Sidney Abbott: Sappho's 'Right-On Woman'

IN MEMORIAM Sidney Abbott: Sappho’s ‘Right-On Woman’ IRENE JAVORS tional Organization for Women (NOW), becoming a leading spokeswoman for lesbian rights on the organization’s pan- IDNEY ABBOTT, well-known lesbian feminist ac- els. At the time, Betty Friedan, the president of NOW, did tivist, died in a fire on April 15, 2015, in her home in not support Sidney’s efforts. Friedan feared that if NOW SSouthold, Long Island. She was 77. Those of us who openly supported lesbian rights, it could compromise the knew her remember Sidney as a pio- larger agenda of women’s equality, neer in several fields of endeavor, as and she dubbed the lesbian presence someone who helped to liberate con- in NOW as “the lavender menace,” sciousness from age-old shackles of ig- an epithet that would become famous norance and prejudice. and infamous. Born on July 11, 1937, in Washing- In 1970, Sidney joined with other ton, D.C., Sidney grew up in a military lesbian feminists to form the group family. Her father, Ward, a West Point “Lavender Menace.” They protested graduate, had served as an aide to Gen- the exclusion of lesbian issues from eral Douglas MacArthur in World War the mainstream feminist agenda. She II. He was a distant descendant of also was a member of the group Rad- Philip Livingston, one of the signers of icalesbians. In 1970, they distributed the Declaration of Independence. a manifesto titled “The Woman-Iden- Abbott studied at Smith College tified Woman” at a meeting of the but ultimately completed her under- Second Congress to Unite Women in graduate studies at the University of NYC to protest the exclusion of les- New Mexico, with a degree in art his- bian speakers. tory. She went on to study urban planning at Columbia. She In 1972, Sidney co-authored, with Barbara Love, the subsequently worked as a program developer for New York groundbreaking book Sappho Was a Right-On Woman: A Lib- City and served as the first openly lesbian or gay appointee erated View of Lesbianism. Published at a time when the to a community planning board. In 1969, she joined the Na- American Psychiatric Association still classified homosexu- ality as a mental illness, the book was a paragon of tolerance in a hostile society. The authors called for “sweeping read- the one that got away justments in the way people think.” In the introduction they CAROL ROSENFELD asserted that their main ambition in writing the book was not to be tolerated as freaks but instead “to be the most ordinary A barely-out-of-the-closet bridal consultant confronts love, people.” In so doing, she was instrumental in opening the lust, dyke drama and not hhaving a date for New YYeear’s Eve. closet and normalizing lesbian life. Later, she was one of the founding board members of the National Gay Task Force as well as the founder of the nonprofit organization Women’s Rights are Human Rights. On a personal note, I met Sidney in the late ’70s when I was co-director of a women’s counseling center, the Femi- nist Center for Human Growth and Development in New York. Several of us from the Center met at her apartment in Manhattan to discuss sexism and homophobia in the mental health system. Our talks opened up many areas of exploration for all who attended. Sidney helped us to formulate our thoughts about what was wrong with the prevailing ideas and theories expounded by psychiatry and psychology concerning women, sexuality, and sexual orientation. She helped us to understand how the counseling professions served to force all of us into accepted gender roles and rules. Sidney Abbott’s papers are at the Sophia Smith Collec- tion, Smith College, and at the Schlesinger Library at Har- “Rosenfeld’sﬁerce wit is addictive....” vard. She is survived by her nephew David Abbott and her sister-in-law Jane Abbott. Her dog Missy and peacock Hen- –Lucy Jane Bledsoe, author of The Big Bang Symphony rietta survived the fire. Paperback ISBN 9781612940601 eBook ISBN 9781612940618 www.CarolRosenfeld.com Irene Javors, a psychotherapist based in New York City, is the author of Culture Notes: Essays on Sane Living (2010). 6 The Gay & Lesbian Review / WORLDWIDE.

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