Madeleine Tress (1932–2009) was an American employment lawyer,

LGBT rights activist A list of notable LGBT rights activists who have worked to advance LGBT rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically. Argentina * Claudia Castrosín Verdú, she and her partner were the first lesb ...

and memoirist who worked in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. She lost her job working for the U.S. government in the 1950s as a direct result of the

lavender scare The "lavender scare" was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign wh ...

Early life and education

Tress was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1932 to a Jewish family. She was a graduate of Georgetown University and also earned degrees from the London School of Economics, New York University and UC Berkeley.

Professional career

In the 1950s, Tress worked as a business economist for the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

in Washington, D.C. In 1958 she was interrogated by the U.S. government for being a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

while working as a civil servant. After losing her job in the State Department due to the

Lavender scare The "lavender scare" was a moral panic about homosexual people in the United States government which led to their mass dismissal from government service during the mid-20th century. It contributed to and paralleled the anti-communist campaign wh ...

, Tress began working as a lawyer.

Legal career

Tress had a longtime career as a lawyer and ran her own firm in the city of San Francisco. John Wahl, the executor of Harvey Milk's estate, served as her legal mentor. Tress also argued a case about job discrimination at the Supreme Court. In the 1980s she owned a San Francisco business which specialized in cat artifacts named Wholly Cats. In this period she also served as executive vice-president of the Fireman's Fund Insurance.

Political activism

Tress was a longtime resident of San Francisco who was very civically active on behalf of a variety of civil rights issues. Tress was a longtime

gay rights activist A list of notable LGBT rights activists who have worked to advance LGBT rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically. Argentina * Claudia Castrosín Verdú, she and her partner were the first les ...

. Her papers are housed at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives and the University of Southern California. Additional materials related to Tress's activism are available at the San Francisco Public Library as part of the Len Evans papers.

Participation in LGBT marches

Tress and her partner Jan Sibley attended LGBT marches in San Francisco yearly starting in 1983. They also attended the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. In ''Rainbows on My Ceiling'', she documented her participation in this march writing, "Gays had just been barred from the military. Cammemeyer was kicked out of the Army for being a lesbian and thousands of gay men were dying of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

...It was the right time to tell Washington how we felt."

Publications

''Rainbows on My Ceiling''

In 2006 Tress self-published a memoir titled ''Rainbows on My Ceiling''. She hoped her story would have a wider readership as in the book she wrote "I...want my book to be an Oprah selection." The book documented her childhood as well as her activism in the gay rights movement. The book also includes information about her long term relationship with partner Sibley. Tress donated a copy of this book to the San Francisco Public Library. In this memoir she wrote extensively about her life with Sibley after she died. According to Tress, "There is nothing like the death of a loved one to split your life apart. You feel like you are both before and after...Like the Tlingit Indians I believe that the rainbow is a communication device from the living to the dead."

Jewish philanthropy

Tress wrote about Jewish philanthropy. Her work was published in a 1991 essay titled, "''Tradition and Transition in Jewish Women's Philanthropy''."

"Halakha, Zionism, and Gender: The Case of Gush Emunim

In 1994 Tress published an article on Judaism titled, "Halakha, Zionism, and Gender: The Case of Gush Emunim" which appeared in the book, ''Identity Politics & Women: cultural Reassertions and Feminisms in International Perspective''. The book was edited by Valentine M. Moghadam.

Later years

In 1998 Tress wrote a letter to the editor of the ''San Francisco Examiner'' arguing President Bill Clinton should step down as a result of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. She wrote he should resign after giving a "strong State of the Union address, offer an apology to his wife and daughter (if nothing else for his stupidity in being set up) and turn over the reins to Vice President Al Gore."

Portrayal in the media

Actress Cynthia Nixon read as Tress in the 2017 film ''The Lavender Scare''. In the 2021 six -part documentary ''Pride'', Tress was portrayed by actress Alia Shawkat.

Personal life

Her brother is the photographer Arthur Tress. She lived for decades with her partner, teacher Jan Sibley, who she met in 1962. Tress died on September 26, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tress, Madeleine American lesbians American women activists 20th-century American lawyers American women lawyers American political activists 1932 births 2009 deaths LGBT people from San Francisco 20th-century American LGBT people