was legalized in New York state, and Kitty Lambert and Cheryle Rudd became the first same-sex couple to be married in New York state.
In 2011, the Suquamish tribe of Washington State adopted a law proposed by a young lesbian tribal member (Heather Purser) recognizing same-sex marriage.
See also
- History of lesbianismHistory of lesbianismSocietal attitudes towards homosexual women have varied throughout human history and between different cultures. It is notable that there are far fewer historical mentions of lesbianism than male homosexuality, possibly due to many historical writings and records focusing primarily on men.-Ancient...
- LGBT historyLGBT historyLGBT history refers to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender peoples and cultures around the world, dating back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love and sexuality of ancient civilizations. What survives of many centuries' persecution– resulting in shame, suppression,...
- LGBT History MonthLGBT History MonthLGBT History Month is a month-long annual observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history, and the history of the gay rights and related civil rights movements. It is observed during October in the United States, to include National Coming Out Day on October 11...
- LGBT social movementsLGBT social movementsLesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...