Barbara Joan Love (February 27, 1937 – November 13, 2022) was an American

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

writer and the editor of ''Feminists who Changed America, 1963–1975''. With the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

, Love organized and participated in demonstrations, and she also worked within the organization to improve its acceptance of

lesbian feminist Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...

s. She helped to found consciousness-raising groups for lesbian feminists and was active in the

gay liberation The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii. ...

movement. With fellow feminist Sidney Abbott, she co-authored '' Sappho Was a Right-on Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism'', which she hoped would lead to greater awareness of society's oppression of women and lesbians. She also helped in the presentation to the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...

which led to the removal of homosexuality from the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...

Early life

Love was born on February 27, 1937, and grew up in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958, Her Danish father was a hosiery manufacturer. The king of Denmark decorated him for his role during the war as an underground agent. He also worked for Radio Free Europe. Her mother, Lois Love, whose ancestors were from colonial Massachusetts, was involved in community activities. Love had two brothers. At 12 years of age as a competitive swimmer, she was the first person in New Jersey to break the record of the 100 yard freestyle in under a minute. Love had several potential areas of contention with her parents as a Democratic lesbian feminist. The most significant concern of her "far right" Republican parents was that she was a Democrat. She became isolated from the rest of the family because she had friends who were not Protestants or Country Club members and many that were poor. She also "wondered why women had to be in the kitchen while men were in the living room discussing things of world import." Love began having crushes on girls in middle school, but didn't realize she was a lesbian and didn't have anyone to talk to about her feelings. In 1968 she told her mother she was gay. Her mother's response was "First to thine own self be true". Lois Love supported her daughter in gay rights and pride marches and in the founding of the now national Parents of Gays (

PFLAG PFLAG is the United States' first and largest organization uniting parents, families, and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+). PFLAG National is the national organization, which provides support to ...

Education

Love studied journalism and graduated in 1959 from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Adulthood

After graduation, she taught at an American school in Italy. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, she lived in Greenwich Village and frequented lesbian bars in New York City. After cutting her hair short, she was beaten by a group of men.

Women's movement

Love became involved in the women's movement and the

(NOW) when there was a small New York chapter and national board. She learned about it while interviewing Long John Nebel, meeting with a NOW founder,

Muriel Fox Muriel Fox (born February 3, 1928) is an American public relations executive and feminist activist. Childhood and education Muriel Fox's parents were Anne Rubenstein Fox and M. Morris Fox. In 1980, Muriel said (at a Mother's Day rally for the Equa ...

, and talking to the ''

Long Island Press The ''Long Island Press'' is a free monthly news and lifestyle periodical serving Long Island. Alternative Weekly Its previous print incarnation was as a free, independent print and digital monthly news journal with extensive coverage of local a ...

'' journalist

Dolores Alexander Dolores Alexander (August 10, 1931 – May 13, 2008) was a lesbian feminist, writer, and reporter. Alexander was the only executive director of the National Organization for Women (NOW) to have resigned because of the homophobic beliefs in the ...

who had interviewed

Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...

. She was invited to a meeting of the chapter's board of directors at Friedan's apartment in the

Dakota Building The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was constructed between 1880 and 1884 in the Renaissance ...

. Aside from Friedan, whom she found "harsh and demanding," other activists included

Rita Mae Brown Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American feminist writer, best known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel, ''Rubyfruit Jungle''. Brown was active in a number of civil rights campaigns and criticized the marginalization of le ...

and

Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honor ...

. Barbara helped to organize some of the group's demonstrations and participated in the demonstration against ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in the production, distribution, and provision of household, health car ...

, and men-only restaurants and hotels. The demonstration against ''The New York Times'' called for integration of

want ads "Want Ads" is a song that was a million-selling #1 pop and R&B hit recorded by female group, Honey Cone for their second album '' Sweet Replies'' and also appears on their third album ''Soulful Tapestry''. The song on the Detroit-based Hot Wax ...

for men and women. At that time there was a 25% discount for jobs filled by women, which is an

equal pay for equal work Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...

issue. Friedan, reflecting the tenor of some other heterosexual members of NOW, stated initially that the presence of lesbians in the organization was damaging to their image. Barbara Love's public response was: "My life had gotten better since I’d joined NOW and even better when I joined the women forging the beginnings of lesbian liberation," which reflected her intention to have lesbianism accepted as a feminist issue within NOW. Love developed the ''Foremost Women in Communications'' by compiling the information, editing it, and having it published. She began the work in 1970 having realized the need to create a resource of the women's accomplishments and ability in the communication field.

Lesbian feminist

Feeling unaccepted by the gay and women's movements, Love and other lesbian feminists formed consciousness raising groups and encouraged other lesbians to join. Another coordinator was Sidney Abbott, who became Love's lover and co-author. In the 1970s they were fellow members of Radicalesbians. With Elizabeth Shanklin, Love founded the Matriarchists, a radical feminist group. It hosted conferences, held consciousness-raising sessions, wrote position papers, and in the early 1970s published a newspaper entitled ''Matriarchists.'' While

was speaking about sexual liberation at Columbia University in 1970, a woman in the audience asked her, "Why don't you say you're a lesbian, here, openly. You've said you were a lesbian in the past." Millett hesitantly responded, "Yes, I am a lesbian". A couple of weeks later, ''Time'' December 8, 1970 article "Women's Lib: A Second Look" reported that Millett admitted she was bisexual, which it said would likely discredit her as a spokesperson for the feminist movement because it "reinforce the views of those skeptics who routinely dismiss all liberationists as lesbians." In response, two days later a press conference was organized by Love and

Ivy Bottini Ivy Bottini (August 15, 1926 – February 25, 2021) was an American activist for women's and LGBT rights, and a visual artist. Personal life and career Bottini was born in New York in August 1926. From 1944 until 1947, she attended Pratt Institu ...

in Greenwich Village which led to a statement in the name of 30 lesbian and feminist leaders which declared their "solidarity with the struggle of homosexuals to attain their liberation in a sexist society". Love made an appearance on ''

The Phil Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'', also known as ''Donahue'', is an American television talk show hosted by Phil Donahue that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast on WLWD in Dayton, Ohio, and i ...

'' in 1970 and on PBS' ''

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

Show'' in 1971, along with six other lesbians, including Lilli Vincenz and

Barbara Gittings Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 – February 18, 2007) was a prominent American activist for LGBT equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine ''The Ladd ...

. They were among the first open lesbians to appear on television in the US, and debated long-held

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

s about gays with Susskind. A week after her appearance on the ''David Susskind Show'', a middle-aged couple approached Gittings in the

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

to claim, "You made me realize that you gay people love each other just the way Arnold and I do." In their essay ''Is Women's Liberation a Lesbian Plot'' published in the book ''Women in a Sexist Society'' (1971), Sydney Abbott and Love gave their opinion about lesbians’ role in the

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

: Regarding the way in which lesbians represented the ultimate liberated women, Love said in 1972: That year, at a national NOW conference in California, Arlie Scott led an effort that resulted in NOW passing a resolution asserting that lesbianism is a feminist issue. Friedan endorsed the lesbian rights resolution at the

International Women's Year International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established. Hist ...

conference in Houston in 1976. Abbott and Love left Radicalesbians and formed 26 consciousness-raising groups in the late 1970s. Sidney Abbott,

Phyllis Birkby Noel Phyllis Birkby (December 6, 1932 – April 13, 1994) was an American architect, feminist, filmmaker, teacher, and founder of the Women's School of Planning and Architecture. Early life and education Noel Phyllis Birkby was born in Nutle ...

Alma Routsong Alma Routsong (November 26, 1924 – October 4, 1996) was an American novelist best known for her lesbian fiction, published under the pen name Isabel Miller. Early life Alma Routsong was born Elma Louise Routsong in Traverse City, Michigan, o ...

, and Artemis March were among the members of CR One, the first lesbian-feminist consciousness-raising group.

Psychiatric diagnosis

There used to be a record in the

(DSM) for homosexuality.

, Love, and other lesbian and gay people made a presentation in 1971 to the

(APA) that influenced the December 15, 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from the DSM. Two diagnosis remained "

ego-dystonic homosexuality Ego-dystonic sexual orientation is a highly controversial mental health diagnosis that was included in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM) from 1980 to 1987 (under the name ...

" and "sexual disturbance disorder".

Parents of Gays

Sidney Abbott and Love were among the first feminists to join the

movement. Love helped publicize the first meeting of Parents of Gays, now the national PFLAG National organization. According to Morty Manford, who co-founded Parents of Gays with his mother

Jeanne Manford Jeanne Sobelson Manford (December 4, 1920 – January 8, 2013) was an American schoolteacher and activist. She co-founded the support group organization, PFLAG, for which she was awarded the 2012 Presidential Citizens Medal. Family Born Jean S ...

and his father Jules, and organized the first meeting: "I handled the nuts and bolts of publicizing it. I placed an advertisement in the Village Voice. I also coordinated everything with Barbara Love, a very respected lesbian writer at that time... In those days we were very sensitive to the need for men and women to be working together, that nothing we did should be done solely from a gay male point of view. It was very important that Barbara was one of the organizers of this effort. She was able to reach out to the lesbian community as I reached out to the gay male community in an effort to publicize this eeting We asked everybody to let their parents know we had a place for them to come."

Identity House

Love co-founded a free walk-in center for gays, Identity House.

''Sappho Was a Right-on Woman''

Her work as a writer continued; In 1971 she co-authored the first nonfiction book about lesbianism from a positive perspective, ''Sappho Was a Right-on Woman'', with Sidney Abbott. It was also the first to discuss the connection between feminism and lesbianism. They wrote that a goal of the book was that lesbians could live their lives "unconsciously", without the societal stigma placed upon them because of their gender or sexuality. To be "the most ordinary people" required awareness created through the gay liberation and women's liberation movements that would lead to elimination of oppressive behaviors and practices.

''Feminists Who Changed America 1963–1975''

In 1996 she began a project to write biographies of 2,200 second-wave feminists and record the important events from that period, which was published in the book ''Feminists Who Changed America 1963–1975.'' She was assisted by Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) members. Her book has been the subject of discussion or conferences at VFA and NOW events. In an interview about the book Barbara Love said: For living "changemakers", information was gathered via questionnaires and other sources of information. In addition to research, people close to deceased activists were interviewed for information gathering. The book focuses on the contributions of individuals, rather than organizations. Information about each feminist is archived at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

’s

Sophia Smith Collection The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. General One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, ar ...

Later years and death

Love was on the board of Veteran Feminists of America and the organization has said of Love, "If Second Wave activists were graded according to their contributions, Barbara Love would be in the top ten." She continued to swim competitively into her 70s. For instance, she brought home several gold medals in the senior woman's age group of the

Gay Games The Gay Games is a worldwide sport and cultural event that promotes acceptance of sexual diversity, featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) athletes, artists and other individuals. Founded as the Gay Olympics, it was starte ...

in Amsterdam in 1998. Love died on November 13, 2022, at the age of 85.

Works

;Editor * ;Author * * Barbara J. Love (2021). “There At The Dawning: Memories of a Lesbian Feminist”. ISBN 978-1-6671-6477-9. ;Co-author * * *

Notes

References

External links

A Conversation with Barbara Love about Female Homosexuality in WNED's public television series “Woman”, 1974

Barbara Love research files regarding ''Feminists Who Changed America''
at the

, Smith College Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Barbara 1937 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century American women writers 21st-century LGBT people American feminist writers American people of Danish descent Lesbian feminists LGBT people from New Jersey American LGBT writers People from Ridgewood, New Jersey Syracuse University alumni