Msn.com posted an article today about a lesbian couple in San Francisco that will finally be able to get married after 55 years of being together. The only thing more impressive than the ladies' 55 year long relationship, is their history as activists for gay and lesbian rights. The women formed the first major lesbian organization in the United States, the "Daughters of Bilitis". From there they were major participants in the National Organization for Women, the Alice B Toklas Democratic Club, and the Old Lesbians Organizing for Change. The women also have a clinic named in their honor, the Lyon-Martin Health Services, that provides non judgemental and affordable health care. The clinic also provides case management and primary health care in programs specifically designed for very low-income and uninsured women with HIV.
Reading about this couple and their accomplishments makes me proud to be a woman. I'm also proud to live in a country where barriers are being torn down daily. Ideally there would be no barriers at all and I'd get to live in Portland with The Boyfriend, my family, as many labrador retrievers as I wanted, a little long haired chihuahua named Fritz and make enough money to live happily doing a job in science I love. But the world isn't perfect. Still, I consider myself fortunate to live in a country that is progressing closer to no longer being bound by racism, sexism, or homophobia.
Wikipedia was a source of information for this post.
1 comment:
This is beautifully written. :) The story of those two women brought tears to my eyes. Yesterday? Yesterday was a good, good day for equality and progress.
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