The Lavender Menace was an informal group of lesbian radical feminists formed to protest the exclusion of lesbians and lesbian issues from the feminist movement at the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970. Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender social movements share related goals of social acceptance of Homosexuality, Bisexuality and Transgenderism Lesbian The countries of the world have a wide variety of laws relating to sexual relations between people of the same sex - everything from full legal recognition of Same-sex marriage LGBT history refers to the History of Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and Transgender peoples and cultures around the world dating back A list of LGBT rights activists who have worked to advance gay rights by political change legal action or publication The Declaration of Montreal on Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Human Rights is a document adopted in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on July 29 Same-sex marriage (also referred to as gay marriage) is a term for a legally or Socially recognized Marriage between two people of the same LGBT adoption refers to the Adoption of children by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered people LGBT rights opposition refers to various movements or attitudes which oppose the extension of certain rights to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexism is a term that applies to attitudes, Bias, and Discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships Violence against LGBT people queer identifying and the same-sex attracted are actions which may occur either at the hands of A lesbian is a Woman who is romantically or sexually attracted only to other women Radical feminism is a "current" within Feminism that focuses on the theory of Patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate The City of New York Events 305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Members included Karla Jay, Rita Mae Brown, Lois Hart, Barbara Love, Ellen Shumsky, and Michaela Griffo, and were mostly members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the National Organization for Women (NOW). Karla Jay (born February 22, 1947) is a professor of English and the director of the Women's Studies program at Pace University. Rita Mae Brown (born November 28 1944) is a prolific American Writer. Gay Liberation Front (GLF was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969 immediately after the Stonewall The National Organization for Women ( NOW) is the largest American Feminist organization
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Origins
The phrase "Lavender Menace" was first used in 1969 by Betty Friedan, president of NOW, to describe the threat that she believed associations with lesbianism posed to NOW and the emerging women's movement. Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 5, 2006) was an American feminist, activist and Friedan, and some other straight feminists as well, worried that the association would hamstring feminists' ability to achieve serious political change, and that stereotypes of "mannish" and "man-hating" lesbians would provide an easy way to dismiss the movement. Under her direction, NOW attempted to distance itself from lesbian causes — up to omitting the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis from the list of sponsors of the First Congress to Unite Women in November 1969. The Daughters of Bilitis /bɪ’litis/ ( DOB or the Daughters) is considered to be the first Lesbian rights organization in the United States Friedan's remarks and the decision to drop DOB from the sponsor list led lesbian feminist Rita Mae Brown to angrily resign her administrative job at NOW in February 1970 (Jay 137-138, Brownmiller 82). Rita Mae Brown (born November 28 1944) is a prolific American Writer. On March 15, 1970, straight radical feminist Susan Brownmiller quoted Friedan's remarks about the "lavender menace" and dismissed her worries as "A lavender herring, perhaps, but no clear and present danger" in a New York Times Magazine article. Events 44 BC - Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The New York Times Magazine is a supplement to the Sunday The New York Times newspaper
Brownmiller later said that when she wrote the article, she had intended to use a humorous quip to distance herself from Friedan's homophobia (Jay 140, Brownmiller 82), but some lesbian feminists (especially Michaela Griffo) took her remarks as "a scathing put-down" (Brownmiller 82) and "evidence of Susan's homophobia or closet homosexuality--that is, that she was trying to distance herself from lesbians by insulting us" (Jay 140)—because they felt that the quip dismissed lesbians as an insignificant part of the movement, or lesbian issues as unnecessary distractions from the important issues.
Second Congress to Unite Women
Rita Mae Brown suggested to her consciousness-raising group that lesbian radical feminists organize an action in response to Brownmiller's comments, and the public airing of Friedan's complaints. Rita Mae Brown (born November 28 1944) is a prolific American Writer. Consciousness raising (often abbreviated cr) is a form of Political activism, pioneered by United States radical feminists in the late 1960s The group decided to target the Second Congress to Unite Women in New York City on May 1, 1970, which they noticed featured not a single open lesbian on the program (Jay 140). The City of New York Events 305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman Emperor. Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. They planned a "zap" for the opening session of the Congress, which would use humor and nonviolent confrontation to raise awareness of lesbians and lesbian issues as vital parts to the emerging women's movement. They prepared a ten-paragraph manifesto entitled "The Woman-Identified Woman" and made t-shirts, dyed purple and silkscreened with the words "Lavender Menace" for the entire group (Jay 140-142). "The Woman-Identified Woman" was a ten-paragraph manifesto written by the Radicalesbians in 1970. Karla Jay, one of the organizers and participants in the zap, describes what happened:
- Finally, we were ready. Karla Jay (born February 22, 1947) is a professor of English and the director of the Women's Studies program at Pace University. The Second Congress to Unite Women got under way on May 1 at 7:00 PM at Intermediate School 70 on West Seventeenth Street in Manhattan. About three hundred women filed into the school auditorium. Just as the first speaker came to the microphone, Jesse Falstein, a GLF member, and Michaela [Griffo] switched off the lights and pulled the plug on the mike. (They had cased the place the previous day, and knew exactly where the switches were and how to work them. ) I was planted in the middle of the audience, and I could hear my coconspirators running down both aisles. Some were laughing, while others were emitting rebel yells. The rebel yell (sometimes called the Pibroch of the Confederacy was a Battle cry used by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil When Michaela and Jesse flipped the lights back on, both aisles were lined with seventeen lesbians wearing their Lavender Menace T-shirts and holding the placards we had made. Some invited the audience to join them. I stood up and yelled, "Yes, yes, sisters! I'm tired of being in the closet because of the women's movement. " Much to the horror of the audience, I unbuttoned the long-sleeved red blouse I was wearing and ripped it off. Underneath, I was wearing a Lavender Menace T-shirt. There were hoots of laughter as I joined the others in the aisles. Then Rita [Mae Brown] yelled to members of the audience, "Who wants to join us?"
- "I do, I do," several replied.
- Then Rita also pulled off her Lavender Menace T-shirt. Again, there were gasps, but underneath she had on another one. More laughter. The audience was on our side.
- —Karla Jay, Tales of the Lavender Menace, 143
After the initial stunt, the "Menaces" passed out mimeographed copies of "The Woman-Identified Woman" and took the stage, where they explained how angry they were about the exclusion of lesbians from the conference. Karla Jay (born February 22, 1947) is a professor of English and the director of the Women's Studies program at Pace University. A few members of the planning committee tried to take back the stage and return to the original program, but gave up in the face of the resolute Menaces and the audience, who used applause and boos to show their support. The group and the audience then used the microphone for a spontaneous speak-out on lesbianism in the feminist movement, and several of the participants in the "zap" were invited to run workshops the next day on lesbian rights and homophobia (Jay 144). BenPhelpsJPG|thumb|right|Westboro Baptist Church picket signs with Ben Phelps grandson of Fred Phelps Straight and gay women from the congress joined an all-women's dance (a frequent organizing and social tool used by Gay Liberation Front men and women) (Brownmiller 98). Gay Liberation Front (GLF was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969 immediately after the Stonewall
Effects
The "Lavender Menace" zap, and the publication of "The Woman-Identified Woman," are widely remembered as a turning-point in the second-wave feminist movement, and as a founding moment for lesbian feminism. Second-wave feminism refers to a period of Feminist activity which began during the 1960s and lasted through the late 1970s Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s (primarily in North America and Western Europe that questions the position After the zap, many of the organizers continued to meet, and decided to create a lasting organization to continue their activism, which they eventually decided to call the "Radicalesbians. " At the next national conference of NOW, in September 1971, the delegates adopted a resolution recognizing lesbianism and lesbian rights as "a legitimate concern for feminism" [1]. The National Organization for Women ( NOW) is the largest American Feminist organization Year 1971 ( MCMLXXI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the 1971 Gregorian calendar.
In 1999, Susan Brownmiller described the impact by writing that "Lesbians would be silent no longer in the women's movement" (98). Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) Susan Brownmiller (b February 15, 1935) is a radical feminist, journalist and activist Karla Jay described it in her memoirs as "the single most important action organized by lesbians who wanted the women's movement to acknowledge our presence and needs," and said that it "completely reshaped the relationship of lesbians to feminism for years to come" (137). Karla Jay (born February 22, 1947) is a professor of English and the director of the Women's Studies program at Pace University. "We felt as well," Jay wrote, "that the zap was only the first of many actions to come and that lesbian liberation was suddenly and unstoppably on the rise" (145).
External links
References
- Brownmiller, Susan (1999). Susan Brownmiller (b February 15, 1935) is a radical feminist, journalist and activist In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (ISBN 0-385-31486-8).
- Jay, Karla (1999). Karla Jay (born February 22, 1947) is a professor of English and the director of the Women's Studies program at Pace University. Tales of the Lavender Menace: A Memoir of Liberation (ISBN 0-465-08366-8).
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