Protest and Politics
Curve spotlighted many lesbian political pioneers while also amplifying grassroots movements for LGBTQ civil rights.
In October 1993, Katie Brown interviewed the highest ranking lesbian in the U.S government, Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Roberta Achtenberg, while Mary Ann Swissler profiled Seattle city councilwoman Sherry Harris, the first Black lesbian official in the country, in April 1995. Curve’s writers covered a wide range of policies that affected the community including marriage equality, discrimination in the military, lesbian child custody battles, adoption laws, and hate crimes.
The February 2004 issue marked a turning point for LGBTQ politics, the beginning of the legalization of marriage equality.
The issue included an 11 page wedding special including both interviews with new legal partners and dissident feminist critiques of marriage. When Gavin Newsom legalized marriage regardless of gender, editors Gretchen Lee and Diane Anderson Minshall and their partners took part in the first wave of legal marriages at San Francisco City Hall. These portraits featured comments about marriage equality from community members.
The magazine did not forget the community’s roots and also highlighted activism on the streets. The June 1994 issue commemorated the 25th anniversary of Stonewall by interviewing lesbian activists about what 1969 meant to them. Joan Nestle recalled standing in front of the bar holding hands with her lover on the second night of the uprising. Sometimes protest and celebration mixed, through Curve’s famous “Aftershock” and later “After Groove” dance parties at the 1993 and 2000 March on Washington. Over 3,000 women attended the 1993 party following the first Dyke March. The magazine covered both marches in special issues.
In 2017, “Putting Our Bodies on the Line” reported on protests against the Trump presidency in Philadelphia and the growing movement for Black lives. Even as the magazine changed ownership, the spirit of groups like the Lesbian Avengers lived on as the editors strove to amplify the voices of young queer activists.
