Lesbian Feminist Liberation

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Lesbian Feminist Liberation
Founded1972 (1972)
Location
Key people
Jean O'Leary
Formerly called
Lesbian Liberation Committee

Lesbian Feminist Liberation was a lesbian rights advocacy organization in New York City formed in 1972.

Formation

Lesbian Feminist Liberation was originally the Lesbian Liberation Committee and a part of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). In 1972, when the members felt the GAA was not giving enough focus to lesbian and feminist issues, they left GAA and formed the Lesbian Feminist Liberation.[1][2][3]: 92  The departure was coordinated by Jean O'Leary.[4] The formation of Lesbian Feminist Liberation left the Radicalesbians (RL) group with few members.[5] The Lesbian Liberation Committee, and initially the Lesbian Feminist Liberation as well, met at an old firehouse at 99 Wooster Street in SoHo, the location was known as "The Firehouse."[6]

Activities

In 1973, Lesbian Feminist Liberation participated in the campaign to lobby the New York City Council to add sexual orientation to the city's anti-discrimination city ordinance.[3]: 96 

Twenty-five members of the organization attended The Dick Cavett Show and disrupted his interview with George Gilder, an author the organization believed was anti-feminist and anti-lesbian.[3]: 98 [7]: 102 

The organization also organized a demonstration with 200 participants, and a large fake lavender colored dinosaur outside the National Museum of American History to protest sexism at the museum.[3]: 98 

They picketed at a

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts movie theater that was showing Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, which some feminists found offensive for its depiction of lesbian sadomasochism.[3]
: 98 

Lesbian Feminist Liberation's
LGBT Pride March
in New York City.

The organization opposed the performance by

drag as misogynist and criticizing the march for being too male-dominated. This prompted Lee Brewster of Queens Liberation Front to denounce anti-transgender lesbian feminists. The increasingly angry crowd only calmed when Bette Midler, who heard these events reported on the radio in her Greenwich Village apartment, arrived, took the microphone, and began singing "Friends". This was one of many events in early 1970s where lesbian and transgender activists clashed.[3]: 113 [8]

When

Standards and Practices offices. Advised that vice president Herminio Traviesas would not return to the office until the following week, demonstrators announced their intention to wait until he returned and occupied his office overnight. Around 75 women demonstrated in front of the building. The following morning half of the women left, along with the children of the lead protester. The remaining protesters unfurled a twenty foot long banner from the balcony of vice president Herminio Traviesas's office reading "LESBIANS PROTEST NBC". They and street-level picketers chanted slogans like "NBC works against lesbians" and "Lesbians are sitting in".[7]: 112–13  The demonstrators hoped to attract both network news coverage and arrests. When they realized neither was forthcoming, they left the building. While the networks ignored the story, it was picked up by local media and the wire services.[9] Ultimately, NBC agreed not to rerun the episode.[7]

In 1974, the organization worked with New York Radical Feminists to increase the visibility of women at the New York City LGBT Pride March.[10]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9780813539737
    . Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  2. ISBN 9780810863279
    . Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9780415874106
    . Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  4. ^ "Jean O'Leary Is Dead at 57". gaycitynews.nyc. Vol. 4, no. 23. Gay City News. June 2005. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  5. ISBN 9781136787515
    . Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  6. ^ "Dyke, Mindy". sinisterwisdom.org. Sinister Wisdom. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-345-41243-5
    .
  8. ISBN 9781593763145
    . Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  9. ISBN 0-231-08437-4
    .
  10. ISBN 9780521879354
    . Retrieved June 28, 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesbian_Feminist_Liberation&oldid=1220785543"