Gay Women’s Alternative Schedules [1974, 1979-1981]

New York: Gay Women’s Alternative, 1974, 1979-1981. Five sheets, each 8 ½ x 11 in. Four printed double-sided; two printed to rectos only. All very good to near fine, with orange pencil annotations and some spotting to April-May 1981 calendar. Item #10330

Five calendars of events for the Gay Women’s Alternative at the Universalist Church in New York City, beginning in 1974 and ending in 1981, with all but one from 1979-1981. 

Founded by Kay Tobin Lahusen and Barbara Gittings in 1973, the Gay Women’s Alternative met weekly on Thursdays throughout much of the decade to provide a space for lesbians in New York City to access political education, cultural events, and get plugged into the wider community. The group gathered prominent speakers across a variety of topics; the schedules here detail discussions of open marriage; lectures on feminist mythology; a women’s health fair; solstice celebrations; a talk with Andrea Dworkin about feminism and fiction; readings from lesbian poets and artists such as Fran Winan, Marilyn Hacker, and Joan Larker; lectures from Gloria Steinem, Tennessee Williams, Joan Nestle; and much more.

Lahusen – the first openly gay photojournalist – was a key figure in the early years of the post-Stonewall gay liberation movement: she was the only woman co-founder of the Gay Activists Alliance; the author of The Gay Crusaders, the first collection of short biographies of gay rights pioneers; and a prominent gay rights activist over the course of the following decades. The Gay Women’s Alternative in New York inspired lesbian organizing around the country, directly leading to the creation of a Gay Women’s Alternative in Washington, DC.

A small collection illuminating the events of a major lesbian social and educational space in 1970s-80s New York.

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