The 1980s

1. 

   March against Klan/Nazi Terror, February 2, 1980

   Events, Politics + Activism

   Events, Politics + Activism

   March against Klan/Nazi Terror, February 2, 1980

   

   On November 3, 1979, Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party members killed five protesters marching in a “Death to the Klan” demonstration organized by the Communist Workers Party in Greensboro, NC. The Durham-based February 2nd Mobilization Committee, a project of the National Anti-Klan Network and a coalition of other progressive and civil rights groups, organized another march in Greensboro in response to the killings. This flyer announces that demonstration.

   With snow on the ground, LGBTQ folks marched under a “Queers Against Racism” banner to support a renewed civil rights movement. A member of Durham’s War Resisters League Southeast, Faygele ben Miriam, wore a shirt featuring a bulls eye and the words, “Commie, Jewish, Queer.” This event brought lesbians and gays into the public eye as visible and vocal members of the coalition against the Klan and Neo-Nazis and forged ties between them and Durham’s progressive groups.

2. 

   Audio clip about assembling The Newsletter

   Arts + Culture, Publications, Audio + Video Clips

   Arts + Culture, Publications, Audio + Video Clips

   Audio clip about assembling The Newsletter

   

   Lacking a local newsletter after 1976, a group of women started The Newsletter in 1981, which lasted as a monthly newsletter with an updated mid-month calendar, “Around Our Triangle,” until at least 2001. In this selection from a 2012 oral history, Lucy Harris remembers volunteering with The Newsletter and the privacy recipients needed.

   Transcript And The Newsletter was always wrapped. I mean there were like fifty staples around. I mean it was so, so, so, so important for people to not have to worry about the mail carrier or anybody else knowing. There were a lot of very closeted people who got The Newsletter all over the state. Some people also had it delivered in an envelope. They paid extra to have it delivered in an envelope. But for most, for many people, the highlight of the newsletter was the calendar and the inserts. Oh, you know, it probably wasn’t that many pages. You could only have so many inserts to be able to staple it closed. And everybody wanted to have an insert if you were having any event. If you wanted anybody to come, it had to be in The Newsletter or forget it; no one was going to know about it because this is, you know, no computers. And so, if you had—were going to do an event and wanted it to be announced in the newsletter, it could be listed in the calendar. But then if you wanted an insert you had to bring 500 or 1,000 copies and you had to be there at collating to help insert your insert. So sometimes we would have like 20 people at collating. It was actually really fun.

   Selection from oral history with Lucy Harris, interview by Luke Hirst and Barbara Lau, July 13, 2012, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library

3. 

   Recollection about creating family through The Newsletter

   Arts + Culture, Publications, Family + Marriage

   Arts + Culture, Publications, Family + Marriage

   Recollection about creating family through The Newsletter

   

   In this written recollection, Sherry Kinlaw remembers the importance of the community created by The Newsletter.

   Transcript The friends I made while working on The Newsletter formed my new family. My fellow lesbian feminists felt like a special secret club. I remember the first Pride March in Durham back in the 70s [actually 80s]. I was a marshal. One of the women marching was caught in a photo that made its way into the newspaper. She lost her job! Everything we did was undercover and out of sight… . We saw ourselves as radical feminists. I still do. Feminary eventually faded and The Newsletter remained viable for many years. This publication was on time and consistent. These were my two priorities. It grew in size and covered many topics, but not in so much depth that it became burdensome. Lesbians were welcome to join the group and some of us left to pursue other interests as they became available. I started a business.

   Can you imagine a bunch of young women sitting in a circle in someone’s living room or around a kitchen table to discuss patriarchy, gender bias, and issues of great concern for women and lesbians alike? I imagine you can, because women have gathered in this manner for a long, long time. I imagine women who feel oppressed or on the outside of the norm are still meeting in this manner and having these types of discussions, in private, all over the globe.

   Sherry Kinlaw written recollection, November 1, 2014, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library

4. 

   Recollection about the The Newsletter’s treatment of the AIDS epidemic

   Arts + Culture, Publications, Health

   Arts + Culture, Publications, Health

   Recollection about the The Newsletter’s treatment of the AIDS epidemic

   

   In this written recollection, Patience Vanderbush reflects on the role of lesbian publications such as The Newsletter in bringing men and women together during the AIDS epidemic.

   Transcript I think an interesting area of study of lesbian publications over this period would be the degree to which HIV/AIDS was in our consciousness and changing the ways we interacted with and worked with gay men and the ways we perceived our sense of community with them. The very first article that I wrote for The Newsletter was about the Lesbian and Gay Health Project (LGHP) (“Health Project’s Outreach is Community-Wide,” August 1986), and I also wrote articles about “Lesbians and AIDS” (January 1987) and “Lesbians, Gays, and Sodomy Laws” (August 1988). (During the same period that I wrote for The Newsletter, I also wrote some articles about HIV/AIDS and other issues for the Front Page, a statewide gay and lesbian newspaper published in Raleigh by Jim Baxter.) I believe that the community building, organizing, and visibility that came about as a result of the onset and early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic were major factors in the civil rights gains for our LGBT communities in subsequent years.

   Patience Vanderbush written recollection, November 21, 2014, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library

5. 

   Recollection from a founder of The Newsletter

   Arts + Culture, Publications

   Arts + Culture, Publications

   Recollection from a founder of The Newsletter

   

   In this written recollection, Sherri Zann Rosenthal remembers the resourcefulness required by the founders of The Newsletter.

   Transcript I was one of the group that started it, back when we took turns “printing” it on a mimeograph machine in the basement at the 604 W. Chapel Hill Street building, which housed War Resisters League. The mimeograph machine may have belonged to them.

   I think a significant part of the story includes that we had very little money. For several years, we would all go up to an office at Duke University after hours, where a friend was a secretary and would let us in to make use of the typewriters to create the mimeo stencils. We also made liberal use of other of the office supplies and used to talk about how “Mr. Duke” was a major contributor to The Newsletter. Typos were a bear to correct and were not very correctable. Later on, a different member of the broader lesbian community who at that time worked for the legal aid office would secretly take pasted-up layout originals of The Newsletter up to her office and make use of a stencil laser burner to create the finished stencils for mimeographing. This was terrific, as it allowed us to have line art (and really poorly reproduced photos).

   Sherri Zann Rosenthal written recollection, October 18, 2014, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library

6. 

   Organizing for the 80s Conference, St. Joseph’s AME Church, March 28-29, 1981

   Events, Politics + Activism

   Events, Politics + Activism

   Organizing for the 80s Conference, St. Joseph’s AME Church, March 28-29, 1981

   

   The “Organizing for the 80s” conference was orchestrated by an ad hoc group called Committee to Save Our Democracy, made up of civil rights, low income rights, environmental, and women’s rights groups. Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists (TALF) had a table at the event, and lesbian and gay rights were one of the topics speakers addressed to the crowd of more than 500 attendees. This was one of the first events at which lesbians were at the table with other progressive groups in Durham.

7. 

   Little River Attacks and Vigil at Durham County Judicial Building, April 1981

   Events, Politics + Activism, Safety

   Events, Politics + Activism, Safety

   Little River Attacks and Vigil at Durham County Judicial Building, April 1981

   

   On April 12, 1981, two men attacked four other men at a swimming hole on the Little River, four miles north of Durham, at a site popular with gay men. The attackers shouted homophobic slurs and threatened to kill gay people. The four men were badly beaten, and one, Ronald Antonevitch, who did not identify as gay, died three days later of his wounds.

   In response, approximately 125 lesbians, gay men, and allies rallied in protest of violence against homosexuals. While lesbian and gay men wanted the attackers punished, many did not want the death penalty.

8. 

   Our Day Out, June 27, 1981

   Events, Politics + Activism, Safety

   Events, Politics + Activism, Safety

   Our Day Out, June 27, 1981

   

   

   North Carolina’s first gay and lesbian march was organized after the hate crime at Little River. Called “Our Day Out,” it was held June 27, 1981, planned by Debbie Swanner and David Ransom in response to the violence. Around 300 marchers traversed Durham’s downtown loop, some with bags over their heads to avoid being recognized. Dannia Southerland and Steve Summerford of War Resisters League (WRL) coordinated the peacekeepers, and numerous police were present because of threatened Klan violence, which did not occur.

   Sherri Zann Rosenthal, assistant city attorney for Durham, had this to say in qnotes, an LGBT arts, entertainment, and news publication based in Charlotte:

   Transcript “Our Day Out” was the very first march and rally in 1981, and yes I was there. It was fascinating because there weren’t very many of us marching down the street and a bunch of obviously very poor folks were looking at us very oddly.

   “Our Day Out” came in the wake of anti-gay attacks at the Little River in Durham, which resulted in the death of one man, Ron Antonevitch. But there were years of community organizing in other areas that made that first event possible.

   Many had been active in movements for other people’s rights—civil rights, all kinds of voter registration drives, protesting against racial discrimination, but it was after the Antonevitch murder that more public organizing around coming out as being gay began to happen.

9. 

   Folk Dancing, Early 1980s

   Arts + Culture

   Arts + Culture

   Folk Dancing, Early 1980s

   

   

   Nationally renowned gay activist Carl Wittman and his partner Allan Troxler led English and Scottish country dances in a “gender-free” style developed by Wittman, which allowed for people to dance together without having to follow traditional gender roles. These dances, which began in the early 1980s, were sometimes held specifically for gay men, providing an important community gathering space outside of gay bars.

10. 

    Triangle Women’s Karate Association/Triangle Women’s Martial Arts/SafeSkills Dojo 1982-2015

    Organizations + Businesses, Safety

    Organizations + Businesses, Safety

    Triangle Women’s Karate Association/Triangle Women’s Martial Arts/SafeSkills Dojo 1982-2015

    

    Life partners Kathy Hopwood and Beth Siegler founded Triangle Women’s Karate Association (later Triangle Women’s Martial Arts and then SafeSkills) in 1982 to provide a safe, independent space for women to train in self-defense and martial arts. Offering an alternative to the mostly militaristic, male-dominated schools, Hopwood and Siegler welcomed all ages and genders, with a focus was on women’s self-defense. They taught multitudes of people to create safety in their lives, including workshops for the LGBT community focused on hate crimes.

11. 

    Women’s Peace Walk, June 6-July 4, 1983

    Events, Politics + Activism

    Events, Politics + Activism

    Women’s Peace Walk, June 6-July 4, 1983

    

    Mandy Carter, staff person at the War Resisters League’s Southeast Regional Office and black lesbian political activist, organized the Women’s Peace Walk to draw attention to and protest the buildup of nuclear arms in Europe. The walk began in front of the Durham County Library and ended at the Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in Seneca, New York. Four Durham lesbians were among the women who completed the 600-plus mile walk.

12. 

    Common Woman Chorus, 1983-present

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses

    Common Woman Chorus, 1983-present

    

    Open to all women, the Common Woman Chorus performs concerts of progressive songs, including an appearance each year at the NC Pride Festival. The name comes from a Judy Grahn poem that reads, in part, “A common woman is as common as a common loaf of bread … and will rise.” The group allows lesbian and feminist women to sing together, share feminist culture, and have fun.

13. 

    Travis Place

    Organizations + Businesses

    Organizations + Businesses

    Travis Place

    

    

    On a cool New England evening in 1983, vacationing Durhamites including Ginger Travis and Carol Place began talking about the hassles of underwear—shopping for it and not being able to find what they liked. “Wouldn’t it be great,” Travis said, “if you could just buy it all by mail?” “Buy six pairs of underwear and get the seventh one free—a whole week’s worth,” Place said. “Sure would beat doing laundry so often.” Thus Travis Place was born, with the slogan, “Natural fibers for women from women” (adapted from the winter 1985-86 catalog). Travis Place, along with Ladyslipper Music and Francesca’s Dessert Caffé, were the first three Durham businesses to openly identify as lesbian owned.

14. 

    Out Today, Out to Stay, First Annual Pride March, June 28, 1986

    Events, Politics + Activism, Audio + Video Clips

    Events, Politics + Activism, Audio + Video Clips

    Out Today, Out to Stay, First Annual Pride March, June 28, 1986

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    A group that would become the Triangle Lesbian and Gay Alliance coordinated the first annual Pride march, 1986’s “Out Today, Out to Stay.” Between 600 and 1000 marchers went from Ninth Street to the Durham reservoir on Hillandale and Hillsborough Roads. With many straight allies joining in, this march solidified the links between Durham’s LGBTQ and progressive communities.

    June 1986—“Pride Month,” began with an LGBTQ-related literature display at the Durham County Library, which sparked considerable controversy. Mayor Wib Gulley signed a proclamation declaring the week of Pride “anti-discrimination week,” leading to a recall effort spearheaded by members of conservative churches, who formed an organization known as Durham Citizens for Responsible Leadership. Others collected signatures in support of the mayor, and the recall petition failed.

    “Ballad of Wib Gulley,” sung to the tune of “The Ballad of Jed Clampett”

    “Ballad of Jed Clampett” written and composed by Paul Henning; sung by Jerry Scoggins, accompanied by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

15. 

    Triangle Lesbian and Gay Alliance, founded 1986

    Organizations + Businesses, Events, Politics + Activism

    Organizations + Businesses, Events, Politics + Activism

    Triangle Lesbian and Gay Alliance, founded 1986

    

    

    

    The Triangle Lesbian and Gay Alliance (TLGA) formed after the 1986 march to organize future pride marches. Other activities the group engaged in included working to receive anti-discrimination protection for gays and lesbians from the Durham Human Relations Commission and involvement in Sharon Thompson's campaign for NC House. With the founding of the group, a new generation of younger activists became the drivers of the local movement.

    After the first pride festival, a wave of similar festivals was held across the state. For the next decade, PrideFest, organized by TLGA, alternated among several North Carolina cities before becoming an annual Triangle event in 2000, with the parade always held in Durham. In 2001 the festival moved from June to September. A list of the names of the yearly marches/parades can be found here.

16. 

    Great March on Washington, DC, October 11, 1987

    Organizations + Businesses, Events, Politics + Activism

    Organizations + Businesses, Events, Politics + Activism

    Great March on Washington, DC, October 11, 1987

    

    

    

    Over half a million people attended the second “March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights,” including a huge delegation from North Carolina, many of whom were from Durham. It has come to be called "The Great March" because of its size, scope, and historical significance. The AIDS quilt was displayed publicly for the first time at this event.

    Durham’s politically active LGBTQ community has had a strong presence at other marches on Washington, including the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, October 1993; the Millennium March on Washington, April 2000; and the National Equality March October 11, 2009.

17. 

    NC Lesbian and Gay Health Project and HIV/AIDS, 1982

    Organizations + Businesses, Family + Marriage, Health, Audio + Video Clips

    Organizations + Businesses, Family + Marriage, Health, Audio + Video Clips

    NC Lesbian and Gay Health Project and HIV/AIDS, 1982

    

    

    In 1982, a group of four Durham-based activists founded the North Carolina Lesbian and Gay Health Project (LGHP) in response to widespread stories of homophobic treatment by health care providers. The project was notable in being a collaboration between lesbians and gay men at at time when the two groups often maintained separate activities and organizations, and in being a project focused on gay health issues before the arrival of the AIDS crisis.

    In its early days LGHP created a telephone referral network and and presented “Homo 101” workshops to health care providers. With the onset of AIDS, much of their work began to focus on its impacts. LGHP supported the start-up of a number of other organizations focused on HIV, including the Piedmont HIV Health Care Consortium, the AIDS Community Residence Association, and ACT-UP/Triangle.

    Some local gay and lesbian activists held protests at the offices of the drug company Burroughs Wellcome in Research Triangle Park, NC. The corporation had developed AZT, an antiretroviral drug used against HIV/AIDS, and the activists charged that the prices were set too high to be accessible to many people who needed the medication to survive. For more information, see the NCLGHP papers at Duke University’s Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

    In this audio clip from oral history with Mignon Hooper, she speaks about how her time working at the National AIDS Hotline, then based in RTP, allowed her to develop relationships with people living with HIV.

    Transcript It was a way for me to connect with other people who were out and proud. I was out but not quite as proud because I was still fearful of all the vulnerabilities. But it was really great to be immersed in a group of folks who were proud of who they were, who were fighting this battle against HIV and AIDS together, and who were supporting each other in it. It was also a privilege to work with people who were living with HIV who helped me understand what it means to be a friend, a real friend, in those situations. And I became very good friends with a man by the name of Jim Cole, James [??] Cole, a man of Norwegian heritage. He and I became good friends; we were very, very close, and we were bosom buddies. At one point he said, “You know, if things were different, you and I probably would have been married.” And I said, “You’re probably right. Even though you’re a little bit of a wimp, you know. [laughter] You’d have to man up a little bit. But you’re probably right.” Because he was just such a love.

    And I met him as a co-worker, and in the end I was changing his diapers. Right down off of 15-501 in his cute little house. Friends and I were taking turns caring for him. He wanted to be in his home and not in a hospital or hospice center. And we cared for him, we took turns, we tag-teamed. And so we took turns, I would find someone to babysit my dog so I could go stay at his house. I would pay someone to babysit my dog, go stay at his house, and we bought baby monitors so we had baby monitors in each room. And so when I heard him getting up–even though I told him, “Do not try to get up without assistance.” Because he’d lost so much weight, even though he was like 6’3’’, he was too frail to try to walk. So I would walk him into the bathroom and let him stand there and I would step outside and tell him to call me when he was ready, and I’d walk him back to the bed.

    But it was an opportunity for me to understand the epidemic in a much more intimate way. And also to understand what it means not to be a queer separatist, a lesbian-feminist separatist. I was able to, first of all, befriend this man, and then absolutely love him, and then be there for him when his own family rejected him. The rejection for being queer didn’t come anywhere near the rejection for being infected with HIV, and told not to come home for future Christmases, because, “We have to think about the grandbabies, after all.”

    Excerpt from Mignon Hooper oral history, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library

18. 

    Black and White Men Together (BWMT)

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Politics + Activism, Health

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Politics + Activism, Health

    Black and White Men Together (BWMT)

    

    

    Several groups formed in the 1980s to address race in the LGBTQ+ community and create social, cultural, and educational spaces for African-American gays and lesbians. Among these were Black and White Men Together, led by partners Gary Lipscomb and Joseph Fedrowitz. The organization featured film nights, dances, educational play shops, sports-related events, and more for the community.

19. 

    Triangle Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Politics + Activism, Health

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Politics + Activism, Health

    Triangle Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays

    

    Several groups formed in the 1980s to address race in the LGBTQ+ community and create social, cultural, and educational spaces for African-American gays and lesbians. Among these were the Triangle Coalition for Black Lesbians and Gays, led by Mandy Carter and Gary Lipscomb.

20. 

    Carolina Pines Dojo, 1987-mid-2000s

    Organizations + Businesses, Safety

    Organizations + Businesses, Safety

    Carolina Pines Dojo, 1987-mid-2000s

    

    Many of the women involved in this school for training in the martial arts were lesbians, including the sensei (teacher) and her teacher in Ann Arbor, Michigan—an uncommon lineage in the mostly male martial arts community! The school embodied a national trend in women’s martial arts and self-defense schools and collectives, with a political take on sexism, self-defense, and women’s empowerment. Betsy Barton, a member of the dojo, says, “We did self-defense demonstrations at the Pride march, once while on a moving float. We also did demos at Centerfest and taught children’s karate for a few years at one point, when the kids of local lesbians that we knew and loved were old enough to attend.”

21. 

    City of Durham Nondiscrimination Policy, 1987

    Politics + Activism

    Politics + Activism

    City of Durham Nondiscrimination Policy, 1987

    

    

    In 1987, Betsy Barton joined the city of Durham’s Human Relations Commission, becoming the first openly lesbian or gay appointed or elected official in Durham. The commission held a public hearing for lesbian and gay people to share their stories of violence, harassment, and discrimination, with Triangle lesbians doing outreach to find people willing to provide testimony. As a result, the city quietly added six new categories, including sexual orientation, to its equal employment opportunity policy in late 1988. The Durham County Equal Employment Opportunity policy goes one step further and includes gender identity and expression. The city instituted domestic partner benefits in October 2002 and Durham County, in September 2003. Duke University first provided domestic partnership benefits in 1994.

22. 

    Our Own Place

    Organizations + Businesses, Publications

    Organizations + Businesses, Publications

    Our Own Place

    

    “Our Own Place,” a gathering space for lesbians located for several years on Watts Street, was the scene for events such as meetings, potlucks, and dances. It later moved to a building at the corner of Club and Broad Streets, then closed a year or two later.

23. 

    Southern Exposure magazine and the LGBTQ+ Community

    Organizations + Businesses, Publications

    Organizations + Businesses, Publications

    Southern Exposure magazine and the LGBTQ+ Community

    

    For nearly four decades, the Institute for Southern Studies’ journal Southern Exposure has been a leading source for hard-hitting investigations and thoughtful coverage of the South. See two issues from the 1980s with LGBTQ+ content:

    • Southern Exposure: A Journal of Politics & Culture, Vol. XVI No. 3
    • Southern Exposure: A Journal of Politics & Culture, Vol. XIII
24. 

    Real Women Productions, 1986-1990

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses

    Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses

    Real Women Productions, 1986-1990

    

    

    When Ladyslipper stopped producing concerts, Real Women Productions—Mandy Carter, Lucy Harris, Cheri Sistek, and Cris South—began to fill the void. The group produced music, comedy, and dance events, many in conjunction with Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists, War Resisters League/Southeast, and North Carolina Senate Vote 90.

• Before the 1970s
• The 1970s
• The 1980s
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• The 2000s
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