Equality Press

Barbara McLean, Founder and Sheila Quinn President, President

We lesbians that worked on the New Hampshire Pride Committee were having the last barbeque of the summer of 1992, when we found we all agreed on one thing - there was no social organization for lesbians in New Hampshire and in Northern Massachusetts. How could these women meet? There were no bars for lesbians in this area. Barbara McLean was leaving the New Hampshire Pride Committee and was asked to take on the task of organizing a social lesbian organization because there were so few opportunities for women to meet other women to develop friendships and partners.

Barbara, past president of Daughters of Bilitis in Chicago and Los Angeles and the Lesbian Feminists in Los Angeles, spoke to several women in Southern New Hampshire and got one of them, Lisa, to offer her home for the first meeting. She then sent an announcement about the start of the organization to all the gay and lesbian media in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and announced the first meeting in January 1993. 53 women showed up for the first meeting. (more…)

By Zythyra Basha

It’s Time, America! is a nationally-organized grassroots civil rights group formed during the 1994 Transgender Law Conference, dedicated to securing and safeguarding the rights of all transgendered and gender variant persons. It’s Time, New Hampshire!, founded in 1997, is a statewide chapter of It’s Time, America!. It’s Time, America!’s mission is to educate the U.S. Congress, state and local governments, and other transgendered and non-transgendered political organizations, on the issues and concerns of transgendered people and to work for and protect our equal rights as American citizens. Each state chapter is autonomous and operates on its own, as issues that each state faces are often unique to the region and its residents. For more information, please visit the It’s Time, America! website at www.tgender.net/ita/. (more…)

When I first started teaching in 1983, few resources existed to help teachers recognize and confront homophobia and heterosexism in the school environment. We have come a long way since those days. Today, I am able to be part of a national organization, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) whose sole mission is to end antigay bias in K-12 education. To many people, the concept of simply including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered lives and stories into curriculum routinely is more “radical” than conducting workshops for teachers on bullying, setting up gay-straight alliances,

or holding yearly “diversity days.” Yet, ending heterosexism in classroom curriculum is the most natural way I know to combat antigay bias through education. (more…)