Latest News

02-20-07  

SLDN Remembers Gay Rights Pioneer Barbara Gittings

WASHINGTON, DC – Barbara Gittings, a pioneering lesbian and gay civil rights activists, died Sunday in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, according to her partner of 46 years, Kay Tobin Lahusen.   

Gittings’ activism began in 1958, when she founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, a national lesbian organization. In 1965, she was part of the first gay picket of the White House, Pentagon and other federal buildings and sites in the nation’s capital. In the 1970s, she successfully campaigned, along with other activists, to remove homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders. She also helped to found the Gay Task Force of the American Library Association, the first gay caucus in a professional organization. She was honored, in 2003, with an honorary lifetime membership by the American Library Assocation, for her work to eliminate discrimination in libraries and make gay materials available to library visitors.

“Barbara Gittings took one of the very first steps in the LGBT community’s journey toward equality,” said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). “A tireless activist who dedicated her life to equal opportunity, Barbara tore down countless walls of discrimination and broke through glass ceiling after glass ceiling. She refused to be considered second-class by the White House, the Pentagon or the country. Her work moved our community immeasurably forward and her passion inspired others to stand up, step forward and come out. She will be greatly missed.”

Along with her partner Lahausen, Gittings is survived by her sister, Eleanor Gittings Taylor, of San Diego. A wreath laying ceremony in Gittings’ honor will be held today at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall.

Click here to read the original article.