[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 28, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E416-E417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A PIONEER PASSES; THE WORK GOES ON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. KEITH ELLISON

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 28, 2007

  Mr. ELLISON. Madam Speaker, it is with a good deal of sadness, and a 
great deal of respect and admiration, that I recognize the passing of 
the influential gay rights activist Barbara Gittings.
  I submit the following celebration of her life published in The 
Washington Post into the Congressional Record. I draw attention to 
Barbara's life and work as one of our country's finest civil rights 
advocates. Ms. Gittings exhibited an amazing amount of courage, 
tenacity, resiliency, and generosity in her fight for equal rights 
spanning a remarkable 50-year career. I am tremendously thankful for 
her efforts on behalf of all Americans, and hope the

[[Page E417]]

occasion of her passing provides a small moment of reflection on our 
collective fight for equal rights.
  A gay activist long before people were even calling themselves 
``gay,'' Barbara provided the first face for the burgeoning gay rights 
movement in the 1960s when she took an active part in protesting 
federal employment discrimination.
  She was instrumental in having homosexuality removed from the 
American Psychiatric Association's list of mental disorders in 1973 and 
worked tirelessly within the American Library Association to make 
materials with GLBT content more accessible to the reading public.
  When told she was the Rosa Parks of the gay rights movement, this 
modest activist stated that any success she enjoyed was always the 
result of a collaborative effort.
  I think Barbara's lifelong accomplishments provide an important 
measure of how far we've come in the fight for equal rights for all 
Americans. To be sure, Madam Speaker, her death also serves to remind 
us that there is work yet to be done in ensuring all citizens can live 
lives free of discrimination, prejudice, fear, and the threat of 
violence. Sadly, today there is one less champion to do it.

               [From the Washington Post, Feb. 20, 2007]

                Gay Rights Pioneer Barbara Gittings, 75

                          (By Adam Satariano)

       Barbara Gittings, 75, one of the earliest activists to push 
     the U.S. government to provide gay men and lesbians with 
     equal rights, died Feb. 18 at an assisted living center in 
     Kennett Square, Pa. She had breast cancer.
       In 1965, Ms. Gittings and several gay men and lesbians were 
     the first to hold demonstrations outside the White House for 
     equal rights for homosexuals. She later played a key role in 
     the American Psychiatric Association's removal of 
     homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973.
       ``Gay people didn't have a face until Barbara started 
     demonstrating in 1965,'' said Mark Segal, publisher of 
     Philadelphia Gay News. ``Up until that point, no gay face had 
     been seen in the newspaper, on television or in the movies.''
       Her involvement in the gay rights movement started in the 
     1950s, when she helped form the New York City chapter of the 
     early lesbian organization Daughters of Bilitis.
       Around the same time, Ms. Gittings became estranged from 
     her family, which did not approve of her championing of gay 
     rights, Segal said.
       Ms. Gittings headed the American Library Association's Gay 
     Task Force to attract more attention to gay literature and 
     urge libraries to provide more information on sexuality and 
     gay issues.
       William Kelley, a Chicago lawyer who first attended a 
     national gay rights gathering with Ms. Gittings in the 1960s, 
     said he remembered her saying that when she was young, she 
     had to look in the encyclopedia to find out more about her 
     sexuality. ``It was her thought that libraries should be 
     encouraged to offer more information to people about 
     sexuality,'' he said.
       Ms. Gittings also was an editor of the lesbian journal the 
     Ladder in the mid-1960s.
       In Ms. Gittings's lifetime, she saw a change in the 
     perception of the gay rights movement. In the 1960s, she 
     picketed in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on the 
     Fourth of July. In 2005, she attended a ceremony at which the 
     Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a 
     historical marker recognizing the gay rights struggle across 
     the street from Independence Hall.
       Ms. Gittings was born in Vienna, Austria, where her father 
     worked as a U.S. diplomat. She was raised in Delaware.
       Survivors include her partner of 46 years, Kay Lahusen, and 
     a sister.

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