Ivy Bottini (August 15, 1926 – February 25, 2021) was an American activist for women's and

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

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 Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

School of Art, where she earned a certificate in advertising

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

and illustration. She married Edward Bottini in 1951. She was employed for sixteen years at the east coast daily newspaper ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'', until her move to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in 1971. Bottini realized she had same sex attractions at an early age. Her first crush was on her

first grade First grade (also called Grade One, called ''Year 2'' in England or Primary 2 in Scotland) is the first grade in elementary school and the first school year after kindergarten. Children are usually 6–7 years old in this grade. Examples by ...

female gym teacher. During an interview with ''The Lavender Effect'', Bottini said she fell "in love with every gym teacher I ever had in my life." She also formed a close, platonic relationship with one of her seventh grade teachers, who became a parental figure for her. Despite her attraction to women, Bottini did not pursue lesbian relationships, due to the cultural norms of the time. She was engaged to several men, with each engagement lasting only a few weeks before she'd end the relationship. She married her husband of sixteen years, Eddie, on January 12, 1952. Leading up to the marriage, Bottini began experiencing physical symptoms involving her ability to swallow food properly. Her doctor realized her symptoms were related to anxiety and referred her to a psychiatrist. She expressed to the psychiatrist that she felt attracted to women, but the

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

told her she was not homosexual. He suggested she abandon her friends and interests and "cleave" to her soon-to-be husband, Eddie. She did as her psychiatrist instructed, but her lesbian desires did not subside. Years later, a coworker, Delores Alexander, introduced Bottini to 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 ...

(NOW). Alexander had just interviewed NOW president

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 ...

and felt it would be a useful organization for Bottini to join. Bottini helped found the New York chapter of NOW in 1966. Soon after becoming president of the New York chapter of NOW in 1968 she came out as a lesbian. She left her husband and moved in with a woman in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She also studied acting at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and performed a one-woman show, ''The Many Faces of Women'', nationwide. Bottini later worked as a graphic artist. Her memoir, ''The Liberation of Ivy Bottini: A Memoir of Love and Activism'', as told to Judith V. Branzburg, was published by Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company in November 2018. Bottini died in Florida on February 25, 2021, at the age of 94.

Activism

In 1966, she helped found the New York chapter of the

. In 1968, she was elected the president of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women; she came out as a lesbian later that year. In 1969, she designed the logo for the National Organization for Women which is still their logo today. Also in 1969, she held a public forum titled "Is Lesbianism a Feminist Issue?", which was the first time lesbian concerns were introduced into the National Organization for Women. In 1970, she led a demonstration at the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...

where she and others from the National Organization for Women's New York chapter draped an enormous banner over a railing which read "WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE!" During her time at the National Organization for Women's New York chapter she also introduced feminist

consciousness raising Consciousness raising (also called awareness raising) is a form of activism popularized by United States feminists in the late 1960s. It often takes the form of a group of people attempting to focus the attention of a wider group on some cause or ...

, which was later adapted for all chapters in the organization to participate in. However, later in 1970

engineered the expulsion of lesbians from the National Organization for Women's New York chapter, including Bottini. When

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 honors ...

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 Bottini and

Barbara Love Barbara Joan Love (February 27, 1937 – November 13, 2022) was an American feminist writer and the editor of ''Feminists who Changed America, 1963–1975''. With the National Organization for Women, Love organized and participated in demonstr ...

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". Bottini moved to Los Angeles in 1971. There she founded AIDS Network LA, the first AIDS organization in Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Lesbian/Gay Police Advisory Board. In 1977, she created and hosted the first Lesbian/Gay radio show on a mainstream network (KHJ in Los Angeles). In 1978, she was the Southern California deputy director of the successful campaign against the

Briggs Initiative California Proposition 6, informally known as the Briggs Initiative, was a ballot initiative put to a referendum on the California state ballot in the November 7, 1978 election. It was sponsored by John Briggs, a conservative state legislato ...

(No on 6), which would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in California's public schools. She later chaired the successful No on

LaRouche LaRouche may refer to: * Lyndon LaRouche (1922–2019), an American political figure ** The overall LaRouche movement, an international political and cultural movement ** The Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement, which recruits people between the age ...

and No on 64 Initiative campaign. The Larouche initiative (Number 64), which was not passed, might have quarantined people with AIDS. In 1981 she was appointed by then-governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

as Commissioner for "California Commission on Aging", making her the first "out" lesbian or gay person to be appointed to a state board or commission. In 1983 she co-founded AIDS Project Los Angeles. In 1993, she co-founded the nonprofit organization Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing, which in 2007 developed Triangle Square, the first affordable housing complex for gay and lesbian senior citizens in the country. From 1998 until 1999, she co-chaired the addiction and recovery city task force, and established the ad hoc committee City of West Hollywood, to publicize the issue of lesbian and gay partner abuse. Also in 1999, she chaired the National Organization for Women's annual national conference, called Pioneer Reunion, in Beverly Hills. Shortly after, she co-chaired the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board for the City of West Hollywood from 2000 to 2010. In 2001, she was part of a lesbian and gay rights coalition that formed the Alliance for Diverse Community Aging Services to help lesbian and gay seniors obtain assisted living and affordable retirement. In 2011, she designed t-shirts for the Dyke March in Los Angeles. She and the LGBT history organization Lavender Effect advocated for an LGBT museum in Los Angeles. She also advocated for the creation of an AIDS memorial in West Hollywood. Her papers and certain audio recordings are held by ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives. In 2009, the film ''On These Shoulders We Stand'' profiled Ivy Bottini as well as ten other LGBT activists from the early LGBT rights movement in Los Angeles. She participated in an Oral History project by The Lavender Effect, which documented her personal life and work as an activist. In her last known interview, Bottini spoke about her work on the podcast, '' LGBTQ&A.''

Awards

In 1991, she received Drama Logues' "Best Performance Award" for ''Against the Rising Sea.'' In 1998, the Ivy Theater was established in her honor in West Hollywood. In 2001, in the

Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...

Memorial Triangle a tree was planted in her honor, and a plaque was placed at the foot of it. In 2005, she was awarded the Cultural Icon Award by the Tom of Finland Foundation. In 2007, she received the Morris Kight Lifetime Achievement Award from Christopher Street West Los Angeles LGBT Pride.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bottini, Ivy 1926 births 2021 deaths American feminists American women memoirists 21st-century American memoirists American women's rights activists HIV/AIDS activists LGBT memoirists LGBT people from California LGBT people from New York (state) American LGBT rights activists Lesbian feminists 20th-century American women 21st-century American women National Organization for Women people