Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger (30 page)

Frozen but cheerful at the shrine to Hattie Mae Cohens and Brian Mock, which also became a shrine for Marsha P. Johnson, trans activist and drag queen. Center foreground, Marlene; from left, Pat, me, Jennifer, Andrea, and Lysander.
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HOTOGRAPH COPYRIGHT
C
AROLINA
K
ROON.

Lesbian Avengers eat fire in front of the White House in the first-ever Dyke March.
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C
AROLINA
K
ROON.

The Thespian Avengers getting laughs at the Gertrude Stein action: “Pussy, how pretty you are.”
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C
AROLINA
K
ROON.

You think you can ignore lesbians? Not on our watch.

Cathy Chang leads the Radio Mega action. Melanie (peeking from behind), then Anne-christine d’Adesky, Belkis, Ana, and me.
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M
ORGAN
G
WENWALD.

“Prohibido Olvidar” (Forbidden to Forget) in Puerto Rico, 1998.
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A
NA
S
IMO.

Stunned on our roof with my neighbor, Sally. Soon to be frantic about Ana, who had gone downtown to cover the story for our zine,
The Gully.
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L
ISA
K
APLAN.

On the job photographing La Barbe, after they beard Marianne one Fourteenth of July.
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K
ELLY
C
OGSWELL.

Sneaking a kiss from Ana at the 2010 NYC Dyke March.
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HOTOGRAPH COPYRIGHT
M
ORGAN
G
WENWALD.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky,
Kelly Cogswell
is a journalist, blogger, and prize-winning columnist at
Gay City News
in New York. A longtime lesbian activist, she worked briefly with the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization in New York before becoming a founding member of the Lesbian Avengers in 1992. She cofounded and edited
The Gully online magazine,
offering “queer views on everything.”

Table of Contents

I. Activist Honeymoon

II. Enemies Within

III. A Laboratory of Identity

IV. Vivas to Those Who Have Failed

Notes and Acknowledgments

Photos