Answering the essentials. Who the heck were they? What did they accomplish? How did they pull it off?
Inspiring baby dykes, activists, and anybody who's ever dreamed of saving the world.
Project Elements
LesbianAvengers.com
This website is the heart of the documentary project. We'll be adding regularly to the histories, timelines, and collection of primary source material including digitized flyers annotated with the designer's own comments, press releases, photos, and news clippings. Soon we'll be posting segments of video interviews from our oral history project.
Articles analyze everything from the role of direct action in social change to the importance of art and artists in the Avengers. We present the conclusions of the Lesbian Avenger Civil Rights Organizing Project about how "de-gayed" campaigns reinforce homophobia.
Activist resources are an essential feature of the site. We plan to post free downloadable versions of Avenger handbooks, both The Lesbian Avenger Handbook: A Handy Guide to Homemade Revolution and LACROP's Out Against the Right giving step-by-step instructions on planning direct actions and organizing effective grassroots campaigns.
In their own words, former Avengers will describe why they joined, what they did, and how it all worked, from getting press coverage for actions to the intricacies of running a kissing booth.
Segments of the video interviews will be posted online, and a complete transcription of each interview will be deposited coast-to-coast in archives including the Lesbian Herstory Archive in New York City, the Schlesinger Library at Harvard, and the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives in Los Angeles.
In partnership with Outcast Films, we're planning a re-release of the 1993 documentary video, Lesbian Avengers Eat Fire, Too, edited by Janet Baus and Su Friedrich. Adding captions, subtitles, and extras, this extraordinary resource captures the spirit of the group.
A mini-festival and traveling exhibits are on the drawing board for 2012 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lesbian Avengers' founding, share the project, and inspire discussions about activism, including the role of direct action, and the importance of media.
Project Director
Kelly Cogswell is an independent journalist, and video journalist specializing in politics and culture. Her videos have appeared in the websites of the International Herald Tribune, and the Louisville Courier Journal, among other venues. She's been recognized by the New York Press Association for her coverage of health issues as well as her column in New York's Gay City News.
A longtime lesbian activist, she worked briefly with the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization in New York before becoming a founding member of the Lesbian Avengers in 1992. She later co-founded and edited The Gully online magazine (2000-2006), offering queer views on everything along with activist resources. She is a co-founder and president of Homocom.
CLAGS (The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City University of New York) recently awarded her a Joan Heller-Diane Bernard fellowship for the Lesbian Avenger Documentary Project.
Lesbian Avenger Oral History Project (video)
In the Works
Kelly Cogswell launched the site in 2008 when she googled the Avengers, and found almost no traces of this activist group that had more than fifty chapters and mobilized hundreds of thousands of lesbians worldwide.
After an enthusiastic response, her work has now evolved into The Lesbian Avenger Documentary Project which aims not only to recover this important piece of LGBT history, but to inspire progressive activism.
Participate
Were you an Avenger? We'd love to talk to you. Drop us a line at info at lesbianavengers . com
Support
Even a couple bucks helps. Our sponsor, Homocom, is a nonprofit, so your gift is tax-deductible.
Credits
All text and web design is by Kelly Cogswell unless otherwise noted.
Credits should be attached to each image. All images and text are copyrighted.