Research Guides: Barbara Gittings: Biography

Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 - February 18, 2007)

Gittings was among the half-dozen LGB activists who took on the American Psychiatric Association in 1971 and helped convince the organization to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness. Using negotiations, panel discussions, and confrontation tactics, Gittings, Lahusen, Franklin Kameny, and others pressed for constructive dialogue between mental health professionals and nonpatient LGB people. In the 1970s Gittings was on the first boards of directors for the National Gay Task Force (later known as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) and the Gay Rights National Lobby. She also served on the Pennsylvania Council for Sexual Minorities, the first official government body devoted to LGB issues. Continue . . .

Source: Capsuto, Steven. "Gittings, Barbara and Kay Tobin Lahusen." Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History in America, edited by Marc Stein, vol. 1, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004, pp. 458-459. From Gale Virtual Reference database.

Ebooks

Resources

Gay Liberation: From Task Force to Round Table Interviews activist and library advocate Barbara Gittings. Relationship with librarians; Issue of discrimination and the gay rights movement in the United States; Coming out in protest activities in the 1960s; Role of the library in protecting gay interests; Experience in networking with the American Library Association; How she would like to be remembered.
Barbara Gittings: Gay Pioneer Article by Tracy Baim
Barbara Gittings, 74, Prominent Gay Rights Activist Since '50s Barbara Gittings, a prominent gay rights activist who a decade before the Stonewall rebellion of 1969 was agitating for the rights of lesbians and gay men, died on Feb. 18 at her home in Kennett Square, Pa. She was 74. The cause was breast cancer, said her partner, Kay Tobin Lahusen.
Making Gay History: Episode 09 - Gittings & Lahusen Making History Podcast.
Barbara Gittings: Mother of the Gay Rights Movement Barbara Gittings was a lover of books. She realized, from a young age, that she also loved girls. So when, in 1949, she left Wilmington, Delaware to attend Northwestern University, she did what any bookish young lesbian would do: research homosexuality in the school’s library. What Gittings found was not comforting.
Losing a Founding Mother The article presents an obituary for gay rights activist Barbara Gittings.
Gittings, Barbara and Kay Tobin Lahusen Encyclopedia entry in Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History in America (Vol. 1. ).
Barbara Gittings, February 2, 1993 Marc Stein Interview with Barbara Gittings (and Kay Lahusen), 2 February 1993. Transcribed by Abby M. Schrader, Tracy Nathan, and Marc Stein.
Barbara Gittings tells Vito Russo Gay is Good During an interview with Vito Russo, lesbian activist Barbara Gittings remembered her QueeRevolutionary beginnings and when she learned "Gay is Good" which everyone should remember today.
The History of Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ Advocacy of Barbara Gittings In 1970, bisexual activist Brenda Howard organized the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March, marking the one-year anniversary of New York City’s Stonewall Uprising. The Uprising referred to a six-day clash between young gay, lesbian, and transgender New Yorkers and the New York Police Department, following NYPD’s raid of the Stonewall Tavern on Christopher Street. LGBTQ+ magazine The Advocate has since identified that march as the first Pride Parade held in the world.
Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin, Tape 1 of 3, February 20, 1988 Barbara Gittings talks about her life and her history with the Daughters of Bilitis. She served as the National Corresponding Secretary for DoB, and helped run the NYC chapter when she was living in Philadelphia. Despite that, she frequently criticizes DoB positions and found herself to be more radical in her approach to activism.