By Susan Chacin

Oxfordblues84/Flickr

By Susan Chacin

Old Lesbians Organizing for Change (OLOC), a national group with 17 chapters, held its National Gathering, “Lesbian Activism Changing the World,” in Oakland, July 23-27, 2014. Pictures of the event are on the OLOC website; main sessions were recorded and are available for purchase.

People often laugh when they hear about OLOC. The idea that old lesbians would organize sounds quaint. This betrays ignorance of two facts: 1) ageism is a problem in our culture and our movements, and 2) lesbian feminists have been at the core of the “second-wave” women’s movement (from the 1960s through the early 1980s) that changed our culture. Many have been leaders in civil rights, labor, community, anti-war and socialist organizing. At least seven women there had been part of the “new communist movement.”

Source: Spinning Straw Men into Gold: Seeking Insight from Old Lesbian Praxis