workingclasshistory:

On this day, 1 May 1970, the Second Congress to Unite Women, organised by the National Organisation for Women (NOW) took place in New York City. NOW did not support lesbian rights, and its president, Betty Friedan, had described lesbians as a “lavender menace” which threatened the feminist movement by potentially enabling them to be labelled as just “man hating lesbians”. NOW also omitted the New York chapter of the biggest lesbian advocacy group, Daughters of Bilitis, from its list of sponsors. So women in the recently formed, radical Gay Liberation Front printed t-shirts emblazoned with “lavender menace”, and took to the stage, demanding representation on the panel and in the women’s movement. Some of the organisers tried to carry on with the proceedings, but the majority of the audience said they wanted to hear from the lesbians, so they were given a seat on the panel. At their next congress, delegates voted to recognise lesbian rights as “a legitimate concern for feminism”. One of the participants in this action tells us about it in our forthcoming podcast about the Stonewall riots and the GLF. We have also produced some commemorative “lavender menace” merch to support the work of WCH, and ongoing activism from veterans of this action. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/2Y0Dfyu http://bit.ly/2Y49i0t