Arlene Voski Avakian

ARMENIAN-AMERICAN ACADEMIC IN WOMEN'S STUDIES

Northampton, MA

Arlene Voski Avakian was born in 1939 to an Iranian Armenian father and a Turkish Armenian mother who was a survivor of the Armenian genocide....
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Terry Baum

Author and playwright; founder, Lilith Theater

San Francisco, CA

Terry Baum was born November 27, 1946 in Los Angeles. She describes her early life in LA as a “reasonably happy Jewish middle-class childhood.” During...
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Ada Bello

Cuban-American chemist and lesbian activist

Philadelphia, PA

Ada Bello was born into a middle-class family in 1933 in Havana, Cuba. Aware from early on that she was attracted to girls, she also...
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JD Doyle

LGBTQ+ MUSIC / CULTURE PRESERVATIONIST

Houston, TX

JD Doyle was born on September 24, 1947 in Salem, Ohio. Growing up, JD discovered a passion for chemistry, and later earned his degree in...
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Elana Dykewomon

lesbian novelist, fat activist

Oakland, CA

Elana Dykewomon was born on October 11, 1949 in New York. She grew up in a Jewish American household, with a father who fought in...
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Beth Elliott

TRANS LESBIAN FOLK SINGER, ACTIVIST, WRITER

Oakland, CA

Beth Elliott was born on November 26, 1950 in Vallejo, California. As a child, she experienced a feeling of being at odds with her gender....
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Arden Eversmeyer

founder, old lesbian oral history project

Houston, TX

Arden Eversmeyer was born on April 4, 1931, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. She moved with her parents and younger sister to Dallas, Texas in 1943....
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Jewelle Gomez

black lesbian vampire novelist

San Francisco, CA

Jewelle Gomez was born on September 11, 1948 and grew up in Boston. Jewelle is of Cape Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway descent, and was largely raised by her...
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Linda Gryczan

Lead Plaintiff to Legalize Gay Sex in Montana

Helena, MT

Linda Gryczan was born on September 23rd, 1953, the oldest of five siblings, and grew up in Western Colorado. At 11 years old, she read...
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Loraine Hutchins

bisexual activist, writer, educator

Takoma Park, MD

Loraine Hutchins was born in the late 1940s in Washington, DC. She graduated with a degree in English and American Literature in 1970 from Shimer...
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Lani Ka’ahumanu

bisexual/feminist activist and author

Cazadero, CA

Lani Ka’ahumanu was born in Edmonton, Alberta and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lani is known today as one of the major...
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Trella Ann Laughlin

international human rights filmmaker and activist

Eureka Springs, AR

TrellaLaughlin was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1937. After her mother died, Trellagrew up in her grandmother’s boarding house. Trella’s family was white. Her primary...
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Carol Lease

Feminist and AIDS advocacy leader

Denver, CO

Carol Lease was born in Denver, Colorado in 1948, the third of nine children in a staunchly Catholic family. In 1966, she headed off to...
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Holly Near

Groundbreaking folk and protest musician

Ukiah, CA

Holly Near was born on June 6th, 1949 in Potter Valley, California, a remote enclave in Mendocino County, and grew up on a farm where...
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Torie Osborn

Political and non-profit activist

Santa Monica, CA

Torie Osborn was born in 1950 in Copenhagen, Denmark, and moved with her family to Madrid, Spain at the age of five. In Madrid, Torie...
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Cheryl Qamar

Lebanese-American therapist, former lesbian separatist

Saugerties, NY

Cheryl Qamar was born on October 17, 1950 in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up on the east side of Wichita–the only Arab family on that...
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