Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Goodnight, Barbara...and thank you...
As I've shared with readers before, I've had the honor of my path crossing with a list of folks who have done extraordinary things for our community, both gay and straight. Many have served as examples for future generations and many have paved a path upon which we have all walked. Barbara Gittings was such a woman.
I first came into contact with Barbara when I was the fundraiser for the Harvey Milk School and Hetrick Martin Institute in New York City. Barbara Gittings worked with Emery Hetrick, Damien Martin, and their colleagues to create what was then known as the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth. Barbara served as an early important team member of the agency that would come to bear its founders' names and because of her years of commitment she was honored by the organization at its annual awards gathering. When you're a fundraiser for twenty years you meet a lot of award winners, none were as grateful or humble as Barbara.
Gittings's activism started before most people knew what gay and lesbian activism was. In 1955, over fifty years ago, she founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the nation's first lesbian organization. (The Daughters of Bilitis was first formed in SF by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, who continue to be involved in activism today, at ages 83 and 86.) She served as editor of the group's national magazine, The Ladder, from 1963 to 1966.
BARBARA GITTINGS
Here is Barbara picketing at the White House for gay and lesbian rights in 1965. There weren't tens or hundreds of thousands in DC for this demonstration as there was in 1979, 1987, 1993, or 2000. It was Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, and a handful of others. . Jobs were lost, lives destroyed, and yet they labored on. For you. For me. For every last one of us.
In 2005, Barbara and her partner Kay Lahausen attended the unveiling of the nation's first historic marker commemorating the lesbian and gay rights movement at Philadelphia's Independence Hall. There, forty years earlier, Barbara planned what was to become the nation's very first gay rights demonstration. That historic event being permanently remembered in the shadow of the cradle of liberty is an honor she richly deserved.
Barbara Gittings died Sunday evening with her partner of Kay Lahausen, her partner of 46 years, by her side.
Goodnight, Barbara and on behalf of every last one of us, thank you.
Newsday: Barbara Gittings, early NYC lesbian rights activist, dies at 75
I first came into contact with Barbara when I was the fundraiser for the Harvey Milk School and Hetrick Martin Institute in New York City. Barbara Gittings worked with Emery Hetrick, Damien Martin, and their colleagues to create what was then known as the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth. Barbara served as an early important team member of the agency that would come to bear its founders' names and because of her years of commitment she was honored by the organization at its annual awards gathering. When you're a fundraiser for twenty years you meet a lot of award winners, none were as grateful or humble as Barbara.
Gittings's activism started before most people knew what gay and lesbian activism was. In 1955, over fifty years ago, she founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the nation's first lesbian organization. (The Daughters of Bilitis was first formed in SF by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, who continue to be involved in activism today, at ages 83 and 86.) She served as editor of the group's national magazine, The Ladder, from 1963 to 1966.
BARBARA GITTINGS
(1932 - 2007)
Here is Barbara picketing at the White House for gay and lesbian rights in 1965. There weren't tens or hundreds of thousands in DC for this demonstration as there was in 1979, 1987, 1993, or 2000. It was Barbara Gittings, Frank Kameny, and a handful of others. . Jobs were lost, lives destroyed, and yet they labored on. For you. For me. For every last one of us.
In 2005, Barbara and her partner Kay Lahausen attended the unveiling of the nation's first historic marker commemorating the lesbian and gay rights movement at Philadelphia's Independence Hall. There, forty years earlier, Barbara planned what was to become the nation's very first gay rights demonstration. That historic event being permanently remembered in the shadow of the cradle of liberty is an honor she richly deserved.
Barbara Gittings and
her partner Kay Lahausen
her partner Kay Lahausen
Barbara Gittings died Sunday evening with her partner of Kay Lahausen, her partner of 46 years, by her side.
Goodnight, Barbara and on behalf of every last one of us, thank you.
Newsday: Barbara Gittings, early NYC lesbian rights activist, dies at 75
By: Michael Rogers
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