Barbara Gittings Quotes

Austria, Activist
July 31, 1932 – February, 18, 2007.

Barbara Gittings was a prominent American activist for LGBT equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine The Ladder from 1963–66, and worked closely with Frank Kameny in the 1960s on the first picket lines that brought attention to the ban on employment of gay people by the largest employer in the US at that time: the United States government. Her early experiences with trying to learn more about lesbianism fueled her lifetime work with libraries.

As a teenager, I had to struggle alone to learn about myself and what it meant to be gay. Now for 48 years I've had the satisfaction of working with other gay people all across the country to get the bigots off our backs, to oil the closet door hinges, to change prejudiced hearts and minds, and to show that gay love is good for us and for the rest of the world too. It's hard work – but it's vital, and it's gratifying, and it's often fun!

Barbara Gittings
- People
- Work
- Fun
Putting a label homosexual on myself was a big step forward...once I said, 'Yes, that's me, that's what I am,' I was able to work with it.

Barbara Gittings
- Said
- Able
- Bigs

What the homosexual wants, and here he is neither willing to compromise nor morally required to compromise — is acceptance of homosexuality as a way of life fully on a par with heterosexuality.

Barbara Gittings
Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts.

Barbara Gittings
- Mind
- Heart
- Community
Do you remember when we picketed the White House in 1965?

Barbara Gittings
- Remember