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Gay Community Center
(Side A) Victoria Brownworth this episode of Amazon Country with announcements regarding lesbian and feminist groups and organizations. Roberta Hacker interviews Arleen Olshan of the Gay Community Center. Arleen notes that lesbians are underrepresented in decision-making, policy development and program coordination, and the GCC would benefit from more lesbian involvement. They discuss lesbian separatism (especially relating to how few women are involved with the GCC). Arleen announces upcoming events at the GCC including various lectures by authors and activists, as well as consciousness-raising groups and educational classes. (Continues onto side B) Arleen encourages lesbians to check out the center because they "might be surprised" by the level of feminism that exists within the gay male community.
Includes an ad for the Bicentennial Women's Center. -
Judith Schwarz Interview, 1992
Judith Schwarz discusses how grateful she is the DOB exists, the way that societal attitudes towards lesbianism has changed since the founding of DOB, how many women were afraid to have mail mailed to them or used pseudonyms or “bar names” to hide their identity.
She discusses her first lesbian relationship, which happened shortly after she moved to San Franciso, and how this introduced her to lesbian culture, specifically survival literature. She talks about how she was at first intimidated by certain aspects of lesbian culture, like powerful butch lesbians, frequent drinking in the community, and lesbian literature.
She talks about the impact of DOB, and how there was harassment from police as well as other lesbians or women. She also talks about sharing The Ladder around her workplace in secret, and shares the story about how The Ladder was “stolen” from the DOB San Franciso offices. She says that diversity was always lacking in the DOB, and talks about some reasons why.
DOB meetings sometimes consisted of potluck dinners and Gab and Javas, sometimes taking place at Schwarz’s house. She talks about how lesbians dressed at the time.
Finally she discusses the differences between the DOB and the Lesbian Herstory Archives and how they met different needs for lesbians, and finally some of the special collections in the archive. Joan Nestle jumps in at the end to discuss radical politics and the FBI surveillance of the DOB. -
Deborah Edel, Joan Nestle & Judith Schwarz Interview
Deborah Edel, Joan Nestle, and Judith Schwarz discuss the formation of the Lesbian Herstory Archives in the 1970s. They detail how the Archives grew out of a consciousness raising group through the Gay Academic Union in 1973. They talk about the mission of the archives, to ensure that lesbian voices and culture were heard and preserved. They also talk about the growth of their collections through donations of books, papers, and photographs from the lesbian community. -
Arcus Flynn Interview, November 1, 1987
Arcus Flynn discusses her early life and her struggle with isolation and depression, her eventual discovery of the Daughters of Bilitis meetings and the community and friendships she found there. Arcus talks about the early importance of roles assumed by lesbians in the community (butch/femme), her involvement with the Women’s Rights movement, her evolution from Catholicism to born-again pagan spirituality (the Irish triad: truth, knowledge, and nature), and her discovery of herbology and natural healing. -
Karen Anderson Ryer Interview, 1987
Karen Anderson Ryer discusses her coming out process, and the acceptance of her parents. She talks about butch vs. fem, and changing generational attitudes. Discusses importance of feminism to lesbianism specifically, and differences from gay men’s movement. She details the split of “The Ladder” from the San Francisco chapter from DOB, and how she left to start a new magazine. Also mentions the integration of different lesbian communities – Oakland vs. San Francisco, and the impact of AIDS on the lesbian community. -
![[2014SP]workshop 4.20.71 #4.mp3](/omeka/application/views/scripts/images/fallback-audio.png "[2014SP]workshop 4.20.71 #4.mp3")
Workshop #4, Side B, April 20, 1971
The recording is from a workshop from April 20, 1971. The women are having an open discussion on honesty and trust within the group. The talk about how they feel about each other and how they handle being in Daughters of Bilitis. -
Workshop #3, Side A, February 18, 1971
This audio recording talks about activism and oppression within the lesbian community. The workshop is a group of women discussing their feelings and experiences with being oppressed as women in society, especially as lesbians. -
Voices of Women Writing Conference, April 30, 1982 (Tape 1)
Ms Holly makes assorted announcements then introduces Audre Lorde. She reads three poems: "For Each of You" "Poem for Women in Rage" "Sister, Morning is a Time for Miracles". Side B: Continuation of poem from Side A: "Sister, Morning is a Time for Miracles" Then reads: "After Images" Final Poem of reading: "On My Way to San Francisco I Pass Over You and the Verazano Bridge" -
Voices of Women Writing Conference, April and May, 1982 (Tape 2)
Audre Lorde is on the panel. Lorde speaks on side A after other panelists introduce themselves an on side B. This is the recording of a Community Workshop panel, mostly discussing obstacles to women writing, specifically, black womens literature. The recordings are fairly audible aside from some inaudible speakers who are not close enough to the recording device. -
The Personal or the Political - I / Conference on Feminist Theory, September 29, 1979
In addition to Audre Lorde, Linda Gordon, Manuela Prairie, Jessica Benjamin, Bonnie Johnston, Camille Bristow, and Susan McHenry participated in the panel. The recording includes a question and answer session between panelists and audience members. The topics discussed include racism, feminism, class oppression, individualism, sexuality, community, and sisterhood. -
Memorial Service for Diane Cleaver (Part 2)
Friends and family gather at the funeral of Diane Cleaver to share stories, reminisce, and pay homage to her. -
Women and Religion
In this recording, Sally Gearhart discusses how the Church enforces ideas of masculinity and feminity. The host argues that feminism is incompatible with Christianity and lesbianism allows a woman to love herself and let go of the self-hatred that society and the Church impose. -
Paula, January 18, 1990 (Tape 1)
Side A: Paula describes various locations where gay men and women would meet each other, like Kleinman's Corner and bars such as Ralph Martin's. Often these locations also served as hubs for sex workers. She speaks about the rigidly defined roles of "butch" and "femme" provided for lesbians during the 1940s. Paula talks about her life as femme and being married to a man who introduced her to gay/lesbian life. She discusses her sexual life and the type of sex that women had with each other in the 1940s, specifically within the strict binary of butch and femme. Paula recalls the social life at bars, such as Ralph Martin's, which included dancing, drag shows, prostitution, and drugs.
Side B: Paula speaks about her family life in relation to her sexual identity. She talks about her husband's fast lifestyle and her changing preferences eventually causing the dissolution of their marriage. Paula mentions the types of employment she has had, including working in department stores, as a waitress, as a desk clerk at the Genesee Hotel, and on the assembly line at Bell Aircraft. She speaks more about various bars that she went to: Pat's, Dugan's, the Carousel, and the Carlton Hotel. She talks about a long-term relationship that she had, after her divorce, that lasted ten years, as well as traveling out of the Buffalo area to places like Florida, California, and Utica, N.Y.
The recording cuts off abruptly after 23 minutes. -
Pat G., May 21, [year unknown] (Tape 2)
Pat shows family photos. She says several of her family members were gay, including her mother and brother. She talks about bars, the 557 and 217, with racially mixed clientele. She describes violence when straight men tried to dance with gay women. She mentions other favorite bars from the 1950s: the Chesterfield, the KittyCat, Club Coco, the 469. Pat describes her relationships, many of which involved "messing around on and off" for many years. She describes coming out to her mother at age 13, and talks about the "white girls from Canada" (lesbians) who were her mother's friends.