Lesbian Connection has served as a lifeline, newsletter, public forum, and rallying cry for queer women around the world for fifty years, in addition to being a magazine. Long before social media made such communication commonplace, this reader-written magazine, which began as a modest, grassroots periodical in September 1974, has stood the test of time by bringing together women who love one another through personal tales, advice pieces, and community updates.
A cross-country road trip in 1973 served as the impetus for Lesbian Connection magazine, which its fans lovingly refer to as LCor Elsie. Margy Lesher, a cab driver in Michigan, claimed that she and her then-girlfriend, Goldie, made the decision to get into their car and drive across the nation in search of lesbians.
In order to maintain contact with the larger Sapphic group, the pair stayed with other lesbians they encountered while traveling and gathered names and addresses. Inspired by their weeks-long adventure, the two made the decision to hold the first Midwest Lesbian Conference in the spring of 1974 in Lansing, Michigan. Since it was difficult for them to publicize the event, they founded the magazine to allow lesbians worldwide to connect and promote events that they both thought interesting.
We discovered during our travels that women were everywhere, doing things. They were publishing books and music and opening bookstores. Lesher stated, “I thought it was great to have all these things, but if lesbians didn’t know about them, they were never going to succeed.” Lesher added that the magazine’s objective was to provide a means for all the lesbians who were doing all these wonderful things [to] spread the word about what they were doing. Lesbian albums had just begun to appear.
In order to put together the first issue, Lesher organized a group of nine lesbians known as “The Ambitious Amazons,” and they took over a women’s center in Lansing, Michigan, along with a few other volunteers. To distribute the copies to their first subscribers, the women glued mimeographed pages together with ink-stained fingertips.
Lesbian Connection has relied heavily on subscription donations since its inception. Free to lesbians worldwide, each cover states, but a $7 payment every issue is encouraged (more if you can, less if you can’t).Today, the journal, which is still published every two months, operates out of two modest Lansing homes.
Nancy Manahan, a longtime reader, editor, and contributor, claimed that she probably discovered Lesbian Connection at the feminist bookshop Old Wives Tales in San Francisco in the middle of the 1970s. She remarked that she was instantly struck by the content’s unadulterated, uncensored quality and has since become a subscriber.
“I think it’s kind of unusual and amazing that there’s so much tolerance for diversity and conflict,” she said. “It’s not monitored in a way that squelches debate, anger, or opinions, and it’s just so lively and real.” “It s so much fun.”
A magazine made by readers requires a certain level of buy-in, Manahan continued, as all readers are aware that no one is imposing anything on them. Everyone can voice their outrage at any time.
Readers have been debating how transgender and nonbinary lesbians fit within Lesbian Connection in recent years, which has caused some readers to terminate their subscriptions. But according to longtime reader Kathy Munzer, these discussions are essential for the community to develop and learn.
The sources of our arrivals are diverse. We must listen to one another. Munzer remarked, “I just think we could learn from each other.”
Lesbian Connection is an essential community resource, Munzer continued. According to her, the main goal of Lesbian Connection is to create a sense of solidarity for a marginalized community, regardless of how contentious the discussions become.
The stories are uplifting and give you a sense of community regardless of where you reside. “You belong to a caring, intelligent, compassionate, and loving community,” she remarked.
Additionally, the magazine had a section titled “Contact Dykes” where subscribers could post their contact details for lesbians who were traveling nearby. Fifty years later, the list is still going strong.
In the early 1980s, Cheryl VanDeKerkhove, who is now in her 60s, began working as a full-time employee at Lesbian Connection at the age of 23. She claimed that she has always valued the publication’s willingness to engage in discussion.
Because it offers the community an opportunity to educate itself and have the really tough conversations, they do let voices that they know won’t be well welcomed in the community get through, she added. Ever since it began in the 1970s, that has been a constant.
The magazine’s founders argue that as Lesbian Connection enters its second half-century, its goal is more crucial than ever, particularly in light of the impending second Trump administration. In order to prepare for the new political age that our nation is about to enter, Manahan stated that she hopes younger people will subscribe to the magazine.
It may be very instructive to observe the tactics, bravery, and risks that some of us in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s took all those years ago that younger generations may have to face again, she said, as we enter a time that may resemble horrifyingly what some of us endured half a century ago.
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