Gay Sisters Alliance of Colorado Springs
Purpose: To fight the oppression of women
Founder: Nancy Wilstead
Founded: Unknown, around the same time as the Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs
A sister group to the Gay Liberation Front of Colorado Springs, started by Nancy Wilstead and other lesbian feminists founded around 1969/1970. [1]
...their consciousness was much broader than some of the, I call them, "bar queens" in Colorado Springs.
The alliance, like the Gay Liberation Front, had a Speaker's Bureau, offered referral services, and hosted consciousness-raising groups.
They were light years ahead of us because they were connecting to issues of feminism.
The organization was connected to the National Organization for Women, which helped them get in touch with lesbians in the community. However, there was an ongoing tension as larger women's organizations like NOW that were reticent to show their support of the lesbian community, for fear of confirming the "man-hating dyke" stereotype.
Photos and Materials
An advertisement for the Gay Sisters Alliance in the January 22, 1974 issue of the Straight Creek Journal [2]
The organization would go on to call themselves the Lesbians Sisters Alliance.
Notable Members
- Nancy Wilstead
- Syd Lapan (or Sid?) - One of the main driving forces of the organization[3]
Questions
References
Donaciano Martinez. “Interview with Donaciano Martinez Part 3.” Interview by David Duffield. [Denver Public Library], 10 Mar. 2015, https://lgbtqcolorado.cvlcollections.org/files/original/fbafc5a2a303d919a8600c5ace7c05b5.WMA. ↩︎
[The Straight Creek Journal, Volume III, Number 3, January 22, 1974]](https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=SCL19740122-01.2.42) ↩︎
Donaciano Martinez. “Interview with Donaciano Martinez Part 3.” Interview by David Duffield. [Denver Public Library], 10 Mar. 2015, https://lgbtqcolorado.cvlcollections.org/files/original/fbafc5a2a303d919a8600c5ace7c05b5.WMA. ↩︎