The Lesbian Resource Center celebrates its 30th birthday this year as the oldest, continuously operating lesbian center in the nation, perhaps the world. We share this history with you so you may celebrate with us the persistence of women’s love and support for one another through the LRC.
In early 1971, less than two years after the Stonewall Riots sparked the modern lesbian/gay civil rights movement, several women from the nascent political group, the Gay Liberation Front broke off to form the Gay Women's Alliance. The University YWCA, which was becoming a hub of feminist activity and would spawn several organizations, offered to give them a room and a phone.
For the women who set up the Gay Women's Resource Center (which would become the Lesbian Resource Center in 1974), the immediate priorities were establishing a hotline, offering groups, having drop-in hours, providing a library (even if it was less than half a dozen books), and doing speaking engagements. The fledgling group found a wellspring of both needs and energy, and a small number of women gave an enormous amount of time to get this pioneering organization off the ground.
Not everyone was pleased, however. The United Way threatened to cut off funding from the Y unless the Y got rid of the GWRC. The Y told them to go ahead and yank their money because the gay women's group was staying. The United Way backed down from their threat, but remained disgruntled.
During 1972 and into 1973 the complexion of the organization began to change. Initially the women involved were politically radical and obviously queer. But feminism had gotten women thinking, and more and more formerly heterosexual women began to show up at the Center. At the same time, many of the founders burned out from the long hours and lack of resources.
Participation lagged for a couple of years and drop-in hours became more sparse. In 1975, federal CETA (Comprehensive Employment Training Act) grants allowed the LRC to hire a director, Pam Weeks, and her first order of business was to find volunteers and begin to put together an advisory board. In a short time, the Center went from having very little activity to blossoming as an organization.
Once the advisory board was in place, they began to wrestle with the question of whether the LRC should be a political organization or a social service organization, and in the end decided that it needed to be both. Committees were organized to further develop the specific structures.
When Weeks departed in the fall of 1976, the board decided that it would be more true to their feminist principals of shared leadership to split her position into 2 half-time co-directors. The board also wrestled with the question of whether the LRC was a liberal organization or a radical one. While the LRC had been founded by women who were clearly more radical, as the decade progressed and more liberal feminists became involved, the personality of the organization had undeniably changed.
Despite the ideological questions, the next couple of years continued to be a time of great expansion. In 1977, the LRC began printing a small monthly newsletter, to help women find out what was going on at the LRC and in the community generally. Co-director Kathleen Boyle was a delegate from Washington State at the International Women's Year Conference in Houston. The LRC also started an Emergency Housing Program. A list was developed of women who could offer temporary housing (both for women in transition and for women visiting from out of town) for other lesbians.
The list of groups offered by the Center grew more extensive, but not without controversy. There were charges that having an Older Women's Group or a Younger Women's Group was ageist, a Professional Women's Group classist, and an ex-Catholic Group anti-Semitic. A Spirituality Group was anti-revolutionary, some said, because focusing on things like meditation rather than action was a misdirection of energy.
The LRC fielded softball, volleyball and basketball teams, and held social events to help women make connections with other women.
The speaker's bureau was also particularly active during this time, although there was some debate over what a speaker should wear to a speaking engagement. Should she specifically wear something that will say to the audience: We are like you; we could be your next door neighbor?
And once again, the board convened to discuss whether or not the LRC was a political organization and what its politics should be. This was the time of Anita Bryant, Harvey Milk, and Initiative 13. It was decided that the LRC, by its very existence, was a political organization and it needed to be more intentional about its politics. Most of the board resigned following this meeting, but the staff and other volunteers continued to propel the organization forward.
The LRC became active in the 1978 campaign which defeated Initiative 13--the measure sponsored by S.O.M.E. (Save Our Moral Ethics), which sought to repeal legislation protecting lesbians and gay men from employment and housing discrimination in Seattle. Women from the LRC also sat on a United Way Sexual Minorities Task Force. Based on the results of that Task Force, the United Way recommended that services be provided for sexual minorities. They didn't make any move to provide, or even specifically fund, such services, but the acknowledgment that such services were important was a step forward from their earlier stance.
The end of 1978 saw a complete turnover of staff. CETA required that anyone who had been in a CETA position for longer than 18 months be laid off. Boyle and Cherry Johnson had been on staff more than two years and had to be replaced. The LRC also lost Marcy Johnson, who had been staffing the drop-in desk through a Seattle Public Schools Youth Work Training grant.
New co-directors were hired, but they would both resign before the end of the year, and Zari Harat and Cherry Johnson (who had been granted nine more months of CETA eligibility) were hired. The LRC also received an additional three part-time CETA positions, bringing the number of staff to five.
Ongoing groups were complemented by workshops and community forums on topics like S/M, racism in the community, and how to deal with male children. The LRC was also looking at internal problems with racism, asking just who the organization was serving.
Struggle & Independence: 1980-1985
While the organization was facing some familiar questions and challenges (e.g. political organization or service organization?), it was facing new ones as well. After a couple of years of growing tension following the YWCA Board of Directors' vote to restructure the agency to be more hierarchical, the LRC decided it was time to disaffiliate from the Y. Without the protective umbrella of the YWCA to act as a little bit of a buffer, the LRC's relationship with the world would change.
Some of the groundwork had already been started: articles of incorporation, bylaws, etc. Now it was time to actually make the break from the Y. But, just as the LRC was becoming an independent organization, they lost their CETA grants. In March of 1980, their staff of two full-time and three part-time positions was reduced to one person, Kris Melroe.
In preparation of becoming independent, the LRC had sent letters of inquiry to 25 grant-making foundations, but only two even responded--the Ms. Foundation and the Playboy Foundation. The women decided not to pursue Playboy money, but they did get a grant from Ms., becoming the first openly lesbian organization to receive a grant from a national foundation.
This year of incredible transition was capped by their landlord's announcement that the rent in the building they shared with Rape Relief, the Northwest Women's Law Center, Seattle NOW and other organizations, would rise dramatically beginning January 1981, necessitating a move.
The LRC relocated into a large house in the University District, across from--of all things--a bridal shop. They decided that the outside sign would say Pacific Women's Resource Center to make it less intimidating for women to enter.
Once they received their federal tax number granting non-profit status, they embarked on a nine month battle with the post office to get a bulk mail permit. The process should have been routine, but the post office felt that a lesbian organization was not a valid social service agency and should not have been officially recognized. Eventually lawyers were called in and the post office relented.
Kris Melroe left in April of 1981, after being on staff two years, and Fawn Streeter was hired. Once the legal and logistical matters of becoming an independent organization were squared away, the LRC was again able to focus its attention on programs. They did groundbreaking work on lesbian youth and lesbian battering long before such issues were acknowledged in the community.
Women organized small lesbian film festivals, began a lesbian art gallery at the LRC, and continued to offer classes and workshops on topics ranging from Beginning Lesbian-Feminist Politics to Car Repair to creating legally binding contracts with your partner. Ongoing groups, like a new one for seriously or terminally ill women, were augmented by quarterly special topic and study groups. The house on Roosevelt Avenue was abuzz with lesbian activity.
A successful mid-1982 pledge drive, netting monthly pledges in excess of $400, seemed a harbinger of some financial security for the organization, but eventually the high cost of rent, utilities, and property taxes--combined with the other social and economic woes of the Reagan era--caught up with the LRC. In the summer of 1983 they were forced to make a sudden move from their house to a single large room offered to them by Rainbow Recycling.
The situation was critical, and in November of that year, with bank account of -$200 and only two remaining board members, the organization called an emergency community meeting to decide the future--if there was to be one--of the LRC. About 75 women showed up at the meeting; nearly $1,000 was raised and a 12 member transitional board was recruited.
During this time, Fawn Streeter left after almost three years on staff, and Nora Smith and Vera LeLouche were hired as half-time co-directors. By early 1984, the financial situation had somewhat stabilized, due to continued community support, and in June the LRC received a $10,000 grant from the Ms. Foundation, ensuring the organization's survival. At the end of the year, the LRC was solid enough to move from their single room into larger accommodations, and, for the first time, onto Capitol Hill.
Stability & Capitol Hill: 1985-1990
The organization again entered a period of relative stability. In February of 1985, the LRC became a member of the Women's Funding Alliance, which raises money for women's organizations through workplace giving. This provided the Center with a consistent, reliable funding source. At the same time, Agnes Govern and, several months later, Aisha Masakella were hired as co-directors and both would remain on staff for three years.
The crisis of the previous year had also prompted the LRC to once again examine who the organization really served and represented, and then come to the conclusion that it still was an organization largely of and for middle class white women. To help address this, the LRC hired Ruth Jones as a part-time outreach coordinator, in the middle of 1985. An Outreach Program was to developed to make all parts of the LRC--board, staff, volunteers, and programs--more inclusive of lesbians of color. Although the LRC had, off and on since the mid-70s, run a support group for lesbians of color, a lesbians of color task force, called Prism, got off the ground as well. Prism was launched to discuss the needs and concerns of lesbians of color with regard to the LRC, and was active for about a year.
The LRC celebrated its 15th Anniversary in 1986 with a series of events, including a panel of women, who had been involved with the organization at various points in its history, reflecting on their involvement. Poetry readings, a new group called Sex Talk, and opposition to the Dobbs Initiative (which would have prevented lesbians and gay men for working directly or indirectly with children, the elderly or disabled people) were all on the front burner for the first part of the year. But the sale of their building in the fall of 1986 prompted yet another move into a transitional space and the beginning of a concerted effort to find the nomadic organization a permanent home.
A group of five women formed the Pentacles partnership and purchased a big, old Capitol Hill house. In March of 1987, after remodeling was finished, the LRC moved into the garden level, while the 1st and 2nd floors were rented out as office space. The plan was for the LRC to eventually buy out the Pentacles partners, thereby having the security of owning the building.
In May of 1988, the LRC was touched by tragedy as volunteer and Over 40s Group member Serena Willers was murdered. In September, women from Over 40s started the Serena Willers Sisters Helping Sisters Fund. The fund is designed to provide small gifts or loans to lesbians in need, and it is still active.
The year took its toll on the LRC in other ways as well. Agnes Govern left the staff early in the year and Aisha Masakella left in the fall. Glovina Nichols, who had been volunteer coordinator, and volunteer Cherie Larsen were hired to fill the positions.
In 1989, Dee Hennessee took the LRC newsletter, which had only grown from 2 to 10 photocopied pages in its 12 year existence, in a dramatically different direction. The newsletter began being printed on newsprint, allowing for a much larger publication at less cost. The announcements and event listings were supplemented by news briefs, and, soon, by articles and photographs. By 1990, the newsletter had become a full-fledged newspaper.
Of course, being a bigger publication meant having bigger controversies. In late 1989 and into the beginning of '90 there was considerable disagreement about how much control should be exercised over language in the personal ads. There was some argument back and forth on the pages of the paper and a flip-flop of policy. Only a couple of months later, the paper included a pull-out erotica section--and the printer refused to print it. Volunteer editor Yvonne Eldress quickly found a different printer, and the erotica issue became legendary (though some readers pointedly disapproved of it).
These were new problems for the LRC, and ideas about what should or should not be included in the paper would continue to develop and evolve over the next couple of years. The paper itself took off, though, and in the middle of the year the LRC hired an editor, Chris Aumack.
An end-of-the-year financial crunch meant another call to the community for help. It also meant that when one of the co-directors left, she was not replaced. The financial situation did not develop into anything like the crisis of a few years earlier, but it did prompt the formation of an advisory committed charged with looking once again at the LRC's purpose and coming up with ways to achieve a greater degree of board and financial stability.
Organizational Growth and New Directions: 1991-1995
The following year, the Pentacles partners decided it was time for them to sell the building to the LRC, and a capital campaign was launched to raise money for the downpayment. Essentially, the LRC would be buying out the four remaining partners (one partner had donated her share to the LRC) and assuming responsibility for the mortgage payments.
Through mail-in donations and and the first auction organized under the leadership of Board president Liz Latham, enough was raised to make the building downpayment. The deal fell through at the last minute, however, because the building's noteholder was nervous about the LRC's past financial troubles. The capital campaign money was set aside and invested for a future permanent home, and the building was put on the market.
Although the loss of the building was a disappointment, there were still many bright spots. The LRC Community News, under the direction of new editor Sally Clark, continued to grow in both sophistication and size, expanding in its advertising base and number of pages. By the middle of 1992, the growth even warranted the addition of a part time ad manager, Mindy Schaberg.
The period from mid-1992 to mid-1993 would prove to be an important turning point for the organization. In August 1992, the board decided to split the director's job into an executive director and a resource manager. Wimsey Cherrington and Gloria Yamato were hired to fill those positions on an interim basis. Some cash-flow problems delayed the hiring of an executive director, but Fawn Streeter was hired as resource manager, and Cherrington stayed on as a consultant. The financial difficulties were temporary and the LRC entered 1993 with and three goal areas for the year: stability, diversity, and visibility.
The board had dwindled to three women but a mid-year recruiting effort brought on six new members. The hunt for a new home began in earnest with the sale of the building, and in the fall Valerie Reuther was hired as executive director. 1993 also marked the beginning of a time of dramatic growth for the organization. The annual budget would increase 230% from 1992 to 1995, and the staff size would essentially double.
In the spring of 1994, the LRC moved into a much larger (albeit somewhat hard to find) office space and 300 people attended the open house. Additionally, during much of 1994 and the first half of 1995, the LRC engaged in a strategic planning process, surveying 2000 women and hearing from 200 more in focus groups, to guide the organization in writing a new mission statement and creating new program areas.
That process did stall midway through when problems with institutionalized racism at the LRC boiled to the surface again. These problems spurred efforts to address racism at every level of the organization, and these efforts have grown into the new Anti-Oppression Program.
The strategic planning process was completed, and a new mission statement and four new program areas emerged in mid 1995. In addition to anti-oppression, the LRC is began program work in lesbian health, youth, and in training & leadership development.
Renaissance & Resurrection: 1996-2001
The LRC began its silver anniversary year with new programs, open drop-in hours expanded to 30 hours per week (probably the most in the organization's history), a long list of new groups (and some familiar ones--the Over 40s Group has existed, in one form or another, for most of the LRC's lifetime), and a 2000 volume library that began with a handful of books.
By 1997, it also had a staff and budget that had grown by 300% in less than five years, and the results of a strategic planning process that led some staff and board members to demand profound changes in the LRC’s organizational structure and program priorities. The historical debate about whether the LRC should focus on social service or social change re-emerged in full force, joined by staff insistence on a non-hierachical organizational structure. Mowani Carter was hired as Interim Executive Director
The length and intensity of these debates alienated some of the LRC’s traditional sources of support, and by the beginning of 1998 the LRC found itself in debt, with with high costs of operation and declining sources of financial support. The internal debates were unresolved, no permanent director had been hired, and its office lease was about to expire.
Tensions erupted in mid-1998. Staff resigned; the Board - led by Amalia Montoya -stayed together, losing only one member. For several months the LRC operated out of the Seattle Men’s Chorus conference room, having left its Bellevue Avenue site before relocating to 23rd and South Jackson in September of 1998.
Yet, throughout this period of turmoil, the LRC continued to offer resources and referrals, sponsor support groups, publish the LRC News (except for a couple issues) and represent the Lesbian community.
By November of 1998 the LRC had remodeled and held an open house party at its new site, held a successful fundraising auction, and started to rebuild its staff. The Board decided to return to an organizational model that relied on the work and leadership of volunteers who were supported by fewer paid staff. They started working more closely with other lesbian and women’s organizations, using LRC space and resources to support the interests and passions of women in the community. And the Board decided without reservation that the LRC would continue to be a service and political organization, as it always has been, in spite of all the debates and internal controversy.
Women who had been estranged from the LRC started meeting in 1998 as an Ad Hoc Committee, and many of them joined the Board in 1999. They were committed to support the survival of the organization, and to advocate a membership structure. They believed that members who elect the board, provide consistent financial support and decide on major policies and programs would provide the ballast needed when factions within the LRC struggled over programs and direction.
At the same time, the LRC launched its Cabaret and presentation programs that bring women of all backgrounds together to entertain, challenge and educate one another. Social and support groups expanded, and the LRC became the meeting place of many women’s and community groups. In 2000, the LRC Scholarship endowment was established, and the first scholarship awarded in 2001.
In 2001, the LRC continues this work through committed volunteers and several part-time staff. On June 30th, the LRC membership will elect an new Board of Directors.
Three years from now, five years from now . . . the LRC will exist. We don’t know whether the budget will be large or small, whether the site will be owned or rented, whether most of the faces in the office will be staff or volunteers.
We do know that the LRC will continue to bring women who love women together to support one another and to demand justice for all of us from the larger society.