LGBTQ+ History Month - Week 2

In the first week of LGBTQ+ History Month we commemorated Milk, Johnson, Rivera and Power. This week we continue to honour those who fought for LGBTQ+ equality. 

UoP - well-being services: dedicated to creating an inclusive workplace for all LGBTQ+ staff and extending the same values to all students. They provide LGBTQ+ support, resources and activities - LGBTQ+ equality.

Audre Lorde (1934-1992)

American writer, feminist and civil right activist. She co-funded Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, the first US publisher for women of colour.

Lorde was born in New York City to Caribbean immigrants and by the time she was in eighth grade, she wrote her first poem. She expressed her feelings through poetry because she struggled with communication. 

She earned a master’s degree in library science at Columbia University. Lorde had a strong desire to live out her “crazy and queer” identity but she was also passionate about confronting racism, sexism, classism and homophobia. Her poetry targeted the injustices she saw throughout her life. 

She described herself as black, lesbian, political activist, feminist, poet, mother, etc. Through her poetry she highlighted that one’s personal identity is found in connections between one’s life and their experiences.

She supported women through the Women’s Coalition of St Croix which helped women that survived sexual abuse. Lorde also helped build the Sisterhood in Support of Sisters in South Africa to support black women affected by injustice.

Along with a group of black women writers, in 1985 Lorde visited Cuban poets to discuss if the revolution had truly changed the status of Lesbians and Gays in Cuba.

Lorde died of breast cancer at the age of 58, but she described that what she leaves behind has a life of its own. 

Sources: LGBTQ+ activists you should know & Audre Lorde 

Barbara Gittings (1932-2007)

Her life mission was to tear away the “shroud of invisibility” related homosexuality.

Born in Austria, Gittings and her siblings attended Catholic schools and at one point in her childhood she considered becoming a nun. Her family moved to the United States during World War II. Gittings was an excellent student but despite that, she was rejected for membership in the National Honor Society in high school due to her teacher believing that Barbara had “homosexual” inclinations. 

While majoring in drama at Northwestern University, Gittings had to distance herself from a friend due to rumours that the two were lesbians. Feeling alone, Gittings shifted her focus to finding out who she is through reading, although the books at the library described homosexuals in a bad light instead of being focused on love and happiness. It is then that she decided that general education was not her mission - she wanted to find out more about herself and what her life would be like.

At 18, Barbara moved out and began to explore places to get “plugged into gay community”. While in California, she joined the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) and moved to New York City to serve as the chapter’s first president for 3 years. In the early writings of DOB, Gittings tried to win heterosexuals over by showing that homosexuals were not dramatically different from themselves. She also worked closely with Frank Kameny to fight against the ban on employment of gay people by the United States Government.

The American Library Association awarded her a lifetime membership for her work in promoting positive literature about homosexuality. The association also named an annual award for the best gay or lesbian novel, the Barbara Gittings award.

Sources: LGBTQ+ activists you should know & Barbara Gittings

Sue Sanders (1947-present)

An Emeritus Professor of the Harvey Milk Institute and a British LGBT activist who specialises in challenging oppression in the public sector. In 2000, she became the co-chair of Schools Out, and with their help she instituted the first ever UK LGBT History Month in 2024. 

Sue Louise Sanders is an “out and proud” lesbian that studied Speech and Drama at London’s New College and since 1967 she has been a teacher, tutor and lecturer on women’s studies, drama and homophobia in schools. She regularly makes an appearance on TV and radio programmes to talk about equality and LGBT issues. She has written poems, short articles and brochures on feminist issues, education and homophobia. 

In 2011, Sanders created The Classroom - a website with over 50 free lesson plans for teachers to use to teach LGBT issues across the curriculum. 

Sources:LGBTQ+ activists you should know & Sue Sanders

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah (Lady Phyll) (1974-present)

Co-founder, trustee and executive director of UK Black Pride. She sits on the Trades Union Congress race relations committee and is a trustee of Stonewall.

Along with others, she is the editor of Sista. A collection of writing by LGBT women of African/Caribbean descent and connection to the UK. 

She refused an MBE in 2016 stating: LGBTQI people are still being persecuted, tortured and even killed because of sodomy laws… that were put in place by British imperialists.'

Opoku-Gyimah is considered one of Britain’s most prominent lesbian activists and she raised the issue of racism in the LGBT community and spoke about the importance of intersectionality. 

Sources: LGBTQ+ activists you should know & Phyll Opoku-Gyimah