New Book on Barbara Gittings Released

Barbara Gittings, by Kay Tobin Lahusen.

Right on the heels of the LGBT Civil Rights 50th Anniversary celebration comes a new book about one of the “original” gay pioneers, Barbara Gittings. In fact, it is the first full-length biography of the famed lesbian activist.

Barbara Gittings: Gay Pioneer is written by Tracy Baim. Ms. Baim is the executive editor of Windy City Times and has published nearly a dozen books on LGBT history. She has received numerous awards for her writing, including the  2013 Chicago Headline Club Lifetime Achievement Award.Publishers for the book describe it as follows:

“Her work in the LGBT movement spanned from the late 1950s until her death in 2007. Her partner in life, Kay Lahusen, photographed many of the movement’s biggest actions during the 1960s, and more than 270 photos accompany this biography….Gittings was active in a wide range of pre- and post-Stonewall groups, including the Daughters of Bilitis. She served as editor of DOB’s newsletter, The Ladder. She worked with Frank Kameny on many protests and legal cases fighting government discrimination. She also was among the leaders of the push to change the American Psychiatric Association diagnosis of homosexuality as an illness, and among those pushing the American Library Association to be more inclusive of gays.”

You can purchase the book from Amazon in both print and Kindle editions. For more information, click here.