Gay and lesbian communities in the Triangle grew dramatically in size and visibility in the 1970s. A number of activist groups sprang up in the early part of the decade, but didn’t have much staying power. Campus groups found more lasting success, the first of which was the Duke Gay Alliance (DGA) in 1972.
Seeking a place to discuss issues specific to women, some members of DGA created the Lesbian Rap Group, which later split off and became the Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists. This segregation based on gender would come to characterize most of the LGBTQ+ organizing of the period, with middle-class white people the most visible to the population as a whole.
While Durham lesbians went on to form a vibrant social and political community, much of the organizing by gay men was done in Raleigh and Chapel Hill. The smaller size of the gay population at the time meant that groups often had members from across the Triangle. One such group was Triangle Area Gay Scientists (TAGS), which was formed in 1977 and would become one of the longest-running LGBTQ+ groups in the area. A group of activists tried to create more community cohesion through the Triangle Area Gay Communication and Planning Committee in 1979, and the same year, the North Carolina Human Rights Fund was established to provide financial and legal aid to gays who were being prosecuted for violation of Crimes against Nature laws.
Feminary, vol. 9, no. 10. In 1973, the Feminist Newsletter began publishing every other week, changing its name to Feminary in 1974. North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
In 1973, the Feminist Newsletter (which continued in the tradition of the previous and irregularly published Research Triangle Women’s Liberation Newsletter) began publishing every other week, changing its name to Feminary in 1974. Beginning in 1977, Feminary changed to a journal format and evolved into “a feminist journal of the South emphasizing the lesbian vision.”
These publications included reviews of books, magazines, art shows, films, and records; essays and viewpoint and opinion pieces; local and national women’s news; announcements by women’s groups; interviews with local women; creative writing; free ads, and a calendar of events. From the days of stencils and mimeograph machines through desktop publishing, these publications were instrumental in presenting and discussing timely issues (personal and political), publicizing local events, and creating a vibrant lesbian feminist community.
Connie Leeper speaks to growing up poor, black, female, and same-gender-loving in rural North Carolina in the 1970s, and the ways in which people with multiple marginalized identities face intersecting oppressions.
Transcript So, being out, for me, is the last frontier of oppressions that I have internalized, first beginning with my own race and ethnicity, and trying to overcome and shed some of the negative narratives that I was inculcated with and made me feel less than, and always made me feel like the other. And then the other one had to do with my gender, internalizing, in my community that was a very religious community, patriarchy, and men being more valuable than women, boys being more valuable than girls. And then, the third frontier for me was my social class, having grown up poor. And when I say poor, I mean rural community, mill town, Kannapolis, North Carolina, dirt road, outhouse. That’s meaning, the bathroom is outside the house, poor. And being very clear that to overcome the shame around that was a part of my journey to wholeness. And so the last frontier of those intersections of oppression that I had internalized was my own same-gender-loving, my own queerness. And so being out, to me, means that I’m always one step closer to that whole person, to that authentic person that I want to be. And it has been the hardest place to stay out in… . But for me, being able to overcome the internalized negative messages about being same-gender-loving, being out, for me, is an act of courage in the face of all those negative messages.
“Coming Out in the South” panel, April 22, 2012, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
The Feminist Newsletter/Feminary
Arts + Culture, Publications
Arts + Culture, Publications
The Feminist Newsletter/Feminary
Feminary, vol. 9, no. 10. 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. North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
In 1973, the Feminist Newsletter (which continued in the tradition of the previous and irregularly published Research Triangle Women’s Liberation Newsletter) began publishing every other week, changing its name to Feminary in 1974. Beginning in 1977, Feminary changed to a journal format and evolved into “a feminist journal of the South emphasizing the lesbian vision.”
These publications included reviews of books, magazines, art shows, films, and records; essays and viewpoint and opinion pieces; local and national women’s news; announcements by women’s groups; interviews with local women; creative writing; free ads, and a calendar of events. From the days of stencils and mimeograph machines through desktop publishing, these publications were instrumental in presenting and discussing timely issues (personal and political), publicizing local events, and creating a vibrant lesbian feminist community.
Durham Women’s Radio Collective (DWRC), 1971-circa 1980
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Durham Women’s Radio Collective (DWRC), 1971-circa 1980
DWRC member reads copy on the air. WDBS Collection, Box 3, August 1974 program guide, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University
DWRC produced short (three-minute) broadcasts called “Women’s Voices” that were played twice daily throughout the week. Topics included lesbians with children, movie reviews with a feminist slant, women’s poetry, and health issues. The collective, which also hosted the three-hour “Women’s Music Show" on Sunday evenings, was probably the first station to air lesbian commentary and music in North Carolina. The programs were aired on WDBS-FM, which broadcasted from Duke University’s East Campus.
DWRC provided a way for women to get experience in broadcasting and communicate to the wider community about issues important to them. Lesbians were always a part of the collective. Two of the founding members went on to work in public radio in Georgia and California.
Whole Women Carologue: A Guide to Resources for Women in North Carolina, 1974
Publications
Publications
Whole Women Carologue: A Guide to Resources for Women in North Carolina, 1974
North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
Written by a collective of straight and lesbian women, this resource guide included articles on women’s liberation and covered a broad spectrum of topics including health, athletics, children, politics, the law, aging, lesbians, women’s studies, and women’s spaces, and featured a list of organizational contacts by county. Showcasing women writers, artists, and photographers, it was a tangible guide to the emerging women’s movement in North Carolina.
The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and its Durham Women’s Center, 1973-1974-circa 1983
The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) and its Durham Women’s Center, 1973-1974-circa 1983
Newsletter of the Women’s Center at the YWCA. Young Women’s Christian Association Records, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke UniversityThe YWCA at 513 West Chapel Hill Street, where the Durham Women’s Center was located. Durham Historic Photographic Archives, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
By opening its doors and welcoming lesbians, the YWCA was the first mainstream organization to foster the growth of Durham’s lesbian feminist community. It was often the first place women looked to find out what was going on and was a place where lesbians and straight women worked together to explore feminism and create new organizations to improve women’s lives. The Y was the birthplace of other women-focused organizations, many of which lesbian feminists helped to found, including the Durham Women’s Health Collective. The Durham Women’s Center was cofounded by Suzi Woodard, Susan Cartmell, Meri-Li Douglas, Joyce Wistnet, and Gilna Nance, who headed the organization. The Women’s Center produced a newsletter; hosted workshops in subjects as diverse as car repair, carpentry, women’s history, and southern women authors; and sponsored consciousness-raising (CR) groups and a feminist theory group. It held annual celebrations for International Women’s Day and maintained the Women’s Resource Center, which featured a large library. Learn more about Gilna Nance here.
Durham Women’s Health Collective (DWHC) (later Durham Women’s Health Cooperative) founded 1974
Organizations + Businesses, Health
Organizations + Businesses, Health
Durham Women’s Health Collective (DWHC) (later Durham Women’s Health Cooperative) founded 1974
Flyer advertising DWHC hours and services Gilna Nance Papers, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University
Based on similar programs in Berkeley and Boston, DWHC provided information to women about health care issues and doctors (particularly ob/gyns), trained volunteer health counselors, provided referrals and problem pregnancy counseling, and offered pregnancy tests. Learn more about the Durham Women’s Health Collective here.
Members of Women’s Health Teaching Group (WHTG), a subgroup of DWHC, served as models to guide medical students in how to give proper, respectful pelvic exams. Even simple suggestions such as warming the metal speculum before inserting it would improve a woman’s experience. By teaching doctors-in-training (most of them male) how to give exams, the WHTG improved the experience of women seeking health care.
Go to this Duke University site for more history and interviews with DWHC and WHTG members:
Orange-Durham Coalition for Battered Women (ODCBW), now Durham Crisis Response Center, circa 1976–present
The Coalition for Battered Women first counseled and later also provided shelter for survivors of domestic violence, and offered other services including educational sessions for members of the police force, men who were abusers, and other groups such as churches and women’s clubs. Lesbians were an integral part of the creation of ODCBW and served on its board and in leadership positions. The first organization in Durham to provide help for women experiencing domestic violence, ODCBW literally saved women’s lives.
Sources: Anderson, Jean. Durham County. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2011, p. 386. Interview with Joanne Abel, former board member, Durham Crisis Response Center.
Durham Rape Crisis Center (DRCC), now Durham Crisis Response Center, 1978 to date
Durham Rape Crisis Center (DRCC), now Durham Crisis Response Center, 1978 to date
The women’s movement set the stage for the anti-rape movement of the 1970s, in which rape was redefined as an act of violence carried out to assert power and domination, rather than as a sex crime. From its beginnings, the DRCC provided support services for rape survivors, including a hotline, and lobbied newspapers not to print names of rape victims in the paper. Lesbians were integrally involved in creating DRCC, serving on the board and in positions of leadership. It merged with Orange-Durham Coalition for Battered Women in 2001 to become the Durham Crisis Response Center: Domestic and Sexual Violence Services.
Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists (TALF), 1973-1988
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists (TALF), 1973-1988
Mandy Carter Papers, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University
TALF originated on Duke University’s East Campus as the Lesbian Rap Group, part of the Duke Gay Alliance. In order to reach a wider community of women, the group moved off campus, regrouped as the Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists, and began meeting at the YWCA on West Chapel Hill Street. With the closing of the Chapel Hill Street Y, TALF met at the Tubman Y on Umstead Street and then for many years at the Y on Proctor Street. Before its demise around the end of 1988, TALF met briefly at the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship as plans for Our Own Place, a lesbian space, were evolving.
TALF had monthly meetings on wide-ranging topics—secretarial work, politics, lesbian mothers, and violence against women, for example. Any topic that someone wanted to present got the green light. TALF filled an important social role, organizing potluck dinners and several dances a year—often at Halloween, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day. This pivotal organization was a space for women who came mainly to socialize with other lesbians and also for the more politically oriented to organize around a variety of issues.
Audio clip about going to women’s dances at the YWCA
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Audio + Video Clips
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Audio + Video Clips
Audio clip about going to women’s dances at the YWCA
Mandy Carter Papers, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University
In this selection from a 2012 oral history, Lucy Harris remembers going to the women’s dances held at the YWCA.
Transcript Before that time, when we would have women’s dances, women would come from all over the state, because this was the only place in the state that had anything other than bars. And so, we had a lot of the dances at the YW[CA], which is now Camelot Academy. Do you know Camelot Academy on Vickers? It’s not very big. And, but, it had a porch all the way around, and the place would be just, like, overflowing with women who literally came from all over the state. A lot of women from Fort Bragg, from military bases would come. It would be the only time they could be out in the world.
Not many straight people went to those dances. (laughs) It was very funny, this friend of mine picked me up to go to a dance, and I said, “It’s so nice that I’m not the only straight woman that goes to the dances.” And I assumed she was straight, and she wasn’t! (laughs) She got a big kick out of that. But, yeah, there were some straight and bi women who would come to the dances. And my son came to just about every dance. He was kind of the little mascot. He loved it.
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
Great Southeastern Lesbian Conference, Atlanta, May 24-26, 1975, and the “Atlanta Five”
Great Southeastern Lesbian Conference, Atlanta, May 24-26, 1975, and the “Atlanta Five”
Twenty to thirty Triangle women made the trip to Atlanta for the first Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance-sponsored conference, the theme of which was “Building a Lesbian Community.” Five Durham women were arrested late one night at a coffee shop, officially charged with “creating turmoil and criminal trespassing,” but apparently the charges were largely based on their appearance and talking back to an undercover officer. Lesbians at the conference raised funds for the $1,100 dollar per person bonds and lawyers’ fees and charges were dropped. This run-in with the law reinforced to many that being a lesbian could be dangerous and made the need to organize even more important to many Triangle Area Lesbian Feminist members.
First Southeastern Gay Conference, 1976, Chapel Hill
Events
Events
First Southeastern Gay Conference, 1976, Chapel Hill
Three hundred people attended the first Southeastern Gay Conference, which was co-sponsored by the Carolina Gay Association, Duke Gay Alliance, and Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists. Under the name “Southeastern Conference for Lesbians and Gay Men” in 1977, attendance doubled to 600. It moved around the South for conferences three through nine, returning to Chapel Hill for its 10th anniversary.
Triangle Area Gay Scientists (TAGS), 1977 to present
Triangle Area Gay Scientists (TAGS), 1977 to present
TAGS newsletter, Sep. 2012 Courtesy Martin Fowler
One of the longest-running LGBTQ+ organizations in the Triangle, this group of scientists and science-friendly friends gathers at monthly potlucks in members' homes throughout Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. These social events provide a way for like-minded people to meet in a safe environment. See their website here.
First National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, October 14, 1979
First National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, October 14, 1979
The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights helped nationalize the movement for civil rights for LGBTQ+ people. A number of Durhamites made the journey and marched with others from North Carolina.
RFD: A Country Journal for Gay Men Everywhere
Arts + Culture, Publications
Arts + Culture, Publications
RFD: A Country Journal for Gay Men Everywhere
Fall 1978 issue of RFD, printed in Efland, NC. Joseph Fedrowitz Papers, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
RFD: A Country Journal for Gay Men Everywhere is a reader-written quarterly magazine focused on gay country living and alternative lifestyles. Several local gay men were involved in the creation of RFD, and two issues from the 1970s were printed in Durham.
Whole Women Press, 1976-1981
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Publications, Politics + Activism
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Publications, Politics + Activism
Whole Women Press, 1976-1981
Whole Women Press-published book, Break de Chains of legalized U.$. Slavery.North Carolina Collection, Durham County LibraryWhole Women Press-published book, Break de Chains of legalized U.$. Slavery.North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
Leslie Kahn and Nancy Blood founded Whole Women Press as a way for lesbian feminists to control their own stories and print items important to them. In addition to small jobs for local feminist organizations and businesses, they printed Break de Chains of Legalized U. $. Slavery—a book written by women incarcerated at the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women in Raleigh and compiled and distributed by a coalition of members of Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists and the North Carolina Hard Times Prison Project in 1976. They also printed Sleeping Beauty: A Lesbian Fairy Tale by Vicki Gabriner, Sign Language by Monica Raymond, Crazy Quilt by Susan Wood Thompson, and a number of issues of the journals Feminary and Sinister Wisdom. Other women who ran the press over time were Eleanor Holland, Cris South, and Jackie T.
Ladyslipper Inc. (formerly Ladyslipper Music) and Women’s Music, 1976-present
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Ladyslipper Inc. (formerly Ladyslipper Music) and Women’s Music, 1976-present
Ladyslipper holiday catalog, winter 1991-1992. Joanne Abel Papers, LGBTQ Collection, North Carolina Collection, Durham County LibraryTeresa Trull concert flyer, November 1986. Trull was from Durham and wrote her song “Woman-Loving Women” for the members of Triangle Area Lesbian Feminists. Ladyslipper, Inc., Papers, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke UniversityUbaka Hill concert flyer. From The Newsletter vol. 12(4), Mandy Carter Papers, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University
Ladyslipper began as a four-page resource guide devoted to the musical accomplishments of women artists. The goal of its founders, Laurie Fuchs and Joanne Abel, was to create a comprehensive guide to all the recordings women had ever made, a task that proved harder than they expected, since there were hundreds of thousands, if not millions, very few of which could be found in research libraries at the time. In addition to cataloging women’s music and offering many of the items in its catalogs for sale, Ladyslipper produced concerts and recorded artists on the Ladyslipper Music label. Today, the Ladyslipper Music Online Catalog and Resource Guide contains listings for over 10,000 current and past titles by a wide range of female musicians, writers, comics, and composers. At its peak, hundreds of thousands of recordings were being distributed to individuals, stores, distributors, schools and libraries annually; hundreds of thousands of copies of the annotated Ladyslipper Catalog & Resource Guide of Music by Women were being mailed out three times a year; revenues were over $2 million a year; and 16 women were employed full time, in addition to several part-timers and seasonal workers.
The Ladyslipper catalog was often the only source to which rural and closeted lesbians could turn to learn about and have access to the musical side of lesbian culture. It was also one of the reasons many lesbians moved to Durham. They often first heard of the Bull City through the catalog and left their geographically and socially isolated homes for a place more welcoming.
Kathy Tomyris’s Olivia Distribution, Durham's first women’s music distribution enterprise, merged with Ladyslipper in 1977. From 1977 through the mid-1980s, Ladyslipper produced concerts featuring many female artists including Alix Dobkin, Cris Williamson, Holly Near, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Alive!, and Margie Adam. Women from all over North Carolina flocked to these concerts to hear music that spoke to their lives. Learn more about Ladyslipper through their website.
Pocket Theater and Desperadoes, 1976
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses
Pocket Theater and Desperadoes, 1976
Coke Ariail Papers, North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library
In 1975 Rebecca Ranson and Coke Ariail founded Pocket Theater, focusing on original and experimental plays. On March 25, 1976, the world premiere of Ranson’s play Desperadoes, about a woman exploring lesbian relationships, opened at the theater’s Main Street venue. In a clear sign of the times, the review in Duke University’s student newspaper, The Chronicle, never mentions the theme.
After its successful first run, Ranson revised Desperadoes and added music by Lisa Uyanik for a new production. It was performed in Durham again in 1977 and then traveled to New York, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Durham’s rich heritage of LGBTQ+ theater productions could be said to start with this groundbreaking production.
Bars in the 1970s and early 80s
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Audio + Video Clips
Arts + Culture, Organizations + Businesses, Audio + Video Clips
Bars in the 1970s and early 80s
Bars played an important role in the lives of many lesbians and gay men. They saw them as a refuge from homophobia, a place where they could be themselves and show intimacy in a way that they couldn’t in the outside world. LGBTQ+ folks could dance, hold hands, and kiss in these safe spaces. In the 1970s some members-only bars openly discriminated against people of color, and African Americans would sometimes ask whites to invite them as a guest in order to gain entrance. Older lesbians have shared fond memories of dancing the night away at these bars.
In this clip, Larry Wright speaks about the gender segregation that he saw when he went to local gay bars in the 1970s, before Pride marches started in North Carolina.
Transcript One thing that it does strike me is that there was a a lesbian bar, but the two didn’t mix like they do now. You know, when you’d have—we’d certainly have drag queens, you know, and there’d be … (trails off). And it seems to be that the drag queens attract, the drag shows attract women. But it just didn’t seem like they came into the men’s bars, and the men didn’t go into the women’s. There just wasn’t—And I think a lot [of what changed] had to do with the Pride [marches] and the things where people came together and registered as a common body their willingness to show pride in who they were. And I think that a lot of that brought people together.
Audio clip from oral history with Mignon Hooper, who speaks about going to the bar called 42nd Street, which later became the Power Company, and how welcoming it was to people from all walks of life.
Transcript But you’ll hear older gay and lesbians throughout the state who used to go say, “Girl, do you remember The Power Company? Ooh, do you remember how we danced in there?” And it was like people would dance as if there were no tomorrow, and they would dance until three or four o’clock in the morning. But it became a place where, because of the openness for people who were in whatever place on the spectrum of queer, it became a place where those who were not welcome in other venues were allowed to be there. So you had mixed-race couples who came there because they didn’t have to deal with the sneers and vicious attacks from folks who didn’t approve of mixed-race relationships, particularly black/white relationships. And you had folks who were immigrants who would come, because no one cared if you were an immigrant, and you had older folks who heard about it and came. So I had professors from the Economics department [at North Carolina Central University]–I remember a professor and he and his wife were there. And he saw me and he goes, ‘Hi! Isn’t this place great? My wife and I, we really love it!’ I was like, “Perpetrator! [laughter] We can’t have anything! You know, what’s ours is yours, what’s yours is yours. Come on, man, is nothing sacred?”
But everyone was welcome there, and you would see some of everyone there. People would come in after their wedding reception was over and people still wanted to party, and the bride and groom and whole wedding party would come in there and dance. But it was a very welcoming place in that way. And that was a big part of my orientation to Durham, and I met so many people there from so many different walks of life. So many different professions and aspiring professions. So there were professional contacts, social contacts, romantic contacts, and it just became a major hub for the city of Durham.
John Snells
Arts + Culture
Arts + Culture
John Snells
The Carolina Times, Durham, NC, p. 5A, Nov. 4, 1972
Soul singer John Snells performed in gospel choirs and at nightclubs in the early 1970s. He sometimes performed in drag with the tagline, “The He, the She, the It,” fronting a group of gender-bending performers called the Rocksteady Dancers. He was also involved with the Duplex Black Gold Music Program, which assisted black artists in producing, owning, and selling their own music and talent.
Women’s Sports, 1970s and 80s
Arts + Culture
Arts + Culture
Women’s Sports, 1970s and 80s
Many lesbians found community playing on Durham County Parks and Recreation teams. Generally a mix of lesbian and straight women, the numerous teams included the Red Zingers (sponsored by the vegetarian restaurant Somethyme), Diamond Lil’s, Safe Sox, Wee Shop, and Our Gang—all softball teams; the Flames, Old Flames, and Bulls, who played soccer; and Ladyslipper, a basketball team. Meg Christian, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, captured this feeling of community in her classic song, “Ode to a Gym Teacher.” In Atlanta, the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance softball team would stand with their caps over their hearts and play this song before each game.
LGBTQ+ Families
Family + Marriage
Family + Marriage
LGBTQ+ Families
Coming out before the mid-1990s usually meant losing child custody and often visiting rights. In the 1970s and 80s the lesbian community of Chapel Hill and Durham had fundraisers to help mothers with court expenses. By the 1990s in the Triangle, lesbian and gay parents had a much better chance of keeping their children and receiving fair treatment.
Before the 1980s, most children in LGBTQ+ families were from previous heterosexual relationships. Beginning in the 1980s some lesbians chose to become parents by insemination with sperm of a known or anonymous donor, and both lesbians and gay men carried out single-parent adoptions, then parented the adopted child jointly with their partner. However, regardless of how same-sex couples had children, only one parent was a legal parent and no laws protected the parental rights of the other parent. To insure that both parents would have rights to their children, many different legal approaches were tried, with varying degrees of success. It was not until 2004 that attorney Sharon Thompson, a Durham family law practitioner and former state legislator, developed the legal basis of second-parent adoption to address this problem. She estimates that over 300 children were adopted from 2004 to 2010, when the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that second parent adoptions were not permitted under NC law.
Even after the United States Supreme Court decision holding that states cannot prohibit marriages between same-sex couples, same-sex parents still face problems and challenges in establishing legal parentage for both parents. Although both parents now may be listed on a child's birth certificate, the parental rights of the non-biological parent can still be challenged. Because of this possibility, non-biological parents still need to do a step-parent adoption.
