Barbara Gittings, 75; early advocate for gay rights, literature
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Barbara Gittings, 75, a pioneer gay rights activist who helped organize demonstrations at the White House and at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall starting in 1965, died Sunday of complications from breast cancer at an assisted-living facility in Philadelphia, said her friend Mark Segal, publisher of Philadelphia Gay News.
A native of Philadelphia, Gittings helped establish an East Coast chapter of Daughters of Bilitis, a national organization for lesbians, in the late 1950s. Gittings also was a lead activist in lobbying the American Psychiatric Assn. to drop homosexuality from its list of mental disorders, which it did in 1973.
Through the 1970s, she coordinated the American Library Assn.’s gay task force, helping to make gay literature available in libraries and encouraging access to more information about gay and lesbian issues. She also edited its Gay Bibliography and wrote a history of the group, “Gays in Library Land.”
Though not a librarian, she was awarded an honorary lifetime membership in the American Library Assn. for her work.
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