Lesbian Herstory Archives AudioVisual Collections

Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club Interviews

Title

Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club Interviews

Description

A series of Oral History Interviews conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club (RLSC) of Walnut Creek California. The RLSC is a group of 133 women who live in Rossmoor, a 55+ community of mostly retired persons. The women of this group wanted to preserve their histories and thus organized this series of oral histories with some of their members.

Creator

Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club

Collection Items

  • Bobbi and Janet.mov

    In this video, members and past presidents of the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club give an introduction to their group and their oral history project. They discuss the history and growth of the group and their place in the larger Rossmoor community, and detail the events their group puts on.
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  • Renee Archer.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Renee Archer discusses her early feelings for other women, moving to California from Detroit, her marriage to a man and eventual coming out process, her involvement in activism, her work as a teacher, the importance of community, and her feelings about gender identity.
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  • Nicole Schapiro 1.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Nicole Schapiro discusses her founding on the Bay Area Career Woman group, her family, her coming out process, and her work as a professional speaker and coach.
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  • JUDY SCHAVRIEN INTERVIEW final.mp4

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Judy Schavrien discusses her involvement in the feminist women’s movement, her relationships, her work as a professor and a psychotherapist, her move to the Bay Area, and her opinions of the lesbian community in Rossmoor.
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  • Judy Greyboys 1.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Judy Greyboys discusses her coming our process, here involvement in the Philly lesbian and political scene, her move to the Bay Area, involvement in activism and non-profit work, her work and travels as a musician, and the importance of community.
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  • Janet Seldon 2.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Janet Seldon discusses her coming out process, growing up in the Bay Area, her law work, how she came to Rossmoor, the importance of Lesbian Community.
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  • EJ Koch 1.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, EJ Koch discusses her upbringing and family, her coming out process through her first marriage, the book she is writing with a colleague, and how she arrived at Rossmoor.
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  • Bobbi Ausubel 1.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Bobbi Ausubel discusses her early life and family, her coming out process, the RLSC community during Covid and her experience with the second wave feminist movement and feminist liberation theater.
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  • Amy Klitsner.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Amy Klitsner discuss her family, early life, her realization that she was a lesbian, her coming out process, and finding community with other women and lesbians.
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  • STEPHANIE S RECORDING OF TRANS WOMAN.mp4

    Recording of a Zoom event "Life Passages" where Stephanie Singer speaks on her experience as a transwoman and a Lesbian and discussed her early life, her coming out, and her family dynamics. After Stephanie speaks, there is a Q&A with other people on the Zoom meeting who are part of the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club.
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  • Carol Newhouse 1.m4v

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Carol Newhouse discusses her family history, her travels and life living around the in Puerto Rico, New York, and France, and her eventual move to the Bay Area and then to Rossmoor.
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  • Victoria Rue Part 1 .MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Victoria Rue discusses growing up Catholic and her time in Catholic School and in the Convent for a short time. She talks about her first sexual encounter with a woman, living LA and then moving to New York City in 1977 to work in theater. Vitoria discusses getting a Master's of Divinity at Columbia and then a PHD in Berkley, CA and her focus on religion and the arts and exploring her identity as a Christian and a Lesbian. She talks about theater as activism, her involvement in the Women's Music Movement, and her relationship with her partner. She speaks about her relationship to both her family and her partners family.
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  • Kathryn Poethig Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Kathryn Poethig discusses growing up in the Philippines due to her parents work through the Presbyterian church and her positionality being raised there  as a white person in a minority privileged position that affected the rest of her life. She talks about moving back to America and feeling uncomfortable at first with the culture as well as how sexualized things were in the US which lead to her further questioning her sexuality, her first feelings of attraction to women as an adult and her coming out process within a theological community. she talks about her feeling about various lesbian and women's groups she found herself in and moving to Rossmoor with her partner.
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  • Jean Lerner part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Jean Lerner discusses being raised Jewish by very politically active communist parents, her realization in college she was in love with her girl friend, and her disillusionment with the Communism that she was raised with. She talks about being closeted in her work as a chiropractor even though she loved her job, her decision to get pregnant and raise a daughter on her own after a struggle to find a partner who also wanted to raise a child, and then meeting her partner when she was pregnant and their family growing as they adopting their son.
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  • Liz Salen Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Liz Salen discusses her early feelings of attraction to girls, her experience having girlfriend at her Hebrew high school, remaining closeted through college and the beginning of law school and her ultimate coming out process and her family's reaction after her sister had also come out as a lesbian. She speaks about her work in her private law practice counseling non-profit activist organizations including OUT Week, ACT UP, and other queer focused organizations, becoming a mother with her partner's biological child, her own pregnancy journey and complications, and adopting a son. She discusses her daughters coming out to her as non-binary and moving to Rossmoor with her partner.

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  • Bev Lyon Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Bev Lyon discusses her family background and history, her early feelings for other girls in High School and her coming out in her early 40s. She speaks about getting married to a man in her senior year of college and their adoption of a child together. She discusses her her first relationship with a women and breaking into the lesbians and feminist world, and her later coming out to her family amf her reations. Bev talks about her life long ilness and how that affecter her life as well as the misogyny that she encoutered in law school. She speaks about meeting her partner and her involvement with the Bay Area Career Women group. 
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  • Ann Biderman Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Ann Biderman discusses her early feelings for other girls, her coming out process and mixed reactions that led her to be fearful of coming out to people. She talks about her relationship with her parents, looking for a Jewish Lesbian community in Austin, TX and eventually moving to San Francisco in 1987. Ann discusses her involvement with Bay Area Career Women, her Temple, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
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  • Deb Mayer Part 1 .MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Deb Mayer discusses her coming out process and finding lesbian community, her seven-year marriage to a navy pilot which brought her to the Bay Area, and her work in the juvenile justice system as a probation officer. She talks about her involvement in marriage equality and AIDS activism in San Francisco and also discusses moving to Rossmoor and the development of the Lesbian Social Club and the importance of friendship and community at this point in her life.
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  • Cecelia Wambach Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Cecelia Wambach discusses her realization her being a lesbian after being married to a man, her experince of being in a convent for 10 years, teaching at a women’s college, her involvement with the civil rights and anti-war movement and her move to the west coast with her small family. She also talks about her involvement with the LGBTQ communities once she moved to San Francisco, finishing her PHD and working as a college professor at San Francisco State for 30 years, and her life long pursuit of painting.
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  • Andrea Gourdine last part .MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Andrea Gourdine discusses growing up conservative in the bay area and the racial discrimination and segregation she and her family faced in 1940s in Richmond, CA. Her coming out process and the response from her mother. She discusses her career in HR which lead her to be the first black woman working in HR for the City and County of San Francisco where she ultimately become the director and the closeted environment of her professional work. She touches on her experience with the lesbian community in San Francisco and finding herself through that community, and later, through the Rossmoor community.
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  • Andrea Gilbert Interview .MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Andrea Gilbert discusses her coming out process later in life and in relationship to her marriage to a man, her divorce, and her relationship to her children; as well as her family’s reaction to her coming out as a lesbian. She also discusses the impact of living at Rossmoor and the Rossmoor community on her life and her work in advocacy for the families of LGBTQ people.
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  • Jade Martner Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Jade Martner discusses her discusses her coming out process, both to herself at age 15, and to her mom when she was 17 which led to Jade being kicked out of the house. Moving to the Bay Area in 1988 from Arizona and finding a women’s group and community with the Palo Alto Lesbian Rap Group and in Lesbian Bars. Her work in IT management and being a Lesbian in a professional setting and starting an LGBTQ resource group at her company.
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  • Lynn Gold Part 1 .MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Lynn Gold discusses being married right out of college, raising two children, their divorce after 20 years, and a second marriage to a man during which time she fell in love with a woman. She also discusses coming out later in life around the same time Ellen DeGeneres came out and that point of culture helping her come out. Despite the shifting cultural views she discusses issues that she had with some friends and family members over her sexuality and eventual marriage to a woman. She also discusses her relationship with her mother in regards to her sexuality and her mothers sexuality.
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  • Marlene Michelson Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Marlene Michelson discusses Her early realizations of her sexuality, her work at the Oakland tribune starting in 1962 which began her 30 year career as journalist, her marriage to a man and experience raising two children, her ultimate separation from her husband, and her subsequent introduction to the lesbian scene in the Bay Area. She also discusses her late coming out after she arrived at Rossmoor and the start of the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club.
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  • Sharon Noteboom Part 1.MOV

    In this oral history conducted by the Rossmoor Lesbian Social Club, Sharon Noteboom discusses growing up on a farm in the Midwest in a religious family, the influence of conservative religion through her life, her coming out process in the late 70s, her involvement with the civil rights movement and various communities in San Francisco, and teaching as an out Lesbian.
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Collection Tree

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