Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Collection

The papers document the work of two pioneers in the gay and lesbian rights movement. Activist, editor and writer, Barbara Gittings was an active member of the LGBT rights movement from the 1960s until her death. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963 and edited the national DOB magazine, The Ladder: A Lesbian Review, from 1963-1966. In 1972 Gittings was instrumental in lobbying the American Psychiatric Association to declassify homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses. Gittings also worked with the library community for the inclusion of books by and for gays in library collections. Her partner, Kay Tobin Lahusen, is known as the first openly gay American woman photojournalist and is responsible for many famous pre- Stonewall photographs. In addition, she helped to found the original Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) in 1970, contributed to the New York-based newspaper Gay Newsweekly, and co-authored Gay Crusaders.