Lisa Ben (a.k.a. Edith Eyde) (b. November 7, 1921 - December 22, 2015), Los Angeles, California, c.

Lisa Ben (a.k.a. Edith Eyde) (b. November 7, 1921 - December 22, 2015), Los Angeles, California, c. 1950s. Photo c/o @onearchives. In 1947, while working as a secretary at RKO Studios, Edith Eyde, who was born ninety-five years ago today, looked for ways to meet other lesbians without subjecting herself to the risks of the oft-raided Los Angeles gay bars. Her RKO job was slow, but her boss expected her to look busy, so Eyde created “Vice Versa,” the earliest known periodical published specifically for lesbians in the United States. “Vice Versa,” which Eyde typed out five carbon copies of twice each month twice each month (meaning there were, with the original, twelve copies of each issue), was passed among the L.A. lesbian community, with Eyde estimating that as many as fifty people read each copy. And while the publication was short-lived—lasting under a year and only nine issues—it is credited with setting the agenda for mainstream gay publications for the next fifty years: editorials, short stories, personal (read: humanizing) accounts of life in the community, poetry, art reviews, and very little that could be deemed risqué. In the 1950s, Eyde joined the Daughters of Bilitis and began writing for the organization’s magazine, “The Ladder,” under the pseudonym Lisa Ben, an anagram of lesbian (her first choice, “Ima Spinster,” was rejected). From there, Ben made a name for herself as “the first gay folksinger,” writing and performing gay-themed parodies of popular songs; “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself A Letter,” for example, became “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write My Butch A Letter.” Lisa Ben remained active in the gay community for decades; she died on December 22, 2015, in Burbank, California. #lgbthistory #lgbtherstory #lgbttheirstory #lgbtpride #QueerHistoryMatters #HavePrideInHistory #LisaBen #EdithEyde (at Los Angeles, California) -- source link

More pics about