Gay Today: People

Barbara Gittings:
To the Rescue of Lesbian & Gay Literature

By Jim Van Buskirk & Jim Mitulski

Four Pioneers: Kay Tobin Lahusen and Barbara Gittings, standing Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, seated

In June 1971 at the annual conference of the American Library Association in Dallas, Barbara Gittings was at the forefront of the Association's newly formed Task Force on Gay Liberation. (The Task Force, now the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Round Table, is considered the first gay and lesbian professional organization in the United States.)

A tireless activist for many decades, Gittings helped bring issues of sexual orientation to America's attention, and particularly its librarians. As well as working tirelessly on many other projects including producing gay exhibits at several conventions of the American Psychiatric Association, Gittings headed up the Gay Task Force until 1986.

At the 1971 conference the gay librarian's group planned solid, professional programs, but Gittings realized that they needed publicity. The group came up with the idea of a kissing booth. They called it "Hug-A-Homosexual" and while the aisles of the exhibits area swarmed with curious onlookers, a photographer from Life Magazine and crews from two Dallas TV stations, no one entered the booth. So Gittings and her activist colleagues hugged and kissed one other, and offered copies of the first copies of A Gay Bibliography.

Thirty years, in June 2001, later hugs and kisses were plentiful, as over 250 librarians and their supporters gathered at the Eureka Valley-Harvey Milk Memorial Branch of the San Francisco Public Library to honor Gittings. Branch Manager Karen Sundheim welcomed Gittings and her partner activist Kay Tobin Lahusen, who in 1972 (as Kay Tobin) co-authored with Randy Wicker The Gay Crusaders.

Related Stories from the GayToday Archive:
The Barbara Gittings Gay and Lesbian Collection

Barbara Gittings: Lesbian & Gay Literature's Best Friend

Barbara Gittings: Co-Grand Marshall in New York City

Related Sites:
Eureka Valley-Harvey Milk Memorial Library

Barbara Gittings: Pioneer in the Lesbian & Gay Movement
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Also in attendance were Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, co-founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization in the United States, and authors of Lesbian/Woman, recipient of the second Gay Book Award. Gittings helped edit Lesbian/Woman, founded the first East Coast chapter of DOB, and for many years edited its magazine, The Ladder.

Jim Van Buskirk, Program Manager of the Library's James C. Hormel Center remembered the thrill of first meeting Gittings at ALA in San Francisco over twenty years ago. "Barbara's activism continues to inspire me daily." He is pleased to note that Gittings remains active by serving on the Hormel Endowment Committee, which oversees the funds used to promote library services to GLBT users throughout the SFPL system.

Hormel Center Volunteers and Staff : Bob Crocker , Jim Mitulski and Jim Van Buskirk in the back; then Kay Tobin Lahusen and Barbara Gittings in the middle and Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin at the table. Del Martin is holding a group photo of the first board of directors of the National Gay Task Force taken almost thirty years ago, featuring the four women as they appeared then.

Jim Mitulski, GLBT Outreach Coordinator for the Hormel Center, paid tribute to Gittings' years of activism. He mentioned her appearances in the documentaries Before Stonewall (1987), Out of The Past (1998), and After Stonewall. A former minister, Mitulski is adept at getting groups to contribute to worthy causes. Learning of the lawsuit on violation of free speech grounds filed against the mayor of Anchorage, Alaska, for ordering removal of an exhibit on homosexuality from the city's public library, Mitulski asked for an offering. The group immediately contributed over $550 which was sent in Gittings' name to the Alaska Civil Liberties Union.

Roland Hansen and Faye Chadwell, current co-chairs of the GLBT Round Table, were enthusiastic in their support for Gittings. Cal Zundt, Newsletter Editor and an active member of the Round Table Steering Committee, brought her mother and sister to the overflow event.

Gittings beamed at all the attention:

"I'm thrilled by this tribute. It means that our work is bearing fruit! Today you can go into most libraries and find right away what I couldn't find so many years ago: reinforcement for gay feelings and a positive view of gay love and the gay world. Those fifteen years I campaigned with this group in ALA were my best time in the gay rights movement. To paraphrase the title of a favorite gay book, I Had More Fun With You Than Anybody!" *

* Clarke, Lige and Jack Nichols. I Have More Fun With You Than Anybody. St. Martin's Press, 1972.

Barbara's account of her activism "Gays in Library Land," as well as a portfolio of historic photos appears in Daring to find Our Names : The Search for Lesbigay Library History edited by James V, Carmichael, Jr. (Greenwood Press, 1998.)