Queer Womxn Spaces in the 1970s by Meredith Cunningham

Background:

Following the 1969 Stonewall Inn Riots, queer visibility in Western society began to increase. This era came to be known as the Gay Liberation Movement and occurred alongside other social movements such as second wave feminism. Women loving women found themselves dissatisfied with the misogyny from the Gay Liberation Movement (1969-1983) as well as the feminist movement. In 1969, the national president of the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) Betty Friedan referred to the growing visibility of lesbians as a “lavender menace.” In response, at the 1970 Congress to Unite Women, twenty women wearing “Lavender Menace” shirts read “The Woman-Identified Woman,” the first major lesbian feminist statement.

These women loving women communities began to organize in their separate spaces. Lesbian bars now became an important space for community activism. Other businesses such as coffeehouses and bookstores popped up and became important community spaces in the 1970s. Events and businesses were made known to the community by lesbian feminist newspapers. In Denver, lesbian feminists owned businesses such as the Three Sisters, held events at the Woman to Woman Book Store, and wrote newspapers for the community such as Big Mama Rag, operating apart from the patriarchal heteronormative institutions of 1970s America. Lesbian feminists forged distinct identities through thriving communities.

The outside of the Velvet Hammer (1976-1979), a lesbian bar in Denver. The bar was a space for lesbian feminists in the city to meet, play pool, and enjoy live entertainment. The space offered an escape from the daily oppressions of being a woman loving woman in the 1970s.
Outside of the Woman to Woman Book Feminist Bookcenter on East Colfax in 1976. The center also hosted events, meetings, and workshops for women loving women in the Denver Area.
Kathy Barriga, Sue Haymes, and Trudy Sauter pose for a photograph after the opening of the Woman to Woman Feminist Bookcenter Library in 1977. The library allowed women to read more lesbian feminist literature without purchase.
A woman plays pool in the Velvet Hammer in 1976.
Map of lesbian feminist locations in Denver in Big Mama Rag January 1979.

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Space and Business:

After World War II, young women began to move to the cities, creating larger women loving communities. However, these communities could not always publicly exist. The Lavender Scare (1940s-1960s) caused thousands of gay men and women to lose their government jobs over fears of communist ties. Women loving women risked arrest by existing publicly. During this era, many women chose to attend private gatherings rather than bars for their safety.

Following Stonewall (1969), lesbians could exist more visibly and attend bars, which became important community meeting spaces in the 1970s. Lesbian women of color were not always welcome in these spaces, and women loving women spaces evolved. Coffehouses and restaurants offered a calmer atmosphere for lesbian feminists. The first feminist restaurant, Mother Courage, opened in 1972 in Greenwich Village with more around the country soon to follow. In 1973, MANGAS Coffeehouse opened in Denver sponsored by the Denver Lesbian Center. This coffeehouse advertised itself as a “place open to all women, gay or straight, young or older…” Lesbian spaces in Denver evolved with changing conditions.

Advertisement for the Woman to Woman Feminist Center Coffeehouse in the May 1979 Big Mama Rag volume. The locations of the Coffeehouse changed depending on where space was available.
The staff for Big Mama Rag in the June 1973 volume.
Members of the Denver Lesbian Center in 1973. The center provided resources and meetings for women loving women in the Denver area.
Casse Culver, a lesbian feminist singer, performs at the Velvet Hammer in 1977. Culver toured the country, going to lesbian feminist spaces and performing music the audience could relate to.
“Ain’t I a Woman” Theatre performs at the Woman to Woman Coffeehouse in May of 1978. The purpose of the Coffeehouse was to provide a “non-alcoholic alternative meeting place for women of all ages.”

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Identity, Class, and Race:

From 1965 - 1985 the lesbian feminist movement exemplified a very diverse group which was influenced by the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Middle class women struggled with the radical rejections of capitalism by working class women and sought to distinguish their own identity. Lesbians were rejected by groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and often experienced misogyny in gay male groups. NOW was founded in 1966 by Pauli Murray, Betty Friedan, and Aileen Hernandez. Murray is often recognized as a gender non-conforming person, yet Friedan purged lesbians from the New York NOW chapter in 1970 remarking that the “lavender menace” would set back the feminist movement for being “anti-male.” Yet, this provoked a backlash and prompted the “Woman-Identified Woman” manifesto of the group The Lavender Menace, and by 1973 NOW established the task force on Sexuality and Lesbianism.

Chicana and Black Lesbian feminists articulated their own philosophies in turn. In 1979, Audre Lorde’s essay “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” outlined that women loving women were still using patriarchal language, and that while difference was apart of women’s experiences, it was also a creative function while relying on black lesbians to teach white lesbians was a tool of oppression. Cheri Moraga published This Bridge Called My Back in 1981, focusing on intersectionality, calling for more subjectivities of women of color in feminist circles, and established the roots of 3rd Wave Feminism. Feminism moved towards more intersectional identities which was exemplified in Big Mama Rag as well.

The 1977 Chicana Conference is held at the University of Colorado Boulder. The conference discussed the unique issues of being Chicana, including the sexism and racism they faced in the workforce. The group also came out in support of the Coors boycott, displaying a connection between race, gender, and class.
Mert Vaughn was active in the Denver chapter of the National Alliance of Black Feminists which began meeting in 1976. Vaughn attended several meetings in Denver women’s groups and found they were mostly white. The similar experiences of other black feminists formed the NABF.
Advertisement in December 1981’s Big Mama Rag for This Bridge Called My Back.
Women protest outside the Coors Brewery in April 1977. These women were protesting the sexist, homophobic, and racist working conditions of the brewery.
Patricia Estrada, a worker for Chicana Welfare Rights in Denver, poses with her daughter in their apartment in 1974. Chicana Welfare Rights was a national organization that operated through the volunteer efforts of Chicano mothers fighting against welfare injustice.

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Culture and Politics:

In the 1970s, lesbian feminists formed their own distinct culture and politics defined by music and fashion. Lesbian separatism was an extreme form of protest during this time as some lesbian feminists believed that men had nothing positive to contribute to the feminist movement, the term male feminist was almost regarded as an oxymoron. Lesbian Feminists formed their own communities apart from a patriarchal society on Womyn’s Land which was a movement in the 1970s to buy and own land to empower separate spaces and communities throughout the United States.

Lesbian feminists also protested the misogyny of the music industry by forming their own record labels, festivals, and concerts. Olivia Records formed in 1973 as the first women’s music record label. By 1977, Olivia Records had a distributing system of 80 women in 32 states and four countries (BMR 1.1.77). The label was frequently advertised in Big Mama Rag and many of their artists came to Denver for concerts, offering a united voice in the lesbian feminist struggle. The Colorado Women’s Festival (1974-1978?) offered a space for women loving women in the state to celebrate their identities together. Music served an important purpose within lesbian feminist culture in the 1970s.

Advertisement for women’s land for sale in Texas in Big Mama Rag's February 1981 volume.
Meg Christian and Ginny Benson, two Olivia recording artists perform at the Unitarian Church on 14th and Lafayette in May 1976. Christian’s debut album I Know You Know was the first album produced by Olivia Records in 1975.
Big Mama Rag advertisement for Meg Christian’s 1975 album I Know You Know.
Women give away beer for a donation at the third annual Colorado Women’s Festival in September 1976. The location moved around Denver throughout the years depending on cost. The festival was a huge space for lesbian feminists and their children to take “time away from the patriarchy to celebrate their strength and the spirit of women.”
The Colorado Women’s Political Caucus meets in 1974. This was an attempt between women in Colorado to mobilize their political power and elect more women into government.
Children enjoy face painting at the 1976 Colorado Women’s Festival. Not only was the festival a space for women’s independence, but their children were also free to roam around.

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