Barbara Gittings

Barbara Gittings was a brave leader.

Long ago, many people were treated unfairly. Barbara wanted to help them. She started a group for women in New York.

She also worked on a magazine. She wanted to share true stories. This helped people learn about each other.

Barbara worked to change unfair rules. She wanted people to be treated well at work. She also worked with libraries. She wanted books to be kind to everyone.

She helped people see that being different is okay. Her hard work changed the world for the better.

Barbara Gittings was a leader for civil rights.

She fought for people who were treated unfairly.

In 1958, she started a group in New York. This group was for the Daughters of Bilitis. She also ran a magazine called The Ladder. She wanted to show real stories of gay women.

Barbara worked to change unfair laws. In 1965, she marched near the White House. She and Frank Kameny protested against bad rules at work. They wanted the government to stop treating people poorly for who they love.

She also worked with libraries. She wanted books to have positive stories. She joined a task force at the American Library Association. This group helped people find good books.

In the 1970s, she worked to change how doctors saw people. At that time, many thought being gay was a sickness. Barbara helped prove that it was not an illness. This changed how doctors treated people. Her work helped make the world a fairer place.

Barbara Gittings was a famous activist for LGBTQ rights in America.

She spent her life fighting for fairness and respect. Many people call her the "Rosa Parks" of the movement. She wanted to change how the world saw people who love the same gender. Her work helped many people live more open and honest lives. She was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1932. Her father worked as a diplomat for the United States there.

In the 1950s, Gittings began to lead important groups. She traveled to California and met women named Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. They had started a group called the Daughters of Bilitis. In 1958, Gittings started a new chapter of this group in New York City. She served as the first president of the New York chapter for three years.

She also helped run a magazine called The Ladder. As the editor from 1963 to 1966, she changed the magazine to show real photos of lesbians. She wanted the magazine to tackle hard topics for people to debate.

Barbara also led protests to change unfair government rules. In 1965, she marched near the White House and the State Department. She wanted to stop the government from firing people for being gay. She worked closely with a man named Frank Kameny on these efforts. Together, they led the Annual Reminder protests at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. These protests happened every July 4th until the Stonewall Riots in 1969. They wore buttons that said "Gay is Good" to spread their message.

During the 1970s, Gittings focused on libraries and doctors. She joined a task force at the American Library Association in 1970. She wanted libraries to have positive books about gay and lesbian people. She even ran a kissing booth at a big meeting in Dallas to get attention on TV. She also worked to change how doctors viewed homosexuality. At that time, many doctors thought it was a mental illness. In 1972, she helped organize a big meeting to discuss this with experts. By 1973, the medical books used by doctors finally removed homosexuality as an illness.

Her many years of hard work left a lasting mark on history. Many groups have named awards after her to honor her bravery. The American Library Association named a book award after her name. A group called GLAAD also created an activist award for her. She helped start the National LGBTQ Task Force to keep the fight for rights going. Today, her life is told in many documentary films. Her partner, Kay Tobin Lahusen, helped her with much of this important work.

Barbara Gittings was a central figure in the American LGBTQ civil rights movement.

She was an activist who fought for social acceptance and legal equality. Her work focused on changing how society and medical professionals viewed homosexuality. Many historians describe her as the "Rosa Parks" of the movement. She worked to ensure that LGBTQ individuals could live openly without fear of losing their jobs or being labeled as mentally ill.

Her early life was marked by a search for understanding in a difficult era. Gittings was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, to a U.S. diplomat. She later moved to the United States and attended Northwestern University. During this time, she faced social pressure and rumors regarding her sexual orientation. She found very little information about lesbianism in books. Most medical texts at the time described homosexuals as deviants. This lack of positive information drove her toward activism.

In the late 1950s, Gittings began organizing groups to support women. In 1958, she founded the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB). The DOB was an organization co-founded in San Francisco by Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin. Gittings served as the first president of the New York chapter for three years. During her leadership, meetings included between ten and forty members. They often invited professionals like doctors and lawyers to speak, even when those speakers held disparaging views.

From 1963 to 1966, Gittings served as the editor of the DOB magazine, *The Ladder*. She worked to transform the publication into a tool for real debate. She added the subtitle "A Lesbian Review" and used photographs of actual lesbians on the covers. This was a major shift from earlier styles. Gittings also engaged in direct political protest during the 1960s. In 1965, she joined the first gay picket lines at the White House and the State Department. She worked with Frank Kameny to protest the federal government's policy of firing gay employees.

Together with Kameny, Gittings led the Annual Reminder protests in Philadelphia. These protests took place at Independence Hall every July 4th from 1965 until the Stonewall Riots in 1969. She also participated in legal battles to challenge medical experts. In 1967, she and Kameny acted as co-counsels in Department of Defense hearings. They aimed to discredit experts who claimed homosexuality could be "cured." Their efforts helped lead to the removal of certain experts from the Department of Defense witness lists.

In the 1970s, Gittings shifted her focus toward libraries and medical institutions. She became the coordinator for the Task Force on Gay Liberation within the American Library Association (ALA) in 1971. Her goal was to promote positive literature and end censorship in libraries. She even used public demonstrations, such as a kissing booth at the 1971 ALA convention, to gain television coverage. She also fought to change the medical definition of homosexuality. In 1972, she helped organize a dialogue with the American Psychiatric Association.

This event featured a psychiatrist named John E. Fryer, who spoke in disguise to protect his career. These efforts contributed to the removal of homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973.

Barbara Gittings' legacy is preserved through many awards and historical records. The ALA established the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award for the best LGBTQ novels. The organization GLAAD also created an activist award in her honor. Her life and work are documented in several films, including *Before Stonewall* and *After Stonewall*. She and her partner, Kay Tobin Lahusen, donated their activist materials to the Cornell University Library. Her work helped build the foundation for organizations like the National LGBTQ Task Force.