Gay History Month: Joan Nestle
Joan Nestle is the co-founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives. She is also a Lambda award-winning editor and writer.
She was born and raised in New York City in 1940.
In the 1950s and ’60s, Nestle became involved in the African American Civil Rights movement. She marched from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama with prominent African American leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and James Bevel.
After 1969’s riots in New York City’s Stonewall Inn, Nestle dedicated herself more towards the by-then new Gay Rights Movement.
She helped found the Gay Academic Union in 1971. She also founded the Lesbian Herstory Archives with Deborah Edel in the early 1970s. The Archives are now the Lesbian community’s largest collection of important materials in the world.
Nestle is still an outspoken civil activist. She runs a popular blog and website.
