Daughters of Bilitis
Daughters of Bilitis ( DOB ) (German: Daughters of Bilitis) is the first lesbian civil rights organization in the United States , formed in 1955 in San Francisco . The group was formed to offer an alternative to lesbian bars , as these were of dubious legality in the 1950s and were therefore subject to police harassment. The founders of the Daughters of Bilitis claim to have had no knowledge of gay groups, such as the Mattachine Society , at the time, so that there was no contact between the two pillars of the lesbian and gay movement .
The Daughters of Bilitis were the most influential lesbian organization in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, until they were divided in the 1970s by the question of whether the organization should be more affiliated with the lesbian and gay movement or the feminist movement . Today the existence of the organization is no longer assured, although there were still reports in 1992 of the existence of a local branch of the organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts .
The name Daughters of Bilitis was invented after the names of other organizations such as Daughters of the American Revolution , Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and United Daughters of the Confederacy . Bilitis was the name of a fictional lesbian contemporary of Sappho , who was invented by the French poet Pierre Louÿs for his work Les Chansons de Bilitis in 1894.
Subdivisions of womenswear
At the height of the organization, sub-divisions existed across the United States and Australia. There were local groups in New York City, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Detroit, Chicago, Reno, Philadelphia, Cambridge and Boston, among others.
Significant members
Many prominent feminists and lesbians were members of Daughters of Bilitis subdivisions, including:
- Ti-Grace Atkinson , Member - Daughters of Bilitis , New York City, author and founder of The Feminists
- Barbara Gittings , Co-Founder and First President - Daughters of Bilitis , New York City
- Lorraine Hansberry , writer for The Ladder , playwright
- Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon , Daughters of Bilitis co-founders and authors
- Ellen Povill , Member - Daughters of Bilitis , New York City
- Ruth Simpson , President - Daughters of Bilitis New York City, founder of the first Lesbian Community Center; Author of the book From the Closet to the Courts
- Kay Tobin Lahusen , Member - Daughters of Bilitis New York City, author of The Gay Crusaders
- Marion Zimmer Bradley , member, author
Publications by Daughters of Bilitis
The regular Daughters of Bilitis publication was called The Ladder . The Ladder first appeared in 1956 with the help of ONE, Inc. and Mattachine Society , with whom Daughters of Bilitis had developed friendly relationships. The name of the journal refers to Plato's pedagogical hierarchy: the ladder of beauty .
literature
- Nan Alamilla Boyd, Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 , University of California Press, 2003
- Vern Leroy Bullough Harrington Park Press, 2002.
- John D'Emilio , Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities, University of Chicago Press, 1983.
- Marcia M. Gallo, Different Daughters: A history of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Birth of the Lesbian Rights Movement, Carroll & Graf, 2006.
- Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon , Lesbian / Woman , 1972, ISBN 091207891X .
- Martin Meeker , Contacts Desired: Gay and Lesbian Communications and Community, 1940s-1970s. University of Chicago Press, 2006.
- Ruth Simpson , From the Closet to the Courts, New York: Penguin Books, 1977. ISBN 0140043535 .
- Marc Stein , City of Sisterly and Brotherly Loves: Lesbian and Gay Philadelphia, 1945-1972, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000; Republished by Temple University Press, 2004.
Individual evidence
- ^ From the Closet to the Courts
- ↑ Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965
- ^ Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context.
- ↑ Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities ( Memento of the original dated November 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Different Daughters: A history of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Birth of the Lesbian Rights Movement ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Contacts Desired: Gay and Lesbian Communications and Community
- ↑ City of Sisterly and Brotherly Loves: Lesbian and Gay Philadelphia ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
