Glenn W. Ferguson

Glenn Walker Ferguson (January 28, 1929 — December 20, 2007) was an American diplomat and university president. He served as United States Ambassador to Kenya (1966–1969), chancellor of Long Island University (1969–1970), and president of Clark University (1970–1973), the University of Connecticut (1973–1978), and the American University of Paris (1992–1995).
Early life.
Ferguson was born in Syracuse, New York, on January 28, 1929, the only child of Forrest and Mabel Walker Ferguson. He grew up mostly in Bethesda, Maryland, where he graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.
Education.
Ferguson earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1950 and an MBA in 1951, both from Cornell University, where he also played competitive football, baseball, and track. He was about to be signed as a pitcher by the Washington Senators when an arm injury ended his professional baseball career before it began. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, assigned to a psychological warfare unit that wrote propaganda leaflets for dropping behind enemy lines. According to his wife, Ferguson enjoyed his military service — he "thought it was a hoot."
Ferguson studied law and international relations at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago and earned his juris doctor from the University of Pittsburgh in 1957. He never practiced law, instead remaining firmly in the sphere of international relations and public administration. He spent a year abroad in 1952–1953 at the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines, researching East Asian systems of government.
Career.
Between 1957 and 1960, Ferguson taught as an assistant professor of international affairs at Pitt, worked as an administrative assistant to the chancellor, served as assistant dean in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and consulted for McKinsey and Company.
Ferguson spent the 1960s as a civil servant in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Department of State. In 1961, Ferguson became the first Peace Corps director in Thailand. From 1962 to 1964 he served as associate Peace Corps director in Washington and special assistant to Sargent Shriver. Ferguson was the first director of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) from 1964 to 1966. He served as United States Ambassador to Kenya from 1966 to 1969. He served a stormy eleven months as chancellor of Long Island University, from which position he resigned in 1970 after the university's trustees rejected his proposal to split LIU into four autonomous institutions. He then served as president of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1970 to 1973. Effective September 1, 1973, he became the ninth president of the University of Connecticut.
University of Connecticut.
Ferguson had a difficult tenure as UConn president. He assumed the presidency just when the state government under Republican governor Thomas Meskill was demanding the university slash costs. The state's annual appropriation declined from $34.5 million in 1971–72 to $30.3 million in 1975–76, a cut of over 12 percent. Tuition increased from 1975 to 1978, rising from $2,800 per year for in-state students in 1975 to $3,400 in 1978.
Faculty and staff unionized in the early 1970s amid declining compensation rates compared to other research universities. The University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association (UCPEA) for most staff and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) for faculty were established at the university for the first time. Ferguson opposed ultimately unsuccessful efforts by Governor Ella Grasso to consolidate all of Connecticut's public institutions of higher education under a single board of regents, which would have limited UConn's autonomy.
Ferguson grew the university's physical plant during his five years. As library materials and student enrollment had far outgrown capacity in the old Wilbur Cross Library, Ferguson lobbied strongly for a new library. In July 1975, UConn broke ground on a new 385,000-square-foot building that would become the Homer Babbidge Library, completed in 1978. Also under Ferguson, the UConn bookstore moved to a cooperative model in 1973 after the failed ownership of Follett. Ground was broken for a new School of Fine Arts building. The Psychology, Institute of Materials Science, and Physics buildings were completed. At the University of Connecticut Health Center, the John N. Dempsey Hospital opened its doors.
Like President Homer D. Babbidge Jr. before him, Ferguson faced intensive student activism over social justice issues. When students protesting racism, in violation of Connecticut law, peacefully occupied the Wilbur Cross Library, Ferguson sent in state police to evict the protestors, four of whom reported injuries and one of whom spent days in the infirmary. The Connecticut Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP condemned Ferguson's heavy-handed response and demanded that charges against the protestors be dropped. Ferguson never attained Babbidge's popularity with students or faculty.
During Ferguson's tenure, the university also faced a class-action lawsuit by female professors alleging gender discrimination.
Ferguson resigned in April 1978 to pursue other opportunities.
Later career.
Following his departure as UConn president in 1978, Ferguson served a five-year term as chief executive of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In 1983, Ferguson, who had not applied for the job but came recommended by the directors, was named president of Lincoln Center. Disliking New York City and the primarily administrative duties of the position, he resigned after only nine months. He later served as president of the American University of Paris from 1992 to 1995.
Starting in the 1990s, Ferguson authored several books, including "Unconventional Wisdom: A Primer of Provocative Aphorisms" (1999), "Americana Against the Grain" (1999), "Tilting at Religion" (2003), "Sports in America" (2004) and "Traveling the Exotic" (2005).
Ferguson served as founder and president of Equity for Africa, an early provider of microloans to rural entrepreneurs. He also was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and other organizations.
Personal life.
Ferguson married Patricia Lou Head of Falls Church, Virginia, in 1950. The couple had two sons, Bruce and Scott, and a daughter, Sherry.
Ferguson died on December 20, 2007 from prostate cancer at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he had lived since 1998. He was survived by his wife and children.


Andy Humm

Andy Humm (born October 19, 1953) is a journalist, activist and currently co-host of TV news program "Gay USA".
Career.
As a gay news reporter, Humm has covered virtually every major gay and AIDS news story since the 1980s. Humm began writing regularly for the gay press in the 1970s and 1980s when he worked for New York City News.
Humm began hosting gay news programs with "Pride and Progress", aired on the Gay Cable Network (GCN), in 1985. He co-anchored GCN's nightly coverage of the 1988 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Humm also did floor coverage of the 1992 Democratic National Convention. From 1986 to 1995, Humm was Director of Education at the Hetrick-Martin Institute for Lesbian and Gay Youth.
Following "Pride and Progress", Humm became the host of "Gay USA". In 1996, he began co-hosting the show with veteran journalist and activist Ann Northrop.
In 2000, Humm provided floor coverage of the Republican National Convention.
Humm has interviewed numerous people from both the public and private sectors. Politicians interviewed by Humm, titled according to their political position at the time of the interview, include Governors Bill Clinton and George Pataki; Senators Bill Bradley, Joseph Lieberman, Chuck Schumer, and Bob Dole; Representatives Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney, and Richard Gephardt. Activists interviewed by Humm include Jesse Jackson, Gloria Steinem, Al Sharpton, and Larry Kramer. Humm has interviewed actors Matthew Broderick and Ian McKellen as well as authors Alan Hollinghurst, Ned Rorem, and Martin Duberman.
Humm has been interviewed on the CBS Evening News, the Geraldo Show, Charlie Rose, Fox TVs Hannity & Colmes, America's Talking with Chris Matthews, The Maury Povich Show, the Alan Colmes and Barry Farber radio shows, all New York City TV newscasts, and is a frequent guest on NY-1 TVs Inside City Hall. Humm's opinion-editorials have appeared in "The New York Times", "New York Post", "Daily News" and "Newsday".
Activism.
Humm became President of the Gay Student Union at the University of Virginia in 1974, marking the beginning of his activism. From 1977 to 1991, Humm served as a spokesperson for the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights which helped guide New York City's LGBT rights law through the City Council. He was a New York City Human Rights Commissioner from 1991 to 1993.
Humm’s work in the LGBT and AIDS Communities has been honored by the Human Rights Campaign, New York University, the AIDS and Adolescents Network, Advocates for Youth, the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Coalition, the Office of the Public Advocate, the Bar Association for Human Rights of Greater New York, and the Arkansas Lesbian and Gay Task Force. In 1990, Humm was named an Arkansas Traveler by then-Governor Bill Clinton.


Michigan Organization for Human Rights

The Michigan Organization for Human Rights (MOHR, ) was a Michigan-based civil rights and anti-discrimination organization. It was founded in 1977 and disbanded in 1994, with most of its assets transferring to the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library, Affirmations LGBT community center of Ferndale, and the Triangle Foundation—which replaced MOHR as the state's LGBT civil rights organization (today known as Equality Michigan).
Activities.
Although civil rights for lesbians and gay men were not intended to be the sole focus of the organization, an early goal of the organization was to focus on educational materials and legal advice concerning issues surrounding sexual orientation. In addition to political work, including managing a PAC, the organization also hosted LGBT community building events.
Political advocacy.
Some of MOHR's political accomplishments include several court cases involving the rights of lesbian mothers and the rights of people living with HIV. Lobbying of the Michigan legislature resulted in increased funding for AIDS research, education, and care. The organization also lobbied several Michigan municipalities for domestic partnership and non-discrimination ordinances.
Education.
MOHR utilized radio and cable television as a means of informing the public about issues concerning discrimination based on sexual orientation and about the prevention and treatment of AIDS.
Another Voice.
In 1973, WDET in Detroit began airing a weekly radio program, "Gayly Speaking," which continued until 1982 when it was replaced with "Another Voice," a new program produced by MOHR. As Detroit's first radio program "by, for, and about gays and gay liberation," the program focused on such topics as coming out, oppression, religion, and gays in film, theater, literature, and music. Programs included a news and announcement segment and often featured prominent organizations and events, such as Gay Pride Week, Detroit's Gay Community Center, and the Gay Switchboard.
Michigan Human Rights Campaign Committee.
The Michigan Human Rights Campaign Committee was established in 1985 as a political action committee serving the interest of Michigan's LGBT community. The name was changed to Pride PAC in 1995, later to Triangle Pride PAC, and is today known as the Equality Michigan Pride PAC.
Michigan Organization for Human Rights March.
In 1986, Craig Covey and MOHR organized the Michigan Organization for Human Rights March, Michigan’s first gay and lesbian march in Detroit. From 1986-1988, the civil rights march took place down Woodward Avenue followed by a rally at Kennedy Square. A party took place at the McGregor Center on the campus of Wayne State University following the rally, organized by a small number of dedicated gay and lesbian groups and volunteers. In 1989, the Gay and Lesbian civil rights march was moved to the more central location of Lansing to attract statewide participation and political awareness as well as to celebrate the 20th anniversary of New York City’s Stonewall Riots.
Michigan Privacy Challenge.
One of MOHR's most successful projects from 1988 to 1990 was the Michigan Privacy Challenge, a series of lawsuits filed by the organization on behalf of individual plaintiffs that challenged the constitutionality of Michigan's sodomy and gross indecency laws. The Wayne County Circuit Court's decision in 1990 supported MOHR's position and was not appealed by the State of Michigan.
"Michigan Organization for Human Rights v. Kelley".
Michigan's crime against nature and gross indecency laws were briefly overturned in Wayne County by "Michigan Organization for Human Rights v. Kelley" when MOHR won the case in Michigan's Wayne County Circuit Court on July 9, 1990. While the state did not appeal the ruling, the laws were upheld, in a 10-3 vote, by the Michigan Court of Appeals, in "People v. Brashier" on December 29, 1992, effectively reversing "MOHR v. Kelly".
History.
Founding.
After a series of meetings of community leaders in Detroit in the summer of 1977, the Michigan Organization for Human Rights (MOHR) was founded at an organizing conference attended by 50 people and held in Lansing, Michigan, on October 15 and 16, 1977. The mission of the organization was broadly conceived, so that it could serve as a resource for the numerous local, state, and national human rights organizations engaged in efforts to eliminate discrimination.
Growth.
In its early years, MOHR meetings rotated around the state, primarily being held in Southeast Michigan. In September 1978, a staffed office was established in Detroit and an executive director was hired to guide the organization's lobbying, outreach, and fundraising efforts. By 1979, the funding of a staffed office and time commitments required for MOHR work were causing unforeseen pressures on both the organization and those who directed it. The resulting resignation of the first executive director led to the first in a series of reorganizations. MOHR's dependence on financial contributions from its constituent organizations proved untenable and, by the early 1980s, the organization had shifted its primary fundraising efforts to individuals. In 1985, the organization hired an Executive Director from Ohio, Craig Covey, in part because of the large and successful Gay and Lesbian civil rights marches he organized in Columbus—which would be helpful later when the organization organized a gay and lesbian march.
Conflicts and closure.
While the Michigan Privacy Challenge (1988–90) was helping advance the organization's policy efforts, internal problems continued with personality conflicts and disagreements over financial commitments and priorities. The latter half of the 1980s included frequent resignations, reform proposals, and dire predictions from factions of the board of directors. These struggles resulted in decreased support from the organization's constituents and funders. Decreased supported, combined with the founding of new lesbian and gay social and political organizations in Southeast Michigan, resulted in the organization being less effective in their political and fundraising efforts. After one final reorganization attempt, the Michigan Organization for Human Rights disbanded in the spring of 1994.
Many of the organization's assets, including their offices, were transferred to Triangle Foundation (today Equality Michigan) as the organization added public policy advocacy to their existing anti-violence work. Many board members, including Henry D. Messer and John Monahan, also joined Triangle Foundation. Most of their community support efforts became a part of the work of Affirmations, the LGBT community center in Ferndale, Michigan. The archives of MOHR were transferred to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Bentley has gone on to house the historical archives of many of Michigan's LGBT organizations, including Affirmations, Triangle Foundation, and Equality Michigan.


Lesbian Avengers

The Lesbian Avengers was founded in 1992, in New York City, as "a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility." Dozens of other chapters quickly emerged worldwide, a few expanding their mission to include questions of gender, race, and class.
"Newsweek" reporter Eloise Salholz, covering the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, believed the Lesbian Avengers were so popular because they were founded at a moment when lesbians were increasingly tired of working on issues like AIDS and abortion while their own problems went unsolved. Most importantly, lesbians were frustrated with invisibility in society at large, and invisibility and misogyny in the LGBT community.
Though some groups continue to hold demonstrations on an irregular basis (San Francisco Avengers demonstrated against Proposition 8), one of the Lesbian Avengers' most enduring legacy may be the annual Dyke March.
Origins.
Founding.
The Lesbian Avengers was conceived by Ana Maria Simo, Sarah Schulman, Maxine Wolfe, Anne-Christine D'Adesky, Marie Honan, and Anne Maguire, six longtime lesbian activists who were involved in a variety of LGBT groups from the Medusa's Revenge lesbian theater to ACT-UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and ILGO (the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization). Their first recruiting flyer, handed out at New York's Pride March, invited "LESBIANS! DYKES! GAY WOMEN!" to get involved. "We're wasting our lives being careful. Imagine what your life could be. Aren't you ready to make it happen?"
Growth.
The original group grew quickly, dozens of chapters appeared nationally, and even a handful internationally. The London group emerged from OutRage!. One activist told Salholz, "When a lesbian walks into a room of gay men, it's the same as when she walks into a room of heterosexual men ... You're listened to and then politely ignored." Lesbian Avenger Ann Northrop underlined the point. "We're not going to be invisible anymore ... We are going to be prominent and have power and be part of all decision making." Her assumptions were largely proved in interviews with Avengers in the 1993 documentary film, Lesbian Avengers Eat Fire, Too edited by Su Friedrich and Janet Baus. Some members, though, joked they also joined to meet women.
Actions.
The "" encouraged particular attention to the visual elements of the demonstration. "It should let people know clearly and quickly who we are and why we are there. NY Avengers have used a wide range of visuals such as fire eating, a twelve-foot shrine, a huge bomb, a ten-foot plaster statue, flaming torches, etc. The more fabulous, witty, and original, the better."
Sometimes their positions seem to change, as well. In the early years, the group opposed attempts to legitimize gay marriage, protesting the notion at an Andrew Sullivan book signing in 1995.
The New York Lesbian Avengers also developed a Lesbian Avenger Civil Rights Organizing Project.
First Action: Rainbow Curriculum.
On their first action (September 9, 1992), the Lesbian Avengers targeted right-wing attempts to suppress a multicultural "Children of the Rainbow" curriculum for elementary schoolchildren. Ostensibly under attack for including lesbians and gay men in its lessons about diversity, some activists like Ana Maria Simo charged that opponents, besides being homophobic, also had a racist agenda in battling the multicultural curriculum.
Meeting in Queens School District 24 where the opposition to the "Rainbow Curriculum" was strongest, they paraded through the neighborhood with an all-lesbian marching band to a local elementary school where they gave out lavender balloons to children and their parents saying "Ask About Lesbian Lives". They also wore tee-shirts reading, "I was a lesbian child".
This first action exemplified the Avenger approach.
They also demonstrated without permits, refusing to ask for permission to express themselves. Organizer Kelly Cogswell later elaborated on this principle during the 1994 International Dyke March, "We ask for a permit; they can say no."
Above all, their choice of action reflected their commitment to challenging homophobic stereotypes. In this case, some members objected to going anywhere near children since lesbians and gay men had so often been portrayed as child molesters. Other members thought that was precisely why their presence was essential. And that was the eventual consensus of the group.
Role of Media: Love and Hate.
Press played an important role in the Lesbian Avengers. One article characterized them as "a protest outfit formed to attract media attention to lesbian causes." Besides shaping actions for visual impact, there were committees dedicated to outreach and "propaganda". The handbook offered a step by step guide on the processes necessary to attract press attention from mainstream and lesbian and gay media, even examples of press releases.
Conflicts over the handling of the press coverage of the Dyke March also occurred within the New York gay and lesbian political community. In an interview, Simo said that a press release sent out by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) after Stonewall 25 initially did not have anything in it about the Dyke March. After the Avengers brought this issue to GLAAD's attention, one line was added to the end of the press release about the lack of mainstream press coverage about the Dyke March.
Aware of the power of the press, the Lesbian Avengers sometimes didn't court it, but attacked it. They invaded the offices of Self magazine when that publication planned a trip to Colorado despite a lesbian and gay boycott of the state for hate legislation, and in the resulting media coverage were misnamed "The Lesbian Agenda."
The Avengers also collaborated with Las Buenas Amigas and African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change in a series of actions against homophobic and racist radio programs at La Mega 97.9 in New York, and its parent company, the Spanish Broadcasting System, informing advertisers, staging demonstration, and briefly taking over the radio station and broadcasting their own message.
Fire-Eating.
Use of fire and fire-eating became something of a symbol for the Lesbian Avengers, and spread from the New York group to many others. "The New York Times", in one of its few articles on the Avengers, explained:
[It] grew out of tragedy. Last year, a lesbian and a gay man, Hattie Mae Cohens and Brian Mock, burned to death in Salem, Ore., after a Molotov cocktail was tossed into the apartment they shared. A month later, on Halloween, at a memorial to the victims in New York City, the Avengers (then newly organized) gave their response to the deaths. They ate fire, chanting, as they still do: "The fire will not consume us. We take it and make it our own.
At the Washington Dyke March held during the anniversary celebrations of the Lesbian and Gay March on Washington in 1993, the Lesbian Avengers ate fire in front of the White House surrounded by a crowd of an estimated 20,000 lesbians.
The Dyke March.
According to co-founder Sarah Schulman, "It was at the 1993 March on Washington that the Avengers and ACT-UP Women's Network created the first Dyke March -- with 20,000 women, marching together with no permit. These participants brought the marches home to their cities and countries and created a new tradition."
The second New York City Dyke March, coinciding with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Gay Games IV, and international human rights conferences, was actually an International Dyke March, attracting as many as 20,000 marchers from all over the world. The Dyke March tradition continues in many cities, including Mexico City.
Chapters.
The British chapter of the group was formed in 1994 by members of OutRage! One of their most high-profile actions was intervening when Sandi Toksvig was dumped by the Save the Children charity after coming out. Following protests organised by the Lesbian Avengers, the charity apologised.
External links.
[[Category:1992 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:Feminism in New York City]]
[[Category:Feminist organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Lesbian culture in New York (state)]]
[[Category:LGBT culture in New York City]]
[[Category:Lesbian feminist organizations]]
[[Category:Lesbian organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:LGBT history in New York City]]
[[Category:LGBT political advocacy groups in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1992]]


Maria Steen

Maria Steen is an Irish conservative campaigner. She is a qualified architect and a barrister. She is a member of the Iona Institute, and campaigned unsuccessfully against same-sex marriage, and abortion in Ireland.
Involvement in same-sex marriage referendum.
In the run up to the 2015 Irish same-sex marriage referendum, she was one of the members of the Iona Institute who threatened legal action against RTÉ over claims from Rory O'Neill that the Iona Institute were homophobic, and received part of the €85,000 settlement ( "Pantigate").
She participated in TV debates on the run up to the referendum. Ultimately, the referendum was approved by 62% of voters on a turnout of 61%.
Anti-abortion campaigning.
She opposed the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, which legislated for the X Case after the A, B and C v Ireland decision from the ECHR, claiming it was "wrong and unnecessary".
She represented the Iona Institute at the Citizen's Assembly, which was discussing Irish abortion law. She campaigned for a No vote in the 2018 Irish abortion referendum, which was approved by the Irish electorate. She often participates in TV debates. The referendum was passed by the Irish electorate by a 66% majority.
Personal life.
Born Maria Davin, she is married to Neil Steen SC, they have five children, who are home schooled. She graduated in 1999 from University College Dublin in Architecture and worked as an Architect with a leading firm for a number of years. She is a qualified barrister, but has not practiced since the birth of her children. Steen is a qualified AMI Montessori teacher. She has written for The Irish Catholic newspaper. Her aunt is Senator Joan Freeman, who unsuccessfully ran in the 2018 Irish presidential election.


Paysach Krohn

Paysach J. Krohn (born January 29, 1945) is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, "mohel" (practitioner of ritual Jewish circumcision), author, and lecturer on topics related to ethics and spiritual growth. He is the author of the bestselling "Maggid" series of books for ArtScroll, inspired by the stories of Rabbi Sholom Schwadron, who was known as the "Maggid of Yerushaliyim". He also authored a seminal work on "bris milah" (religious circumcision), also published by ArtScroll.
Early life.
Krohn was born in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. His father, Rabbi Avrohom Zelig Krohn, was a "mohel" (ritual circumcisor), of whom there were many in Brooklyn. He decided to build a practice in Queens and found a job in a hospital there. He moved his family to Kew Gardens when Paysach was seven years old. Paysach was one of the leaders of the Kew Gardens Pirchei boys choir.
Relationship with Rav Sholom Schwadron.
Krohn is well known as the author of a series of "Maggid" books inspired by the stories of Rabbi Sholom Schwadron, who was known as the "Maggid of Jerusalem" for the inspirational mussar talks he gave every Friday night from 1952 to 1992 to the public at the Zikhron Moshe shtiebel in Jerusalem. Krohn met Schwadron when his father invited Schwadron to stay with them during one of his frequent fund-raising trips to America in late 1964, although Schwadron didn't know him or his family personally. Schwadron insisted on paying rent, which Krohn agreed to reluctantly. During the five months that Schwadron resided with the Krohns, a close bond formed between him and the family. When Schwadron announced that he was leaving after Passover 1965 to travel back to Israel by boat, the entire family saw him off at the pier. Then Krohn's father handed Schwadron an envelope containing all the "rent money" he had paid, as he had never intended to keep it. A few days later, Krohn's father said he missed his guest so much that he decided to greet him when his boat docked in Israel. He and his wife quickly arranged passports and flew to Israel two days before Schwadron arrived. After giving the Schwadron family time for a reunion, the Krohns appeared with their own welcome.
Avrohom Zelig Krohn was diagnosed with a terminal illness after this event, and died the following year. Six months after that, the family received a letter from Schwadron saying that he was coming to America again. Schwadron became a surrogate father to Krohn's seven orphans. He showed great sensitivity towards Krohn's widow, remembering his own mother's struggles to raise her orphaned children.
With Schwadron's encouragement and active input, Paysach Krohn penned the first of his popular "Maggid" books, "The Maggid Speaks", published in 1987. Schwadron died before the publication of the second book in the series, "The Maggid Speaks II". Subsequent titles ("Along the Maggid's Journey", "In the Footsteps of the Maggid", "Echoes of the Maggid", "Reflections of the Maggid" etc.) memorialized Schwadron's influence on the overall project. As of 2012, Krohn has published eight books in the series.
Mohel.
Krohn is a fifth-generation "mohel". At age 21, he was the youngest "mohel" ever certified by the Brith Milah Board of New York. He has performed thousands of religious circumcisions. His ceremonies have been described as "exceptionally spiritual and inspirational".
Other activities.
Krohn is a lecturer, sharing stories in the manner of a maggid and also collecting stories for his speeches and books. He also leads Jewish historical tours throughout Europe, speaking about the rich and vibrant Jewish communities that existed prior to World War II. He documented the first of these trips in his 2007 book, "Traveling with the Maggid".
Along with Esther Jungreis, Krohn has served as a guest speaker at the annual Shavuot retreat hosted by Gateways since 2005.
In December 2004 Krohn launched the organization PaL (Phone and Learn) in the United Kingdom. A division of Partners in Torah in the U.S., PaL matches up Jews who want to learn more about their heritage with a friendly, knowledgeable tutor for up to an hour a week of Jewish study and discussion over the phone.
Personal.
Krohn's wife, Miriam, is one of the principals of Shevach High School in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York.
Audio lectures.
Interview with Rabbi Paysach Krohn by Chazaq's Rabbi Yaniv Meirov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6AxmVEpVkM


30 Years from Here

30 Years From Here is an American made-for-television documentary about the 30 years war on the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The documentary was directed by Josh Rosenzweig for the LGBT cable network here!. The documentary debuted on November 25, 2011.
In 2012 "30 Years From Here" was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Premise.
"30 Years From Here" examines the trials and tribulations the AIDS pandemic has created over the past 30 years. The documentary looks at how the nondiscriminatory disease has affected many lives over many years. The documentary features personal accounts from people who were there in the beginning and have seen both the sorrow over lives lost and the hope generated by advances in medical research. Activists, medical experts, and people who were on the ground describe their stories from the war on AIDS.


Bridget Gilling

Bridget Sabina Gilling, "née" Fisher (1922 – 2009) was an English-born Australian feminist and social activist.
Biography.
She was born in London and raised in Sussex amid a politically active family. Her grandparents, Charles and Marie Corbett, were active in the Liberal Party; her mother Cicely and aunt Dame Margery Corbett Ashby were prominent suffragists. Her father, Chalmers "Pat" Fisher, was an Irish Quaker who worked as a journalist and businessman. Bridget spent a year in Geneva in the late 1930s before serving as a nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment during World War II. During this time she met Douglas Gilling, an Australian serving in the navy; they were engaged three days after they met and married eleven days later, and they both moved to Australia in 1946.
The Gillings settled in Castlecrag, and had four children. Bridget graduated from the University of Sydney in social work in 1971, and was appointed to the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, the Mental Health Review Tribunal, and as an ombudsman in the New South Wales prison system. She was chair of the Australian Consumers Association board, and was also involved with the Prison Reform Council, the Australian Council of Social Service, the Women's Electoral Lobby, the Council for Civil Liberties, and Zero Population Growth. She was president of the Humanist Society and the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, and ran for several elections during the early 1970s as a member of the Australia Party. In 1975 she joined the Australian Labor Party, remaining an active member until her death.
Gilling received particular attention as a campaigner for birth control and abortion law reform. She was also involved in the campaign against the Hawke Government's Australia Card proposal in 1987, becoming a trustee of the Australian Privacy Foundation. She separated from her husband in the 1970s but they remained on good terms. She died at a nursing home in the Blue Mountains in 2009 and was survived by her ex-husband and their children, who included the actress Rebecca Gilling.


Howard Brown Health

Howard Brown Health (formerly the Howard Brown Health Center) is a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) organization based in Chicago, United States. Originally founded as a healthcare provider, Howard Brown Health also provides a variety of social services in several locations in the Chicago area, ensuring its status as a center point to the Chicago LGBTQ community.
Mission.
Howard Brown Health is an organization that focuses on providing health care for people within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community in several areas throughout the city of Chicago. They are one of the largest health care and research organizations primarily caring for the LGBTQ community in the United States. In addition to healthcare, they also provide a variety of services that include housing, jobs, food, education and more through the Broadway Youth Center and Brown Elephant Resale Shops, which Howard Brown owns.
The Broadway Youth Center helps LGBT youth who are experiencing homelessness or struggling with housing. In addition to providing medical services, the center offers a GED program; high school and college tutoring; assistance in applying for health insurance, food stamps, shelter and jobs; food, clothes and laundry services; refuge and other care to LGBTQ youth.
History.
1970s-1990s.
In 1974, a group of medical students from the Chicago Gay Medical Students Association founded Howard Brown Health Center in response to the rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases among gay men. In subsequent years, and with the advent of the AIDS crisis, Howard Brown developed services including primary medical care, mental health counselling, substance abuse services, prevention and education, research programs and case management. Howard Brown Health Center, named for Dr. Howard Junior Brown, was incorporated in 1976 as Howard Brown Memorial Clinic. In the late 1970's, a high rate of hepatitis B among the center's patients inspired Howard Brown to participate in important research studies and vaccine trials against the disease, leading to the first hepatitis B vaccine. Gaining international fame for its research into LGBT health issues, the Center went on to participate in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, the longest running HIV study, resulting in breakthroughs in AIDS treatment and prevention.
Besides research, Howard Brown helped to set up the Chicago's first AIDS hotline in 1985. It was able to organize medical and psychosocial services to affected members of the community. The Howard Brown Health Center was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 1991. It was recognized as "the Midwest's leading provider of support services to and for people living with AIDS and HIV disease, and an internationally recognized center for hepatitis and AIDS/HIV research." In 1997, a new facility on Sheridan Road was opened, which included a pharmacy that specialized in AIDS/HIV medications. In 2004 the Lesbian Community Cancer Project moved into this facility, and in 2007 the group merged with Howard Brown Health, becoming an agency project.
2000s.
In 2004, Howard Brown was administering HIV testing in China. Representatives were sent to look after patients within the Zhejiang Province on the southeaster coast for about two weeks at the bars and brothels. Similar to the other Howard Brown facilities, various health services were provided to patients in need.
In 2006, Howard Brown was selected to lead a joint effort to provide services for LGBTQ senior citizens. Funded by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (now the National LGBTQ Task Force), the initiative combined the resources of Rush University Medical Center, Heartland Alliance, the Council for Jewish Elderly (now CJE SeniorLife), and Midwest Hospice and Palliative Care to create a comprehensive program for seniors in the LGBTQ and disadvantaged communities.
2010s.
Howard Brown took part in the National Gay Blood Drive in 2014. This event was held to call on the federal government to lift the ban on gay men donating blood, while simultaneously promoting HIV screenings. This ban prevented a whole group of people who would be healthy enough to donate blood. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted the ban in 2015, with a new guideline that allowed gay men to only donate blood if they have not had sexual relations for a year or longer. The deferral period was further reduced in April 2020 from one year to three months, with FDA citing concerns with depleted medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2015, the organization began to provide free legal services and advice once a week, along with the help of the Legal Assistance Foundation and the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago.
Howard Brown expanded its facility in Rogers Park, becoming the agency's sixth location in the summer of 2017. This establishment provided more amenities for the LGBTQ community with 12 exam rooms, large community space, and a clinic that would focus on sexual and reproductive issues. This expansion added 5000 new patients and created 19 full time jobs. To create this facility, Howard Brown Health purchased and renovated the new space with a $5 million dollar loan from the IFF, as well as an $1.75 million dollars from the same organization.
In the summer of 2019, Howard Brown Health opened the Broadway Youth Center that focused on helping young LGBTQ people who have experienced homelessness or housing instability. The center also includes a variety of services such as HIV testing, educational services, food, and behavioral health services.
In 2017, Panoptic Group, sold an abandoned apartment building in Lakeview that was in the process of being demolished and renovated to Howard Brown for about 3.2 million, with both agencies agreeing that Panoptic would complete the exterior of the new building, and Howard Brown would complete the interior. But Panoptic left their part unfinished with defects, which resulted in Howard Brown suing the company's principle, Bogdan Popvych, for $1.9 million in December 2018 and winning the suit. Howard Brown received a demolition permit for the incomplete building in July 2019 and finished the demolition in August of the same year. At this site, Howard Brown plans to build a 20,000 square foot, five story building that would hold youth programs and clinical services.
2020 and future plans.
With increasing demand of services, Howard Brown has made plans in early 2020 to continue the expansion of the organization in the North and South sides of Chicago by 2024. In the North side, there are plans to move the Broadway Youth Center to Lakeview and their Halsted clinic to a larger facility. In the South Side, new services will eventually be offered, along with the help from the non-profit organization Pride Action Tank. Howard Brown has also planned to look into more available locations within Bronzeville, South Shore, Chatham, and Roseland. With the lack of resources for the LGBTQ community in the South Side, neighborhoods have gotten $15 million dollars from the state to fund the centers, and another $15 million previously set aside for other endeavors. Howard Brown's overall constructed plans would allow them to see 45,000 patients per year, an increase from the 30,000 patients among its current 11 locations. Howard Brown has been able to maintain a gross revenue of $137.5 million dollars during their fiscal year by the end of 2019.
It is expected that Howard Brown would buy and occupy Little Jim’s Tavern, Boystown's oldest gay bar, by 2020. The owners of the Little Jim's Tavern listed their asking price at $7.5 million. This establishment would be able to contain about double the capacity of patients, while providing aid to an additional 2000 patients per year, in comparison to their current facility on Halsted. The potential new facility would take up about 30,000 square feet and would likely cost Howard Brown $30 million.
Locations.
Howard Brown Health's main facility is in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, with one with the city's highest incidences of HIV/AIDS. Additional locations are in the Boystown, Englewood, Lakeview, and Rogers Park neighborhoods.
Youth aged 12–24 may access services at Howard Brown Health Center's Broadway Youth Center (BYC), located in Chicago's Boystown neighborhood.
Howard Brown Health operates three resale shops called The Brown Elephant in Chicago's Lakeview and Andersonville neighborhoods and in suburban Oak Park. The Andersonville location made it to the list of "10 Things to Do in Chicago" by "Time" magazine's "City Guide".
Financial controversy.
In 2010, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) discovered that Howard Brown had mishandled $3 million in grant funds between 2006 and 2010. The NIH turned the issue over to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General. The grant funds were supposed to be used for HIV and AIDS studies, but the NIH found that Howard Brown was using the funds to pay for matters outside of the study, such as day to day expenses. As a result, Howard Brown had to turn over less than $1 million dollars to Northwestern University who continued as the lead agent for the studies.
After the financial scandal, Howard Brown Health became financially unstable and launched a Lifeline Appeal with a goal of raising $500,000 in 50 days in order to keep its doors open. The fundraiser ended up raising $650,000 within the 50 days.
In 2012, Howard Brown Health agreed to repay multiple establishments after the financial scandal, including the federal government, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the NIH.


Susan Hill (activist)

Susan Hill (August 7, 1948 – January 30, 2010) was an abortion rights activist from Durham, North Carolina. She was President of the National Women's Health Organization in North Carolina, helping oversee a group of abortion clinics in the Southeast. She is most celebrated for her commitment to women's reproductive rights, with the National Organization for Women writing about Hill "She went on to open the first abortion clinic in the state of Florida and was a founding member of both the National Abortion Federation and the National Coalition of Abortion Providers."
Early life.
Susan Hill was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. She had two brothers. She graduated from Charles E. Jordan High School in 1966, then graduated from Meredith College in 1970 with a degree in social work.
After college in 1973, Hill went on to be a social worker in Florida, opening the first abortion clinic in the state.
Work.
Hill worked as an advocate of women's reproductive rights, and owned several women's health centers across the country, including the now famous Jackson Women's Health Center, the last remaining health center providing abortions in Mississippi.
Hill's main focus was on providing clinics to rural areas where women had little to no access to abortion services. She opened more clinics than anyone else in the United States.
She served as plaintiff in over 30 federal and state lawsuits concerning abortion rights. She was a key plaintiff in the case NOW v. Scheidler, which charged abortion opponents with using violence, intimidation, and extortion to put women's clinics out of business.
NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina annually offers the Susan Hill Award to people who are leaders in reproductive health and rights in North Carolina.
Opposition.
Hill faced a great amount of scrutiny over her pro-choice views, specifically from anti-abortion activists. She received many death threats, and had to wear a bulletproof vest to work every day because of the threats of violence.
In 1993, a Florida doctor at one of Hill's clinics, David Gunn was killed by a protester. In 2009, Hill's close friend Dr. George Tiller was killed by an anti-abortion extremist. Hill said Tiller's words inspired her to continue her work in women's rights. When Hill asked Tiller why he had not retired in the face of increasing harassment, he said "Because I can't leave these women."
Death.
Hill died January 30, 2010 at a hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina after a battle with breast cancer. She was 61 years old.


Penis enlargement

Penis enlargement, or male enhancement, is any technique aimed to increase the size of a human penis. Some methods aim to increase total length, others the shaft's girth, and yet others the glans size. Techniques include surgery, supplements, ointments, patches, and physical methods like pumping, jelqing, and traction.
Surgical penis enlargement methods can be effective; however, such methods carry risks of complications and are not medically indicated except in cases involving a micropenis. Noninvasive methods have received little scientific study, and most lack scientific evidence of effectiveness. However, limited scientific evidence supports some elongation by prolonged traction. Some quack products may improve penis erection, mistaken by consumers for penis enlargement.
Surgical methods.
There are several surgical penis enlargement treatments, most of which carry a risk of significant complications. Procedures by unlicensed surgeons can lead to serious complications.
Surgical penis enlargement methods include penile augmentation and suspensory ligament release. Penile augmentation involves injecting fat cells into the penis or grafting fat cells onto the penis. Injecting fat cells into the penis can cause swelling and deformity; in some instances, removal of the penis may be necessary. Grafting fat cells onto the penis can be effective; however, the increase in size may disappear over time. Suspensory ligament release increases flaccid penis length, but does not increase the length of an erect penis and can create problems with sexual function.
The American Urological Association (AUA) and the Urology Care Foundation "consider subcutaneous fat injection for increasing penile girth to be a procedure which has not been shown to be safe or efficacious. The AUA also considers the division of the suspensory ligament of the penis for increasing penile length in adults to be a procedure which has not been shown to be safe or efficacious." Both statements were first published in January 1994 and re-affirmed ever since. Complications from penis enlargement procedures include scarring that may lead, ultimately, to penis shrinkage or erectile dysfunction.
Other surgical treatments include the injection of dermal fillers, silicone gel, or PMMA. Dermal fillers are also not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the penis.
Because of great risk and uncertainty, medical professionals are generally skeptical of penile enlargement and avoid attempting it. A 2019 study in "Sexual Medicine Reviews" found that surgical methods of penis enlargement are typically ineffective and can be damaging to both physical and mental health. The authors found that such treatments are "'supported by scant, low-quality evidence... Injectables and surgery should remain a last option, considered unethical outside of clinical trials'". According to the study, "'overall treatment outcomes were poor, with low satisfaction rates and significant risk of major complications, including penile deformity, shortening, and erectile dysfunction'".
Medical doctors do treat micropenis with surgical procedures. In such cases, surgery can improve urinary or sexual function.
Supplements.
Penis-enlargement pills, patches, and ointments are sold online. Such products are generally considered ineffective.
Physical techniques.
Physical techniques involve extension devices, hanging weights, and vacuum pressure. There is also significant overlap between techniques intended to enlarge the penis and techniques intended to achieve other, related objectives, such as reversing impotence, extending the duration of erections, or enhancing sexual climax.
Pumping.
Commonly called a "penis pump", a vacuum erection device, or VED, creates negative pressure that expands and thereby draws blood into the penis. Medically approved VEDs, which treat erectile dysfunction, limit maximum pressure, whereas the pumps commonly bought by consumers seeking penis enlargement can reach dangerous pressure, damaging penis tissue. To retain tumescence after breaking the device's airtight seal, one must constrict the penis' base, but constriction worn over 30 minutes can permanently damage the penis and cause erectile dysfunction. Although vacuum therapy can treat erectile dysfunction sufficiently to prevent penis deterioration and shrinkage, clinical trials have not found it effective for penis enlargement.
Jelqing.
The latinized name "jelqing" is the corrupt form derived from the Persian "jalq zadan" (جلق زدن), "jalq" meaning "to masturbate" followed by an auxiliary verb "zadan" meaning "to strike, hit or throb". Performed on the halfway tumescent penis, jelqing is a manual manipulation of simultaneous squeezing and stroking the shaft from base to corona. Also called "milking", the technique has ancient Arab origins. Despite many anecdotal reports of success, medical evidence is absent. Journalists have dismissed the method as biologically implausible, or even impossible, albeit unlikely to seriously damage the penis. Still, if done excessively or harshly, jelqing could conceivably cause ruptures, scarring, disfigurement, and desensitization.
Traction.
Traction is a nonsurgical method to lengthen the penis by employing devices that pull at the glans of the penis for extended periods of time. As of 2013, the majority of research investigating the use of penile traction focuses on treating the curvature and shrinkage of the penis as a result of Peyronie's disease, although some literature exists on the effects on men with short penises.
Scientific evidence supports some elongation by prolonged traction. However, there are also medical studies that indicate that the lengthening effects can be negligible.
Reasons for seeking penis enlargement.
Some men seeking penis enlargement have normal-sized penises, and many may experience "penile dysmorphophobia" by underestimating their own penis size while overestimating the average penis size. Other men may want a larger penis to enhance their sex lives, even if their penis is average or above average in size already. Individuals may desire to enlarge their penis size if they have a fetish for large penises. A larger penis may also play into BDSM and S&M, with a dominant male intentionally having a large penis to inflict pain upon his partner during sexual intercourse.
Society and culture.
In 2013 in Vietnam, many Vietnamese men attempted to enlarge their penises by injecting liquid silicone into them. They were hospitalized for complications such as infections, necrosis, tumors, swelling, deformities, and sexual dysfunction.


Daughters of Bilitis

The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to lesbian bars, which were subject to raids and police harassment. As the DOB gained members, their focus shifted to providing support to women who were afraid to come out. The DOB educated them about their rights, and about gay history. The historian Lillian Faderman declared, "Its very establishment in the midst of witch-hunts and police harassment was an act of courage, since members always had to fear that they were under attack, not because of what they did, but merely because of who they were." The Daughters of Bilitis endured for 14 years, becoming an educational resource for lesbians, gay men, researchers and mental health professionals.
Background.
After World War II, anti-communist sentiments quickly became associated with the personal secrets of people who worked for the US government. Congress began to require the registration of members of "subversive groups." In 1950, the State Department declared homosexuals to be security risks (because of vulnerability to blackmail), and what followed was a succession of more repressive acts that included the dismissal of federal, state and local government employees suspected of being homosexual; politically motivated police raids on gay bars all over the US and Canada; even the enactment of laws prohibiting cross-dressing for men and women. More specifically regarding San Francisco's history where the Daughters of Bilitis were founded, there were police raids specifically on lesbian bars like Adler and Tommy's place. The raids on Adler and Tommy's place occurred on September 8th, 1954.
History.
In 1955, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon had been together as lovers for three years when they complained to a gay male couple that they did not know any other lesbians. The gay couple introduced Martin and Lyon to another lesbian couple, one of whom suggested they create a social club. In October 1955, eight women—four couples—met in San Francisco to provide each other with a social outlet. One of their priorities was to have a place to dance, as dancing with the same sex in a public place was illegal. Martin and Lyon recalled later, "Women needed privacy...not only from the watchful eye of the police, but from gaping tourists in the bars and from inquisitive parents and families." Although unsure of how exactly to proceed with the group, they began to meet regularly, realized they should be organized, and quickly elected Martin as president. From the start they had a clear focus to educate other women about lesbians, and reduce their self-loathing brought on by the socially repressive times.
Naming.
The name of the newfound club was chosen in its second meeting. "Bilitis" is the name given to a fictional lesbian contemporary of Sappho by the French poet Pierre Louÿs in his 1894 work "The Songs of Bilitis", in which Bilitis lived on the Isle of Lesbos alongside Sappho. The name was chosen for its obscurity; even Martin and Lyon did not know what it meant. "Daughters" was meant to evoke association with other American social associations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution. Early DOB members felt they had to follow two contradictory approaches: trying to recruit interested potential members and being secretive. Martin and Lyon justified the name, writing later, "If anyone asked us, we could always say we belong to a poetry club." They also designed a pin to wear to be able to identify with others, chose club colors and voted on the motto "Qui vive", French for "on alert". The organization filed a charter for non-profit corporation status in 1957, writing a description so vague, Phyllis Lyon remembered, "it could have been a charter for a cat-raising club."
Mission.
Within a year of its creation, most of the original eight participants were no longer part of the group, but their numbers had grown to 16, and they decided they wanted to be more than only a social alternative to bars. Historian Marcia Gallo writes "They recognized that many women felt shame about their sexual desires and were afraid to admit them. They knew that...without support to develop the self-confidence necessary to advocate for one's rights, no social change would be possible for lesbians."
By 1959 there were chapters of the DOB in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Rhode Island along with the original chapter in San Francisco. Upon arrival at a meeting, attendees would be greeted at the door. In a show of good faith, the greeter would say, "I'm ---. Who are you? You don't have to give me your real name, not even your real first name."
Soon after forming, the DOB wrote a mission statement that addressed the most significant problem Martin and Lyon had faced as a couple: the complete lack of information about female homosexuality in what historian Martin Meeker termed "the most fundamental journey a lesbian has to make." When the club realized they were not allowed to advertise their meetings in the local newspaper, Lyon and Martin, who both had backgrounds in journalism, began to print a newsletter to distribute to as many women as the group knew. In October 1956 it became "The Ladder", the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the U.S. and one of the first to publish statistics on lesbians, when they mailed surveys to their readers in 1958 and 1964. Martin was the first president and Lyon became the editor of "The Ladder".
The DOB advertised itself as "A Woman's Organization for the purpose of Promoting the Integration of the Homosexual into Society." The statement was composed of four parts that prioritized the purpose of the organization, and it was printed on the inside of the cover of every issue of "The Ladder" until 1970:
New York chapter president Barbara Gittings noted that the word "variant" was used instead of "lesbian" in the mission statement because "lesbian" was a word that had a very negative connotation in 1956.
Methods.
The early gay rights movement, then called the Homophile Movement, was centered around the Mattachine Society, formed in 1950. Although the Mattachine Society began as a provocative organization with roots in its founders' communist activism, leadership of the Mattachine thought it more prudent and productive to convince heterosexual society at large that gays were not different from themselves rather than to agitate for change. They changed their tactics in 1953. The Daughters of Bilitis followed this model by encouraging its members to assimilate as much as possible into the prevailing heterosexual culture.
This was reflected in ongoing debate over the propriety of butch and femme dress and role play among its members. As early as 1955 a rule was made that women who attended meetings, if wearing pants, should be wearing women's slacks. However, many women remember it being a rule that went unfollowed as attendees at many meetings were wearing jeans, and the only jeans available in the 1950s were men's. Barbara Gittings recalled years later an instance when, in preparation for a national convention, members of the DOB persuaded a woman who had worn men's clothing all her life "to deck herself out in as 'feminine' a manner as she could... Everyone rejoiced over this as though some great victory had been accomplished... Today we would be horrified at anyone who thought this kind of evangelism had a legitimate purpose."
The Daughters of Bilitis were used as political fodder in the 1959 mayoral race in San Francisco. Russell Wolden, challenging incumbent George Christopher, distributed information implying that Christopher was making the city safe for "sex deviants". Wolden was responsible for materials that stated, "You parents of daughters — do not sit back complacently feeling that because you have no boys in your family everything is all right... To enlighten you as to the existence of a Lesbian organization composed of homosexual women, make yourself acquainted with the name Daughters of Bilitis." There were only two copies of the subscription list of "The Ladder", a deliberate attempt to discourage its getting into the hands of anyone who might use it against the subscribers. DOB leaders moved the list from its headquarters and later found out that San Francisco police had searched the office after its removal. Even the FBI was curious enough to attend meetings to report in 1959, "The purpose of the DOB is to educate the public to accept the Lesbian homosexual into society."
National conventions.
In 1960, the DOB held their first convention in San Francisco. Press releases announcing the convention were sent to local radio and newspapers, prompting "San Francisco Chronicle" columnist Herb Caen to direct a jab at Russell Wolden and publicize the convention, writing: "Russ Wolden, if no one else, will be interested to learn that the Daughters of Bilitis will hold their nat'l convention here May 27–30. They're the female counterparts of the Mattachine Society — and one of the convention highlights will be an address by Atty. Morris Lowenthal titled, 'The Gay Bar in the Courts.' Oh brother. I mean sister. Come to think of it, I don't know what I mean..." The blurb was reprinted in the March issue of "The Ladder".
Two hundred women attended the conference, as did the San Francisco police, who came to check if any of the DOB members were wearing men's clothes. Del Martin brought them inside to see all the women wearing dresses, stockings and heels. The attendees listened to speakers, including a debate between two attorneys about the legality and morality of gay bars, a presentation by the American Civil Liberties Union, and an Episcopal priest who "served up damnation with dessert", as he went on a "tirade" reminding the audience they were sinners, to which they listened politely. The DOB also gave awards to men who were allied with them, whom they called "Sons of Bilitis", or SOBs, including their lawyer, photographer, and members of the Mattachine Society who assisted them with the convention.
The second national convention, held in 1962, was also notable for its being covered on television on the KTTV's "Confidential File", a nationally syndicated show; this was probably the first American national broadcast that specifically covered lesbianism. The DOB held further conventions every two years until 1968.
Change in direction.
In 1960, letters from readers in "The Ladder" appeared that expressed exasperation with the emphasis on conformity in the DOB. In the 1970s, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon reflected that by contemporary standards, the early ideals of the DOB for integration and adjustment of the lesbian into society were outmoded, but they remembered that in the 1950s and early 1960s many gay men and lesbians considered those ideals unreachable and this approach radical. The DOB never had the number of members comparable to the Mattachine Society's. Although some may have considered the DOB's ideals unrealistic, some also considered them too tame.
In 1961 the largest raid on a gay bar in San Francisco resulted in the arrests of 100 people, and the police forced women arrested in another raid in Chicago to disrobe to prove they were not wearing men's underwear, bringing a call in "The Ladder" to be more active. "If we ever hope to win our battle, we must fight. First, unshackle ourselves from fear, for it alone is our omnipresent enemy," read the report.
However, in 1962 at the Daughters' second convention, national president Jaye Bell again argued for the pragmatic approach of integration and patience with a slow criminal justice system. Two things happened in 1963 that changed the course of the organization. A windfall came to the group when an anonymous donor who refused for her name to be recorded, known only to the DOB as "Pennsylvania," began donating large sums of money to the DOB: $100,000 over five years. "Pennsylvania" wrote $3,000 checks to different DOB members, who in turn signed them over to the organization. The editorship of "The Ladder" changed from Del Martin to Barbara Gittings.
Because "The Ladder" was the primary method of communication from the leadership of the DOB to its individual chapters, the editor position was extremely influential in the group. Gittings made significant changes to the magazine, putting an emphasis on being more visible. One of Gittings’s priorities was aligning the DOB with the East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO), a coalition of other social and political clubs for gays and lesbians. ECHO was established in January 1962, with its formative membership including the DOB chapter in New York, the Mattachine Society chapters in New York and Washington D.C., and the Janus Society. ECHO was meant to facilitate cooperation between homophile organizations and outside administrations.
Evidence of how impatient audiences were getting with psychiatrists telling them they were mentally ill was displayed in 1964 when, at an ECHO convention, a featured speaker named Dr. Albert Ellis stated that "the exclusive homosexual is a psychopath" to which someone in the audience responded, "Any homosexual who would come to you for treatment, Dr. Ellis, would "have" to be a psychopath!" a comment that was met with applause.
In 1964, Martin and Lyon began to control less of the organization, saying, "We felt that if the organization had any validity at all it couldn't be based on two people, it had to be able to stand and grow on its own. And it was never going to do it if we didn't move out." Martin and Lyon joined the newly formed Council on Religion and the Homosexual (CRH) to develop a dialogue between organized religion and gays and lesbians. They urged the DOB to join the organization as well, but a previous rule precluding the DOB from joining separate organizations (set in place primarily to ensure it would not join organizations that sympathized with Communist aims) precluded it from doing so. However, the DOB did collaborate with the CRH at times. Most notably, on the eve of January 1, 1965, several homophile organizations in San Francisco, California, including the DOB, the CRH, the Society for Individual Rights, and the Mattachine Society, held a fund-raising ball for their mutual benefit at California Hall on Polk Street. San Francisco police had agreed not to interfere; however, on the evening of the ball, the police showed up in force and surrounded the California Hall and focused numerous klieg lights on the entrance to the hall. As each of the 600-plus persons entering the ball approached the entrance, the police took photographs. A number of police vans were parked in plain view near the entrance to the ball. Evander Smith, a lawyer for the groups organizing the ball including the DOB, and Herb Donaldson tried to stop the police from conducting the fourth "inspection" of the evening; both were arrested along with two heterosexual lawyers, Elliott Leighton and Nancy May, who were supporting the rights of the participants to gather at the ball. But twenty-five of the most prominent lawyers in San Francisco joined the defense team for the four lawyers, and the judge directed the jury to find the four not guilty before the defense had even had a chance to begin their argumentation when the case came to court. This event has been called "San Francisco's Stonewall" by some historians; the participation of such prominent litigators in the defense of Smith, Donaldson and the other two lawyers marked a turning point in gay rights on the west coast of the United States.
The homophile movement was influenced by the successful activism of the civil rights movement (possibly partially because in 1964 Cleo Bonner, an African-American, was elected the DOB's national president) and higher-profile members of the DOB, such as Barbara Gittings, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, began to picket the White House, the State Department, and other federal buildings in 1965 and 1966 with members of the Mattachine Society. Gittings, as editor of "The Ladder", encouraged others to do the same, and their activism became controversial in the leadership of the DOB. Gittings also ran a regular column in "The Ladder" that she called "Living Propaganda" encouraging women to come out to their friends and family members. It often included contributions from Frank Kameny urging political action. Some readers responded positively to Kameny, who in a speech declared homosexuals as normal as heterosexuals; some were put off by the political tone, and some were angered by Kameny, as a man, suggesting to them what they should do. DOB leaders disliked Kameny and the decisions Gittings was making for the magazine, and she was let go as editor in 1966.
Rise of feminism.
Del Martin has written that the Daughters of Bilitis was a feminist organization from the beginning, focusing on the problems of women as well as problems of the female homosexual; however, in the mid-1960s feminism became a much higher priority to many of the women in the organization. In 1966, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon joined the National Organization for Women, and urged readers of "The Ladder" to do the same, even reporting they got a family discount. The historian Martin Meeker points to the 1966 DOB convention that was a 10-day affair joining the DOB with the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO) as the turning point where women's issues in the DOB began to have more importance to its members than gay issues. It was the largest convention DOB had yet organized, publicized in mass media all over San Francisco, attended by a large panel of nationally known speakers, and many of the presentations focused on topics that were exclusively male-centered.
A November 1966 essay by DOB president Shirley Willer pointed out the differences in problems faced by gay men and lesbians: gay men dealt more with police harassment, entrapment, solicitation, sex in public places, and until recently few women were being arrested for cross-dressing. Willer pointed out the problems specific to lesbians were job security and advancement, and family relationships, child custody, and visitation. Feeling as if their issues were not being addressed by homophile organizations, many members of the DOB began to say that lesbians had more in common with heterosexual women than men.
The Daughters were also affected by the changing times. Younger members did not share the concerns of older members; they were more moved by revolutionary tactics. (Though not all older members in the DOB were anti-radical; for example, as president of the New York chapter of the DOB, Ruth Simpson organized gay rights demonstrations as well as educational programs for DOB members during the period of 1969–71. Several times when NYC police, without warrants, illegally entered DOB's lesbian center in lower Manhattan, Simpson stood between the police and the DOB women. On three occasions she was cited for court appearances by the police.) Problems in the organization of the national governing board were becoming increasingly worse when local chapters were unable to take action on issues important to them without the approval of the national board. Members became disillusioned and left, and younger lesbians were more attracted to join feminist organizations. By the time the 1968 convention was held in Denver, less than two dozen women attended.
Controversial ending.
Editing "The Ladder" was truly a full-time job. Longtime DOB member Helen Sandoz, who had taken over editing it after an interim period after Barbara Gittings left, was so burdened by the responsibilities that it was affecting her relationship. She passed it on to Barbara Grier in 1968, who had been contributing to the magazine as a book reviewer and poetry writer. Grier edited the magazine from Kansas City and was a relative newcomer to the workings of the DOB, despite contributing to the magazine since 1957.
Grier had high aspirations for "The Ladder". She removed "A Lesbian Review" from the cover, placed there in 1964 by Gittings, to attract more women readers. She doubled the size of the magazine, expanding every section, and devoted much of the space in the magazine to feminist ideals. She reported the first DOB chapter in Australia in 1969 and attempts to form chapters in New Zealand and Scandinavia. In 1970, convinced that the DOB was falling apart and "The Ladder" must be saved, Barbara Grier worked with DOB president Rita LaPorte to take the subscriber list from the DOB headquarters in San Francisco to Reno and expand the magazine further.
There were only two copies of the subscription list. Despite assurances from "The Ladder" to subscribers that these names would be kept confidential, Rita LaPorte took the list of 3,800 names from DOB headquarters and the printers without telling anyone but Grier. When Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon discovered its loss, they assumed the police or FBI had confiscated it. Previous editors Martin, Lyon, Gittings, and Sandoz considered the act a theft. Because LaPorte took the list over state lines, pursuing it would have been a federal matter, and the Daughters did not have the resources to see it through. Grier severed ties with DOB leadership and in doing so took away the Daughters' primary method of communication from the national organization to its individual chapters. As a national organization, the Daughters of Bilitis folded in 1970, although some local chapters still continued until 1995. Grier also effectively ended "The Ladder", despite her plans for the magazine to run on advertising (something "The Ladder" had not previously had) and subscriptions, when the $3,000 checks from "Pennsylvania" written to the DOB stopped coming. By 1972, "The Ladder" had run out of funds and it folded.
Dozens of other lesbian and feminist organizations were created in the wake of the Daughters of Bilitis. However, the impact of the 14-year run of the DOB on the lives of women was described by historian Martin Meeker thusly: "The DOB succeeded in linking hundreds of lesbians across the country with one another and gathering them into a distinctly modern communication network that was mediated through print and, consequently, imagination, rather than sight, sound, smell, and touch.”
Organizational archives.
The complete surviving organizational records of the national office and the San Francisco Chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis are available to researchers as part of the Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin Papers at the GLBT Historical Society, a nonprofit archives and research center in San Francisco. An online finding aid provides a detailed catalog of the collection.
The Lesbian Herstory Archives hosts the Red Dot Collection, which consists of the library of the New York City chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.
Boston's The History Project archive houses the Boston Daughters of Bilitis Collection, which contains the Boston chapter's organization records, as well as the publication records of Boston DOB's magazine "Maiden Voyage", later renamed "Focus".<ref name="Boston Daughters of Bilitis Collection and Focus/Maiden Voyage Publication Finding Aid">.</ref>
Further reading.
Archival sources


Felicity Huffman

Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and has been nominated for an Oscar.
Huffman began her acting career in theatre, and in the 1990s also had many supporting roles in film and television. She starred as Dana Whitaker in the comedy-drama "Sports Night" from 1998 to 2000, which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. She is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama "Desperate Housewives" (2004–2012), for which she earned the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the debut season of the series, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three consecutive Golden Globe nominations.
Huffman drew critical praise for her performance as a transgender woman in the independent film "Transamerica" (2005). The role earned her a Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, National Board of Review, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Huffman has also starred in such films as "Reversal of Fortune" (1990), "The Spanish Prisoner" (1997), "Magnolia" (1999), "Path to War" (2002), "Georgia Rule" (2007), "Phoebe in Wonderland" (2008), "Rudderless" (2014), and "Cake" (2014). From 2015 to 2017, she starred in a third ABC series, the anthology crime drama "American Crime", for which she received critical acclaim including three Primetime Emmy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Screen Actors Guild nomination.
Huffman was arrested on March 12, 2019, for her involvement with a nationwide college entrance exam cheating scandal, charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, and released on $250,000 bail. On May 13, Huffman pleaded guilty to federal charges for paying $15,000 to have a proctor correct SAT questions answered incorrectly by her daughter. On September 13, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and one year supervised release for her part in the scandal. She reported to prison and began her sentence on October 15, 2019. She was released from prison on October 25, 2019.
Early life.
Huffman was born in Bedford, New York, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Grace Valle (née Ewing; 1921–2009) and Moore Peters Huffman (1910–1987), a banker and partner at Morgan Stanley. Her parents divorced a year after her birth, and she was raised by both of them. When Huffman was a young teenager, she discovered that her biological father was Roger Tallman Maher, who was a family friend. She has six sisters and a brother. In the 1970s, Huffman's mother left New York and bought property in Snowmass, Colorado, where Felicity and her siblings spent their youth. Her great-grandfather was Gershom Moore Peters (1843–1919), founder of the Peters Cartridge Company and prominent Baptist minister, author of "The Master". Another great-grandfather, Frederick Berthold Ewing, graduated from Yale University and became a prominent St. Louis businessman. Huffman's great-great-grandfather was Joseph Warren King (1814–1885), founder of the King Mills Powder Company. She has German, English, Scots-Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, and Irish ancestry.
Huffman attended The Putney School, a private boarding high school in Putney, Vermont, and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan in 1981. She attended New York University, Circle in the Square Theatre School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.
Career.
Early career in theatre.
Huffman made her debut on stage in 1982 and in the 1980s and 1990s worked as a rule on stage productions. In 1988, she debuted on Broadway in the role as Karen in David Mamet's play "Speed the Plow". In 1995, Huffman won Obie Award for her performance in the play "The Cryptogram" by David Mamet. In 1999 she starred in the premiere of David Mamet's play "Boston Marriage", about the daringly intimate relationship between two turn-of-the-century women, as well as in several other major theatrical productions.
Earliest television and film roles.
Huffman debuted on the big screen in 1988 with a small role in Mamet's film "Things Change". Two years later, she appeared as Minnie, a Harvard law school student in the courtroom drama "Reversal of Fortune". Her other credits include 1992 thriller "" with Donald Sutherland and Tim Matheson, "The Water Engine" opposite William H. Macy, and supporting roles on "The Heart of Justice" (1992), "Hackers" (1995), "Harrison: Cry of the City" (1996) and "The Underworld" (1997).
Huffman starred on the television mini-series "Golden Years", based on the novel by Stephen King in 1991. In 1994, she starred in the ABC pilot "Thunder Alley" as Ed Asner's daughter, but was replaced in subsequent episodes by Diane Venora when the series began. During the 1990s, she appeared mostly in guest roles on such shows as "The X-Files", "Early Edition", "Chicago Hope" and "Law & Order". In 1997, she starred in Mamet's film "The Spanish Prisoner".
From 1998 to 2000, she portrayed Dana Whitaker in the series "Sports Night", for which she received several awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. After the completion of "Sports Night", she gave birth to her first child and soon returned to work. In 2001, she starred on the not picked up CBS pilot "Heart Department" In 2003, she starred in Showtime's miniseries "Out of Order".
In 1999, she appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson's ensemble drama "Magnolia" and television adaptation of 1938 movie "A Slight Case of Murder" along with William H. Macy. In 2002 she played Lady Bird Johnson in the HBO award-winning movie "Path to War" and made a cameo appearance in "Door to Door", which starred, and was written by, her husband. She also starred in "Snap Decision" (2001) with Mare Winningham, "Raising Helen" (2004) as Kate Hudson's character's older sister, and "Christmas with the Kranks" (2004), as the best friend of Jamie Lee Curtis's character.
"Desperate Housewives" and "Transamerica".
After a recurring role on the NBC sitcom "Frasier", Huffman landed a leading role in an ABC comedy series "Desperate Housewives", co-starring with Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, and Eva Longoria. Huffman won an Emmy Award for her work on "Desperate Housewives" (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series) in 2005, as well as two 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards (Best Actress - Comedy Series and part of Best Ensemble - Comedy Series) in 2006 and received several other awards. A report in November 2010 suggested that Huffman, along with co-star Teri Hatcher, would be quitting "Desperate Housewives", but ABC denied the claim. The series ended in May 2012, after eight seasons.
In 2005, Huffman starred in the independent drama "Transamerica", playing Bree, a pre-operative transgender woman who, on the brink of her transforming surgery, discovered that in her youth she had fathered a son - who is now a troubled teen hustler on the run. Huffman's performance in "Transamerica" was praised by many critics and garnered her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as nominations for Best Actress (Screen Actors Guild) and Best Actress (Academy Awards), and several other awards and nominations. Huffman is now a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In 2007, Huffman starred in Garry Marshall's "Georgia Rule" with Jane Fonda and Lindsay Lohan, and 2008 on independent drama "Phoebe in Wonderland". She made a film, "Lesster", as a writer, director and actress in 2010.
Subsequent career and "American Crime".
Huffman said that after seeing her as Lynette Scavo on "Housewives" for eight years it was difficult for audiences to think of her as anything else. She said that's why she was eager for a role that's a distinctive departure. After "Desperate Housewives" finale, Huffman reunited with playwright David Mamet in the comedy play "November". The play debuted on September 26 and ended on November 4, 2012. In 2012, she also appeared in the ensemble cast independent movie, "Trust Me", opposite Clark Gregg.
On February 15, 2013, Huffman signed on for the lead role of the Fox drama pilot "Boomerang", directed by Craig Brewer. The show centers on Margie Hamilton, a spy and master of disguise, who is the matriarch of the Hamilton clan, a "briskly professional assassin who can kill and dispose of a suspected terrorist in the afternoon – then switch to wife and mother mode without a hitch". However, Fox did not pick up "Boomerang" as a new series.
In 2013, Huffman starred in the independent drama "Rudderless", and in the adventure film "Big Game" opposite Samuel L. Jackson. She also starred in another independent drama "Stealing Cars", and was cast in the comedy film "Zendog". In April 2014 she appeared in the independent film "Cake" opposite Jennifer Aniston.In 2014, Huffman was cast as the lead in the ABC anthology legal drama pilot "American Crime" created by John Ridley. The pilot was picked up to series in May 2014. On October 2, 2014, it was announced that Huffman would be star and executive producer alongside Carol Mendelsohn in her untitled drama about a special agent (Huffman) who is the fearless leader of a team of young agents on the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force. The project was developed for ABC, but was not green-lighted for 2015–16 television season. "American Crime" debuted on ABC in March, 2015 and Huffman received critical acclaim for her performance as an antagonistic character. Robert Bianco from USA Today said in his review "A triumph for Oscar winner John Ridley, who created, produced and directed "American Crime", and a reconfirmation that Felicity Huffman is one of the best actors we have... In no case is that truer than with Huffman's Barb, who is the morally questionable center of the story. Barb is a Lifetime movie heroine: a tough, divorced mother who raised her children alone, and is fighting now to bring her son's murderer to justice. Except this isn't that kind of show, and Barb's battles have not just made her stronger; they've made her hate all the people she's felt she had to fight. Which is why Huffman's gut-wrenching performance is so startling. A bundle of barely concealed fury, Huffman forces us to invest in a woman who thinks her bigotry makes her not just right, but noble."
In 2018, Huffman starred in the second season of the Epix comedy-drama "Get Shorty".
In 2019, Huffman starred in two Netflix projects: the Ava DuVernay' miniseries "When They See Us" about the famous Central Park jogger case from 1989 in which a jogger was attacked in Central Park in New York City and in the comedy-drama film "Otherhood" based on the novel "Whatever Makes You Happy" by William Sutcliffe, She also starred in the drama film "Tammy's Always Dying" directed by Amy Jo Johnson. which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019.
Personal life.
Huffman dated actor William H. Macy on and off for 15 years before they married on September 6, 1997. They have two daughters, Sophia and Georgia. She has appeared on television, in movies, and on stage many times with her husband; the couple each received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 7, 2012.
Huffman identifies as pro-choice, and has campaigned for women's rights on behalf of NARAL. In 2005, Huffman revealed that she had suffered from both anorexia and bulimia in her late teens and twenties.
Huffman is the co-author of the self-help book "A Practical Handbook for the Boyfriend". On March 1, 2012, Huffman launched What The Flicka, a website dedicated to women and mothers where she was a regular contributor. In March 2019, the website was reportedly deactivated.
In 2016, Huffman voiced support for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In 2018, Huffman donated $400 to Kamala Harris's campaign in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Felicity Huffman has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actors Branch since 2006.
Involvement in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.
Huffman was among dozens charged by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office on March 12, 2019, in a nationwide college entrance exam cheating scandal. Prosecutors alleged that Huffman's $15,000 donation to the Key Worldwide Foundation, ostensibly a charitable contribution, was in fact payment to a person who pretended to be Huffman's daughter Sophia and took the SAT for her, receiving a score greatly improved from Sophia's score on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT). Huffman was arrested at her California home on March 12 and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. She appeared on March 13 in Los Angeles Federal Court, where federal agents took her passport and the court released her on $250,000 bail. At her court appearance in Boston on April 3, she acknowledged her rights, charges, and maximum possible penalties; she waived a pretrial hearing, signed conditions of her release, and was allowed to leave. On April 8, she agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Huffman formally pleaded guilty to honest services fraud on May 13, 2019, and on September 13 she was sentenced to 14 days in jail, one year of supervised release, fined $30,000 and ordered to undertake 250 hours of community service. On October 15, 2019, Huffman reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, to begin her sentence. She was released on October 25, 2019, two days early because October 27 fell on a weekend. As of October 2020, when Huffman completed her full sentence, no charges have been filed against her husband and Sophia's father, actor and director William H. Macy.