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a journal for gay women
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�FOCUS: A jf 1Un.NAJ..
FOR GAY
WOMEN
I:'t=.ibruary 1')73
FOCUS published monthly by Boston
is
Daughters of Bilitis,
Room 415,
419 Boylston st., Boston, Ma~s. 02116,,
FOCUSstaff:
Geri . Lois H. 9 Laura.,
,
Bost.on D.O.B. officers:
Tr0asurer ••• q.•o•c•••~••0Geri
Bidwell
Re~ord1ng Secr~tary••e•••Lois
H.,
Corresponding Secretary •• Laura Robin
THE COVER: Our cover this month was
ta.ken from THELADDER's
cover cf Dec./
Jan~ 1969/1970 and is appropriate to
our lead story on P• 3,. The quot0
occurs at the very end of Th~ Well ot
~1i,ness,
as Stephen :hne.gines past
and future "i:~werts" aj"'Jsing and calling out to her 9 and,we may envision,
to the rest of the world.,
Articles in FOCUS
reflect the views
of the indi·n.dual authors nnd do not
necessarily represent the views of
welcomes contributions
frcm
FOCUS
everyoneo Please s:4!rl a stamped envelope if you want them back~
Phone: 617-262-1592
Subscriptions
are $5 a yenr.
are 50¢. Give us your zip#.
Samples
D..O..B~
This publication is on file at the Intern.:i.tional Women°s History Archive, 2325
Ot.k Street, Berkeley~ California 94708~ and is available on raic rofilm through
Bell and Howells Drawer iiEn, Wooster, Ohio 44691.
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# D.O.B. business meeting of January 18 •••••••••• 7 #
1fa Transvestism,
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�3
OUi PLACE, PA..STAND MJJ'GRE
l
by :1. .y Sj1k
a
·;
We l ik e to -read · abotrt. our s elvei;~
Howeve 1• 't>:r.pa.d sympat.M.en~ h?~evar
, our
friendly - our relations
..r.tt h .
st:raj_ght
nei.ghbors, -wa a1·e most at · home w:l.th the
char.a.cte:r.s ·whose .:feeling~;
ficttonal
whose joy:s .9 whoze difficul tie.s re ·semble
oul' own.. . We walcome the chance to read
a.bout other le ribians.
Althcitlgh t.he homophile movementandthe
new-feminism
have
been good for us, neither
1s altogether
what we he.d hoped fm"; · one is . dominated
by males, the other by heterosexuals.
As the le - st regarded
a
members of each
_
g::-oup, we h3.V ·,j become '1nore~ avva.re of 011r
particula1-naed n 9 · among theni .the need
for pel"sonal and ·.artistic
· expres.:,ions
of our mm.
our
·
Siuca 1928 9 when Radclyffe
Hal1° s The
liill' £f Lonel} !l!!:::-~'was published in
Gre~ .t Bl"itains
the lesbian
novel h<'l.s
been on e of the mbst 1.rri'tJortant of these
t,xpr.essions , - (The term ~1•lesbian 11ovel•1
/
is-applied
here to works of fiction
in
which at l(3ast cne of the major chnra.cters
i.s a lesbian~)
The Well of' Lonelinesr.:i
was the first
of its-kfna:- Among
the
most :'·recent is Isabel
Niller 0 s _Patience
£:l~d ~,
published
by McGraw ·.Hill i;.1
1972. •'
.
Public outrage,
fanned by .popuie.r . jour:nali~J.n, caused ~ ~ o{ : J.,6110lin,2ss
to he. tried _
and then banned from G:::
·eat
Brit&in as obs~ane 9 altho~h
j.t was defendeq. by su~h thiukers · ·as Hayelock
Ellis 'h.nd .George Bernard Shc:.w. 'l'he
Joriathat Cape, was
Engli~h publisher~
forced 'to pri:::it and dist :r-:3.
bul.e the bool<: ~·
in Paris.
Eventually
it i•vas transla.ted
into elev-en languages
and s old "in the
.
h1.
mdr0d ·s cf thoi1sands 9 but it ' r~:mained
coatraband
in B:l'itain ..
.
.
Patience
..£!.1.i
Sa.ra_h was . , fir at printed
and distributed
by · the . _
_
author herself
in 1969, under the titla
A Place fm:- Us• After three y0ars ·1 the
book ;;s ·r-;;s~ed
from its underground
status by McGraw Hill, and 'gained public
recognition
through an artic _e in tha
i
!J-6.2!
York T~
Boo,_!s
-R9\--±e (Ap:.."il 23,
!!'
By contrast,
1972) (>
·
- · ··
: -
Th.a d:tff.aronc~ between the h1ntories
·of these twq novels reflects
th~ cha11ga
in societyv s ll.ttitude
tow ard us. Things
are improvi r.! a little: 9 a:lthough we
g
still
suffer the double sbcial
and
e•
Jonomic handicaps
of being female and
bei:cg homosexual ., Our eimotiona.l
once nearly tll1nlentionabla r
pre;f erences,
have beon transf 01·roed by th~ · changing
t:imes into a:1 object of 0p ;,n a.nd - ev e4·1
r a spectab1 e curious:f.ty, ·. iwt vd thout
its comme:rcis.1 possibili:f:,ies,.
Hence
McGraw H:i.lP s purcha:ne · o.f Isabel
Hiller 0 s novel., .
Of greater
conce ,~ are tha attitudes
n
towards lesb:ta:cdsm to be ffru .. in th 0
11d
nove1.s the:mselves~
. _, . ··
The W-311 of Loneli .;,
_ _
.n.alU?.
preserves
t,h3 facts
of the recent
past: .J:1
.tit?P -9..~3;\E,g r ~ is a possible
Sa
on c,f things
to come.. At proindicatj
ser it w~ are in t:i:-ansi tio:n 9 no longer
b ott.-id entirely
by the conventions
and
traditions
of Radclyffe
Hall 0 s de.y 9
but :not yet freefro:m
them.
Patier;ce
and Sarah 9 who do not fit the roles of
butch and fenun~t and who never doubt
the rightnes ·s of -their
feelings
fqr
each otherv personify
thf) net~ fel!l1.l'.\1.st
ideal
of lesbianism
ii if rwt the · rea .1:Uy
( t he old•-llne
gay bars are still.
floui·-~
ishing,
along with all tho attitUOtlB
·
that keep them.i:nbustness)~
In our
current
tr an;:;itional
state,
we may .
benefit
by looking
both ways, to see
where ' we b e gan and where we may yet
a:i:rive.
-------..-:.
f ~~ _
Us--the
O!iginal title
"
s LJ:->ok--ide:nt
:lfies the goal
sough t by ali _of us 9 · 1iv:i.r,g or fic t i- ,
tious~
A i;place9 92• a se:bse of br:;long- ,
i .r.g somewhere~ -. is t-he quest of tho
. ·.
ch:lef characters
in both novels-, There
are many · ciiff~z-ences between the two
books, but · noi e mo::.·~ striking
1
th2 .n
t h e contrast ' 'between the ::i
:uthors O conc 0ptj,.ons of our 11place 9 11 both in societ; )
, and - in 61U' ·own estimation.
A
Plac~
of Miller
0
.'.th~
}Iell .9~:f
Lon~lj.ne2&,
plex 1 given to close
rr.otives and acti<;ms.
(Gant. p_ 4)
.
is long and com~
oxami:nation of
Often it seems
�4
OURPL 11 PA AN FUTURE,CO T. from pa.ge 3
ACE
ST D
N
more like a study than a novel, for it
is the only alternative.
is written as carefully as a pioneering
work ought to be written, taking nothing
Stephen°s idealistic
nature makes her
for granted about the readersv knowledge
masculinity somewhat less oppressive
of the subject.
Hall displays almost a
than it might have been. Still,
her
clinical interest in Steph~m., the heroine. · idealism is of the traditional
male
In particular,
the section of :the book
variety.
Her relations .hip with Nary is
concerning Stephenvs childhood an~ youth . a high-minded blend of . passion and ·
reads like a Krafft-Ebbing case historyt
protectiveness:
.. she erideavo:i:';5 win .·
to
brought to life and given full human
·
acceptance for herself and the girl by
her achievements as ·a writer.
dimensions.
The book contains little
actual plot. It
consists for the most part .of . a series .
of illustrative
episodes, whose cumula:.
tive effect is to conveythe sense of ·
Stephen° s homelessness.
Stephen ·11 stood
midway between the sexes " in a society
whose sexes were not merely biological
divisions but armed camps, each with
its own infiexible
code of behavior. In
this setting, Stephen felt confined within her female body, filled as she was
with aspirations
and energies that were
permitted only to the male .. Unwilling
to perform the female role expected of
her, she suffered the ostracism of nnormal1: society ( the novel is peppered with
the word 11normal 11 and its opposite, 11invert 11. Stephen was an exile in more
)
than one sense, not only standing :outside the recognized sexual categories,
but forced by the pressures of family
and society, and by her own damaged selfesteem, to leave her home. Even when
settled abroad, she was compelled to
remain outside 11normal " humanity.
The saddest part of this unhappy tale
is Stephenvs acceptance of the general
attitude toward herself and those lik~
her. The book is full of words like
this, spoken in an age when religious
11I 0 m some
feeling was considerable:
awful mistake--God 0 s mistakeo •• it 0 s
pure hell. 00 Or this cry to a deaf
Heaven: "There are so many of us ••• who
have no right to live, no right to compassion because they 0 re maimed, hideously maimed and ugly--God 0 s cruel; He let
us get flawed in the makingo 11
Stephen, though exiled, is also imprisoned in her surroundings.
She has nowhere
to look for models o~ examples except
within the very society that rejects her.
Having refused the female role,Stephen
must adopt ready -made the male part;
it
.she was writing this book for
M
ary• • .She did not entirely neglect
the girl Ior whose ~aka she was
making this mighty: effort--that
.
she could not have cio11eeven had
she wished to, since love was the
actua'.l source of her effort. ~ut
quite soon there were days when
she would not go out~ or if she
did go ••• she seemed abstracted •••
And.soon there were days when all
that she did apart from .her writin es
was done . ith an obvious effort
w
to be con,sidez:-ate. 11
, • 11 ••
Stephen h~s falien into the w:ell-known
pat~rn of the husband who. is so fuily
absorbed by his career that he neglects
his wife in daily, pers~mal matters•
Mary runs true ..to _
the pattern.
Hardly
more than an ornament, she is by far
the least interesting
character in the
novel.
Her attachment to Stephen i .
s
she
described with pathetic accuracy:
wants to do Stephen° s typing and mend
her socks, having no other ambition
than to devote herself to her partner.
11
Hall refers to her as 91all woman ,
1
"perfect woman1 , for whom•1love is an
end in itself 1i . We cannot fault the
author for describing the 11 perf ect
11
woman in such terms--she was merely
echoing the conventional wisdom of her .
time--but we would be more likely to
say that Nary filled the feminine role
to perfection.
M
ary is only a part of Stephen°s life,
ary
but Steppen is all of M 0 s:
nsomet:imes there were poignant if
. small disappointments,
when Stepher :
had -failed to keep a promise.
v1isten, Mary darling--will
you
ever forgive me if I don°t come
(cont.p.5)
�OURPI.ACE PAST ATi!D
FUTURE CONT from pago 4
,
9
9
with you about tho:::,;efurs?
I 0 ve a
bit of work here I simply must
finish.
You do understand? 0
0 Yes,
of course I do. 0 But M
ary,
left to choose her new furs alone
had quite suddenly felt that she
did not want them.ii
9
With the longing of an outsider to whom
ent~y is . eternally denied 9 Stephen feels
a 1icrmring for the normal '' • Lacking
:;.ny other model 9 and U.."'lable see beyond
to
the convent.:i.o:ns of her own society 9
Stephen attempts to create w:lth Hary a
nnormHl1i domesti .n lifeo
But she is
doomed in this;
any union of man and woman :ls enough to make a mockery of her
effort.
At the wedding of her housemaid to a young soldier 9 Stephen reflects
that whatever else the couple might lack 9
the man can g-lve rds b:dde '' sec:irity 9
peaca 9 love with honorn. All of Stephen°s
v.:-ee.lth and accomplishments cannot purchase
these things.
The wedding 9 a milestone
;n a way of life she can attain only
irnperfectly 9 serves to sharpen her sense
of futility
and defeat.
Shame9 self-loathing
for
9 the striv-lng
the goodwill of a hostile society 9 are
illustrated
in the episodes and details
that Hall has recorded so abundantly
The emd of
and with such precisiona
the tale draws these elements together 9
showing us once and .for all the hopelezsPretending
ness of Stephen°s position.
that her love for Mary has cooled,
Stephen surrenders the girl to a young
man with whom she senses IIary is now in
love , (A fu-cther twist~
the man is an
old friend of Stephen°s).
The coolness,
however, conceals StephenQs true reason
for releasing Maryg her balief that she
is unworthy 9 unable to give Mary the
nhonor 11 , the good name, the ·status 9 as
we would say 9 that a man could providea
Her action is chivalrous 9 the expression
of her strongly masculine wish to do the
right thing.
But the unfcrtunato
Stephen, who has accepted the difficulties
and obligations
of the masculine ideal,
Sha iE;
cannot share in the advantages9
truly without a place in the worle:~
Hall has succeeded in cormnunicating her
lost quality,
her positlon iimidway between the sexes", if not in a biologicnl,
then surely in a social sense.
5
out of this despair emerges a single,
very slend(lr threRd of hopee Steph on
and her companions are struggling for
acceptance~ both self-acceptance
and
I~ Stephen° s
acceptance by others,.
own words, 11wa Ore all part ·of nc1.ture1i .
But it is Stephen°s friend Valerie
who prescribes
the approach to be
taken before the day of acceptance
c~mes: to ,:cultivate
more pride! ; •
Here 9 as in other respects,
Hall a~tici pated what would come ;:i.fter her · tima .:,
for the pride urged by V8lerie is whG.t
is meruit today by " gay pr ide": the
freedom f r om shame.
In contrast,
pride lives at the heart
of Patien .ce .filld 2!1.T.~: pride of
womanhood and the heroines 0 pride in
their feelings for each other.
Patience and Sarc.h does riot have the
d;;~1;;ntary quality of Th~ Well of
Loneliness.
It is the work of contempary author, who feels no need to explain every dutail to the better-inInstead,
she
formed readers of today.
chooses to concentrate
on the two
crucial years in which the women meet,
fall in love, and embark upon a life
cf their own makinga The book feels
more like a novel than do'3S The ~+1
.Qf. 1on~li~..E~ because Isabel Miller
is not recording the events and
attitudes
of her own t:hna.. It ls ·&
reconstruction,
as she tells us, b. sed
a
on a few survi vi .ng s cra.ps of inf or:mation about a pair of women who liyed
and farmed in upper New York State
century.
early in the nineteenth
From these scraps, M:i11er has created
the atmosphere that we may believe
existed in the years following the
American Revolution.
She conveys the
sense of wilderness and open spaces
waiting to be tamed~ containing not
only the physical challenge of fresh
territory
the opportunity also
9 but
to carve out new emotional freeholds,
new ways of living.
The old New
England restraints
still
eY..ist, but
they are no match for the promise of
freedom lying to the west,. Patience
and Sarah, sett¥1g out together from
their Connecticut farms, blossom in
this atmosphere.
Where I.h2Well of
(canto
P• 6)
�6
OURPLACE, P.AST D FUTURE, Cm1T., from page 5
AN
J.,on~1:ine$.;E. shows the first
cracks beg:i.ri,;.
ning to . open_ in the encrust eel conventicms,
and the anguish of' those , engaged in the .'
opening process, the world ,of Patience
and Sarah is full o:f open space, so
that the rebels have : only to remove
themselves from the old to establish
something ·new. We·must ·;t>egard them as .
adventurers, notas exiles.
Miller -has created a brave pair of in- '
novators•
Th_i f buoyancy, their optie
mism, their pride touch those of us who
have begun to feel a similar pride:
that it i~ a fine thing to be a womll?l
and a lover of women. Patience and Sarah
may be maq,e to suffer, .but their pain,
like that of today 0 s ,feminist lesbian,
originates outside , tr.a self; not within.
Unlike Stephen, these women have not
taken to heart society 9 s judgment of
them. They . are . seen to struggle not
at all, or only bri-efly, .with misgivings
about their own feelings.
Unimpeded by
self-hatred,
.they can save all their
energies for maeU.ng the opposition.
11W can be an army of two.
e
W can
e
be Plato 0 s perfect army: lovers,
who will never behave dishonorably
in each other 0 s sight, and invincible.
Let the world either kill
us or grow accustomed to us: here
we stand. 1;
What an encouraging book this is.
Compare Stephen°s shame before her God
with Patience 0 s statement to her .pious
brother, who is scandalized: -
°I
prayed to be fulfilled
(my love). 0
'1
in
He thinks it over. It is impressive that God didn°t strike me
with lightning for such a prayer.
There is a chance that God is not
offended. 11
11
It is the new courage, transplanted
into
nineteenth-century
New England. The
0
Lord womt mind.
In the face of this .womanly ~alf~~ssurance,
what are we to make of Sarah 0-s . male
clothes and her knowledge of ,traditionally
.
male skills?
·
Hero, Sarah, 0 s apparf)nt resemblance to
Staph ~n is only a·s deep as her clothin :::
The underlying motives are quite different.
It is economic need, a need
unknown to the waaltby Stephen, that
has placed Sarah in the role of the
boy. Har family is all girls: . her
father, who cannot afford to hire a
man, must tr$in one of his daughters
to help with the heavier work on the
farm. A purely practical
step, but
a source of gossip in the na~ghborhood.
Later, when Sarah takes to the road
alone; she travels in boy 0 s disguise
to protect herself and to avoid notice.
She passes as male, but makes a dis,;.
covary: "I began to see how boys
aran°t much batter off than women.
Men are the ones who get their way
and run the warld. 11 Only at th~ . beginning of the novel, when Sarah ·
wishes to impress Patience with her
plan to go west, does she assume a
genuinely masculine manner. Patience
is determined to remove this:
1: •••
she was only trying to play
man, all slow and steady, not
impulsive» weighing carefully.
I was amused but didn°t say so.
Time enough later to teach her
that it 0 s better to be~ real
woman than an imitation man, ·,
and that when someone chooses a
woman to go away with it O s bacause a woman is what°s prefarred,.
This is the most cheering thing about
once
the novel. The relctionship,
begun, is never anything but woman-towomn.n. Patience finds herself glad
to be a woman with a woman°s re9
sponses. And Sarah tells her younger
sister,
"I 0 m not ( a man). I 0 m a
woman that O s found my mate 11 •
What, then, of their division of labor
along the traditional
lines, once
they have found their farm?
We must be careful not to confuse
role-playing
with differences in
skill,- although Patience works in the
It is
house and Sarah in the fields.
true that Sar . h can ha..--idle
a
axe and
(cont. P• 7)
11
�7
.AROU!IID COUNTRY,
THE
CONT. from P• 10
believe homosexual activity is _
normal
behavi _ r and unfortunately most people
o
have a tendency to equate any and all .
abnormd.ities with sin, disgrace, and
shame. "
·
OUR
PLACE, PA AND
ST
FUTURE,CO T.
N
from P• 6
and rifle,
and has braved the open
road by herself, but it is Patience
who is the organizer, and Patience
who takes the lead in their lovemaking. Things balance out; we are made
Ann also said she was against entrapment
to feel that they share, or take in
and for repeal of victimless crime laws.
turn -, the responsibility
and the initiative.
Both women are strong enough
(--BOSTON GLOBE, Jan. 99 1973)
to meet the demands of their surroundings.
There is
&&&&
&&&&&&&&&
&&
&&&&&&&&&&:&&&&&&&&&&&&:&&& no room in their world
.
for anyone like ·Stephen°s Nary, who
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&:&&&&&&&&&&&8
c&
&&8&&&&&&&&&
is distinguished
by nothing but her
· need to -be protected.
·
FIRST DAY/ LASTDAY
_
.
· (November 7) _
A fine story, Patience ,,e!.ld
~rah. It
I saw; her put her hand through her lover 0 s leaves us with the feeling that they
live~ happily ever after.
Happy
· arn:.
endings, rare enough in real life,
And it was the most beautiful · gesture.
have been almost unknown in lesbian
It spoke above all the spoken words.
fiction.
But Patience and Sarah re- .
fleets the change that is taking
··
It was night, and not too wail lighted .
place in our ideals, and in our con~
there
·
'
capt of -ourselves.
In spite of its
But enough to see,
early-American settingp it is a •vision
And the girl took the arm of another ~irl
of a possible future.
And I can°t get ov~r the pict\ tr e.
_;
The new ideals, of course, will not
be realized tomorrow, or even next
year.
Ingrained shame dies hard, and
the rigid sexual roles are dissolving
at somewhat less than glacial speed.
As beautiful as music, o:, the night, _ . __ But meanwhile, Isabel Miller 0 s vision
may help us to develop the pride we
Or the pattern _ of soft r~indrops nodding
s
need to hasten the process of r9ali ~
Against a still pond, making circular
zation.
It is encouraging to know __
waves .
that even one woman could hav~ pre~
•
That bump into each other like old ft-iends _.
sented us with such a vision, e~pressing for all of us the conviction
So simple was it ..
that we, as women and as lovers of
It broke rriy mind.
women, have the rig ht to places of our
own in the world.
·
And while it .heals
I 0 11 remember those t~o
A simple picture
Quiet,
Gentle,
Just, natural
%%%%%%% %%%%%%%
%% %%% % % %%%
%%%%%
% %
lo%%%
%
And simple gestures
D.O.B. BUSI~ESSMEETING
. JAN. 18, 1973
And simple env"Y
And simple
And
--ANON.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&8
i
&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&:&
&&&&&&&-.&&&&&&&&&
&
The meeting ¥as on a Thursday evening
at St. John°s Church.
W voted $30 for the library for the
e
next year, to b9 spent by the three
me bers who volunteered to select
ra
materials. · · Lois H. agre ed to
appear on GAY
WAY
representing I:OBon
Jan. 25 with HUB. The treasurer
announ_ed several donations .of $25 to
c
D.O.B.We
discussed the 1ow
, England
f
Gay Conference, the raps,office,dan-ce.
:
�8
. ·TRt' :l VESTISM
US
by J. Morris
In Europe royalty proscribed ·anyone from
wearing crowns. _ . ho rich merchant classT
es dressed elegantly as feudalism and
Transvestism i:s known. as crossdressing
or wearing , the apparel generally consid- . then nation states came into being.
ered to •.be that of tho opposite sex.
- Wh Marking, tho people dressed as they
on
This article will discuss transvestism
could.
Transvestites
cross dressed
throughout those timos ,dospito severe
(TV), its origins,
the various fo:::-msof
oppression.
Joan of Arc was burned at
TV, oppressive laws and attitudes,
the
tho stake and on6 ef tho reasons was tho
of . TV, and whore
political
implications
an isolated TV can got more information.
"masculine" clothing that she wore.
heterosoxual,
and
Thero ar.c bisexual,
When oppressed religious
people, debtors, ,
homosexual transvestites.
Transvestism
and revolutionaries
came to this conis simply a way of wearing clothes.
But
tinent they brought all of this conmany people are confused about TV. First
fusion about clothes with them. Eng.
of dressinglet 9 s look at. t-he beginnings
land had many puritanical
laws against
period.
cross dressing and so did colonial Amerika.
Colonizing tho land and keeping it
Thousands of years ago people wore
safe from tho Indians for Amcrikans
clothes to survive.
The beginning of
hardened tho "masculine" - 11f cminino 11
civilization
saw the rise of class-divdross codes ~nd mores. They bocamo tho
ided societies.
Significance
was attachmainstream of Amerikan dress.
TV, deed to the clothes people wore. Women
spite extreme social sanctions continwere tied biologically
to the umbilical
ued t~ exist in Amerika. TV has excord of child bearing, and in male domisted almost since the beginning of reinated societies,
were given a "special
corded history.
Dress codes, mores, and
place" in the home and clothing that
laws banning TV are related to the rulwent with it.
People, esp ecially men,
ing class mindfuck that is still
going
competed with nature for food and power.
on in this country today.
With tho development of clothing techNow lot 9 s look at the various forms of
nology, pants - as protective
gear _or
f
TV.
hunting - came into being.
STREETDRAG
QUEENS
Drossos also around that .time wore beMany people cross dross on tho street
ginning to bo worn. They arc more comall tho time.
Groat risks arc taken befortable for pregnant women who arc
cause of' anti-drag laws and social attitudes.
A street drag queen gets a
nursing babies.
Wearing "masculine" and
groat deal of pioasuro from being soon
"feminine" clothing began then with
social organization
based on tho nuclear
in public passing as a person of tho
other sex. Many street drag queens fool
family and male dominatton.
The rise of rich rulers and churches
more comfortable being with people of
kept tho forces in motion for a whole
tho same sex in drag.
Pathologists
say
set of dressing mores that ~cant power,
that drag queens are apologizing for beclass, sex, and religious
oppression.
ing homosexual.
Drag queens fool it 9 s
Tho bible says:
"Tho women shall not
a part of a full acccptanco of their
wear that which portain eth unto a man
homosexuality.
neither shall a man put on a womanvs
TRANSVESTITE
PERFORMERS
performers arc ono of tho
garment: For all that do so arc an abom- Transvestite
most accepted typos of TV, often appearination unto tho Lord thy God. 11 , Tho
ing in shows in which tho drag queen or
bible is widely quoted by churches to
king is fully cross dressed and lip
oppress people in a sexist and racist
synchs a record.
Somo transvestites
use
way. Many people such as serfs and
slaves wore made to wear certain stylos
their . own voices.
Jim Bailey docs Judy
Garland, Barbra Streisand and many other
of clothing to show who thoy wore, much
performers almost identically
in appeartho same as a prisoner.
In male dominated sociotics
(with rare exception)
ance and song. The crowd is just as much
classes drossod differently
and trends
a part of tho show as tho performer.
pr ogres soci,.ward -~sseuJ,ixie.• ~ 1":fem~
"'
Many people arc thr eatened, runuscd, i. :i.nine."'
denti£y. heckle,- or just plain got into
...;_:;.
•
con°t. on pg. 9
Reprintedfrom
.LIBER TOR no. 2J
A
:GAY
�TRANSVESTISM
(con°t.
9
from P• 8)
it.
Whan a drag show goos off well it
has a moving offc~t on tho crowd and
people really have a good time.
SCAGDRAG
Many males arc now, putting on a few
items of vifominino'i and some 11mnsculino 11
clothing.
Malce up, jewelry, purses,
shoos 9 blouses, · hats, etc. that .wore traditionally
considered rifominino 11 attire
arc now being worn by men. Womenarc
not considered cross dressers or in scag
drag by tho law whon they have 19masculino
clothing.
Scag drag is not unisex.
Scag drag is whatever tho parson wants
it to be. In many ways it is street .
theater. a future shock. It is a way
of dressing.
If people aro shocked by
clothing they aro threatened.
·Mon arc
as good looking as woman, 1.o., men don°t
have to dress · rugged to prove someone.
People shouldn°t have to fool threatAmorikan society does
ened by clothes•
that by its dross codes, m
ores, and laws.
Scag drag confronts uptight laws and
glamour trips in a gay way,
Psychologists,
pol1co, and sociologists
can theorize forever, imprison, and try
to cure transvestites
but more sexual
repression in a society that too often
transfers
sex desires into power is not
needed. More oppressive lecturing and
treatments from those professions are
not needed.Too often in Amorikan society people are
put on tracks and told to run on them.
Some people go in drag to commit crimes
and not be recognized.
Criminal transvestites who rip off people are just
that - rip offs.
People are programmed by the institutions
one
in society to perform certain roles.
of these is to conform to the codes of
sexual dress.
The' uniforms we wear contribute to how we feel and see ourselves.
Rigid adherence to either glamorous or
rugged clothing can track .the personality
into frustrating
roles.
·
There is a cross dressing ordinance in
Detroit which is curr9ntly being challenged. The penalty is a misdemeanor.
Police can use the criterion of three
items of 11feminine apparel as grounds
for arrest.
·
You can get information on TV by calling
577-3367, Wayne State GLF. Literature
is there that helped put this article together.
Legal referrals
and help are
available
in case of arrest.
--------
Editor 0 s note: ~
vayne State University
GLF, 329 University Center Bldg. 11 P.O.
Box 23, Detroit, Michigan
#i"#H1Hl=#H#H#ffffl##H#ff1.
b
frffl#H1/=#H
LETTERSTO
FOCUS
11
Dear Focus,
I would like to say that I am thankful
for your journal!
Keep up the work
because we need .good journals like
Focus ••• I have enclosed $5.
--from Georgia
Dear Focus readers,
We don°t get many letters
at the
Focus office about Focus, so we0 d
like some. We0 d also like more contributions.
In addition to features,
book reviews, reports, stories,
poems,. ,we0 d love to get clippings and
And funny
news and such things.
thingst It
---Love,
Focus staff
######H##H-##ff##H1Hf-##1/##f-lf=#:H#H#H
#
#
GAYTHERAPY
GROUP
#
#
AT THE
#
ffo
HOMOPHILE
COMMUNITY
HEALTH SERVICE
#
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WANTS .WOMEN
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1lf
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fffl 4ftHf##17r
# AftiAZON
QUARTERLY-A
LESBIAN/FEMINIST
#
ARTSJOURNAL
#
ii~ 72 pages of fiction,essays,po
_
et,ry,. •#
# 1 year sub. ,plain wrapper $5
#
# Amazon Quarterly, 554 Valle Vista,
#
# Oakla.~d, Calif. 94610.
#
###1Hl#HH#4f:#1h
1F
###=IHHHHHl=#Hff####=#H#tll=
�10
AROUl BOSTON
':D
it conts 60¢~ For places to buy call
HUB, 536-6197.
Holy UniQ.n cer em
ollYi.• . Two gay women9
Geraldin~ Azzata and Nancy W
ilson 9 were
united in a holy vnion ceremony Dec.28
at the Hunnewell Chapel in the Arlington
.
was Larry
Street Church. • Offtciating
etropolBernier 9 pastor of the Boston M
itan Community Church. The two wom
en
wrote their . own service; which was
attended by fifty friends • . The union
is not 9 of course 9 a .le€jal ma;rriage in
·
the eyes of the state. .
W M IN ITA
O EN
LY, about the feminist ·
'ioovement in H,aly, is the first of a
series by the Europe_.Amerca Comnmnii
cation Service.
They sent DOB copy.
·a
&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&8.
-& &
&&
&&&&&
&
&&&
&&& &
& &&&&&~&&&&&&&&&&&
&&&
&&
&&&&&;&&&&&
AROU THE COUNTRY
N
D
Nancy is also the copastor of the M.C.C.9
and is available at the M
.C.C. office
M
ondays (266-7491 9 Room 408 at 419 Boylston St .;
Q.ay grou are a threat . -t::· homosexual ~"
ps
b
mental hetJ.lth, · said _Dr. Robert J.
McDEjlvitt,, Director cf Psychiatry at
CinoinnitiVs Good Samarit an Ho
'spital .
at the 26th clinical ·convention of ·
the Americrut Medical Association.
Center group ' ha~ a ·
:rhe Gay Communit,:v
coffee house in the works• Triey have ....
been holding regular Friday night dances
at the Charles st. Meeting House.
While such groups . eek to alleviate ·
s
loneliness
and isolation
of their
members, they alienate them from sigwith ·their
nificant relationships
friends, arid colleagues •••
families,
their attack on .recognized and _
effective treatment of 'the homosexual male may prevent treatment _ the individual ·
of
and ·.
resolut:l.on · of his · diffj_cul ty, n · , ·
Dru J.l'
lcDeYitt said.
·
(--LOS ANGELES
TIN.ES,Nov. 28,
1972, as reported in DIGNITY,Jan.5,73).
11
~
on Homophle Society for the Arts
i
has meetings Wednesdays at 8 prfl at
96 Beacon Sto, Boston (room is listed
on board inside t .he building) • All , are
ap
welcome. :EHSAwill be getting _ office
and phone soon. ,·
Jl!± is , oµt 9 publi shod qy · the
old gay rn~le liberation
anq _
others.
Price is 25¢. · Call for ·where _i:,o buy
it: 354-1555~
FA£: RAG
Ann Landers:
i•It O s unn~tural
fore illegcbh• _
i1
l:_ESBIAN,MO~.AN reviewed in the Jan.
was
16, 1973 Boston After Dark by Dora
·
Diesel.
2
th~~~"".
llDear .Ann Landers, 0, wrote a gay· man, .
9
why ·ca.'1 t I hold hands with my.
lover in public and dance with him
the way heteroGexual lovers do? Surelylove ·is not ind ecent, to be scorned
and despised ••• ! do not understand ·
why so many people do not understand.
Cah ·you explain ·1t1 11 '.
11 ~ • o
Fire mi.§.:~ OOB. A ·daytime fire two
ed
doors down from the Boston OOBoffice
at 419 Boylston Street gutted the building. Perhaps someone objected to the
cons\ll.ate housed therein--or
to
Israeli
the Irish consulate--or
to the .Berlitz
School of Language?
·
Lesbian Liberab .on has been supplanted
by Lesbian Meetings and Gay·Confusion.
They meet Thursday evenings for raps in
private homes. Call 354-8807 for info 0 •
Dignity-Boston, a gay Catholic ·group,
had 60 people at its first general meet- :
ing, Dec. J. Address is 1105 Boylston
St, 9 Boston 02215. ..
·
BOSTONGAYLINE, publication
of the .
Homophile Union of Boston; is out.
.
'
Ye~; sha can. · She repl i ed 9 iiWhy can°t ·
members of the same'.sex." •• p:roclaim
··
their love as heterosexual lov · rs do?
e
Because homosexuality is unnatur al.
It is, in spite of · lilhat some psychia- ·
trists
say, .a · sickness-.;.a ·dysfunction~
In our culture, i.n the year 1973; we
homosex"".'
are not cond;itioned to accEJlpt"
uality as the normal hum n conditie>:p.
.a
For 18 ye~rs I have .been pleading for
compassion and 'und~rstanding and ..
equal rights .·for homosenials; and I .
w:i.il continue to do . so• · ' But .I ' do not
(cont. · P• 7)
··
�II
~THE
Federal
bESSIAN
and State
income
tax
' 119E~
returns
A VOICE OF THE
LESBIA N/ FEMINIST
COMMUNIT Y
expertly
made out!
siste rs subscr ibe now!
$5.00 in california
$6.00 elsewhere
$ .50 sa mple copy
• save yourself money
• I've had seven years'
experience
• the price will be right
send to: tide coll ective
1124 ½ n. ogden
los angeles , ca 90046
bulk rates available upon
request.
call
354-4290
JUNE ZILLMAN
CAREE R COUNSE LI N G
Free details, career sea r ch ai ds.
Determine your full potential thru com •
prehensive, meaningful, suppo rti ve an alv•
sis. Als o, creative
Resumes th at open
closed doors, Be prepa red t o take advant •
age of oppor t unties .
Write today!
CONSULTANT
4172
Emerald Lak e D r .,
Decat ur, Ga. 30032
FREDERICK S. HILL
Registered Electrologist
announces
the opening of his office
for the practice of
for
gay wo men.
Electrolysis
"Permanent Removal of Unwanted Hair"
Male and Female Patients
That's us, folkst
OFFER: s end FOCUS
to
VALENTINE'S
your sweetie, f ri end, or parents
(or self) for $4 fo r a year.
OFFm GOOD
TILL FEBRUARY 1973•
28,
(Regular pric e $5).
DOB,Room 415, 419 Boylston St.,
Boston, Mass. 02116
Suite
# 1 - 1151 Hancock Street
Quincy
by appointment
only
773-1330
�The History Project
http://www.historyproject.org/
info@historyproject.org
Thank you for using the manuscript collections of The History Project.
Copyright restrictions may apply. If you have questions or wish to request removal of a
document in this collection from our digital repository, please contact The History
Project.
This PDF file contains images of an issue of the publication Maiden Voyage, produced
by the Boston chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis from
The Daughters of Bilitis (Boston chapter) records
Collection #0011
Recommended Citation:
[Item description including title, author, and date if known], Daughters of Bilitis
(Boston chapter) records, The History Project: Documenting LGBTQ Boston.
�
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Title
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Focus/Maiden Voyage, a publication of the Boston chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, 1969-1983
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1969-1983
Creator
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Daughers of Bilitis (Boston, Mass.)
Description
An account of the resource
The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was a lesbian organization founded in 1955 in San Francisco by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon for the purpose of self-knowledge and self-acceptance, public education, involvement in research, and lobbying to change the laws criminalizing homosexuality. Starting primarily as a private social group for lesbians focused on the integration of the lesbian into mainstream society, the aims of the group shifted during the 1960s due to the changing political, social and economic conditions of the decade. The DOB took up political activism to lobby for the rights of lesbians, promoting individualism with a decreased emphasis on societal conformity. During the 1960s many regional chapters were chartered around the country and globally, continuing the organization even after the closing of the San Francisco national office in 1978.<br /><br />The Boston chapter was founded in 1969 during a period when many homophile organizations were forming in Boston. Early leaders of the Boston DOB included Lois Johnson, Shari Barden, and Laura Robin/McMurry, who were prominent promoters of the group and its activities.<br /><br />The Boston chapter published a newsletter, originally entitled <em>Maiden Voyage</em>, until 1971 when it was renamed <em>Focus</em>. The publication runs from December 1969 to October 1983.
Document
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Focus: A Journal for Gay Women, 1973 February
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1973-02
Description
An account of the resource
An issue of the newsletter of the Boston chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.
Creator
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Daughters of Bilitis (Boston chapter)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Lesbian newsletters; Newsletters (LGBTQ); Boston (Mass.); Cambridge (Mass.); Daughters of Bilitis
Publisher
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The History Project: Documenting LGBTQ Boston
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Copyright restrictions may apply. Visit https://historyproject.omeka.net/rights-and-reproductions for more information and to review The History Project's takedown policy.
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Text
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application/pdf
Language
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English
Identifier
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THP-0011-focus-197302