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Lisa Ben outside reading

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Exhibition Gallery Alexis Bard Johnson
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1. Bobby Mendoza posing with "Interview" magazine
2. Ron Grayson and Troy Perry at police protest
3. Charles Pierce as Bette Davis
4. Dan Luckenbill in a chair
5. Women socializing at a house
6. Dorothy Putnam in feminine attire
7. Dorr Legg sits on grass
8. John Quitman Lynch at the piano
9. Edgar Sandifer posing
10. Edith crossdressing
11. Eric Evans and Girly
12. Hal Rebarich rowing
13. Harmodius In Exile
14. Black Cat demonstration--six signs
15. Jerome Strum and kitten
16. Woman working in the yard around the house
17. Jim Kepner in apartment
18. "Black Gay's Unite" banner
19. John Quitman Lynch with his artwork
20. Dorr Legg at the drafting table
21. Lisa Ben outside reading
22. Friends having fun at a house party 2
23. Dorothy Putnam in masculine attire
24. Madeline feeling devilish
25. Gay leaders at police station Al Gordon, looking to challenge the unequal enforcement of sex laws in Los Angeles, persuaded Morris Kight to make a citizen arrest of three couples; Jeanne Cordova and Barbara Gehrke, Reverend Troy Perry and Steve Jordan, and Jeanne Barney and Frank Brighamand. The photograph captures Al Gordon and Morris Kight attempting to turn in the "Felon 6" to the police at the Rampart Police Station. The event was witnessed by community leaders Pat Underwood (left at counter), W. Dorr Legg (to Pat's left), Al Gordon (in front of officer), Reverend Troy Perry (behind Al), Morris Kight (black jacket and glasses), Steve Jordon (sunglasses), Frank Brighamand (black tie), Barbara Gehrke, and Jeanne Barney (right). In 1975, Willie Brown's bill to reform the California sex laws passed with the help of Senate Majority Leader George Moscone and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally. July 1974.
26. Man cross-dressing
27. Matthew and Buddy of Glendale costume party 4
28. Man feeds cat and dog
29. Morris Kight talks on the phone
30. Stonewall June 27 76
31. Matthew of Glendale with friends
32. One woman smoking while another stirs a pot
33. Lisa Ben with her cat
34. Pat Rocco plays the piano
35. Matthew and Buddy of Glendale costume party 3
36. Madeline in tub
37. John Quitman Lynch reading
38. Two men in costume at a house party
39. Peron in seaweed skirt
40. Protest against the the lack of hospital space for AIDS patients
41. Lisa Ben plays the guitar
42. Matthew of Glendale with Daschunds
43. Reed Erickson with leopard
44. Dorr Legg at the piano
45. Sandifer posing 4
46. John Quitman Lynch drawing at desk
47. Eric Evans posing nude in garden
48. Show your outrage! Text continues: "To ex-chief of LAPD; State Senator Ed Davis; and Mr. Big in Bigotry Governor Pete Wilson over: continues GOP AIDS inaction; AB 101 veto; SB827 veto (sexual harassment bill) ; Davis bill SB 982 (proposed criminalization of all sex for HIV+ persons; legal demonstration and elective civil disobedience with legal support."Black text on yellow paper. The top margin of the poster provides a list of organizations affiliated with the host coalition. The bottom half of the poster lists the location information for the demonstration in Woodland Hills, civil disobedience training sessions in Plummer Park, and a pre-action rally in Silverlake. This poster is double sided, the alternative side provides identical information in Spanish. Queer Nation and the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center are listed next to ACT UP/LA as organizers of the demonstration.
49. Lisa Ben eating an ice cream bar
50. Anti-racism protest in front of Studio One
51. Two men wear bird cages at a house party
52. Unidentified woman behind the wheel of a car
53. Wife Madeline with woman in yoga variant pose
54. Woman reclining in grass
55. Simply having one on hand won't do any good Text continues: "For a latex condom to be effective against AIDS, you've got to put it on the correct appendage. Use a condom. Barring abstinence, it's the best way to prevent AIDS. For more information about HIV and AIDS, call the AIDS Action Committee Hotline at 1-800-235-2331." Black text on white background. The center of the poster contains a color photograph of a yellow condom inside a clear wrapper.
56. Black Cat demonstration--five signs
57. Woman testing out clothes
58. You don't have to look sick to have AIDS Text continues: "Men get it. Women get it. Even children get AIDS. Protect yourself. Protect your children. If you already have the virus, treatment will keep you healthy. If you don't have it, you can make sure you don't get it. Call today for a blood test. It's free. They won't even ask your name. Don't wait. Call today." The center of the poster contains a black and white photograph of a woman in a jacket, her hands resting on her hips. The right margin contains white text on black background.
59. Dorothy Putnam with Shep
60. Young Pat Rocco holding a duck
61. Friends having fun at a house party
62. Matthew and Buddy of Glendale costume party 5
63. Black Cat demonstration--three signs
64. ONE Magazine Cover May 1962
65. Weathers Photograph album 5, page 8 On the way to a camping trip at Lake Piru. (Top photo) Prissy the bulldog sitting inside Blunderbuss. September 1970. (Middle photo) Kaye Pender and Carolyn Weathers, wearing hats, inside Blunderbuss. (Bottom left photo) Sharon Lilly and Brenda Weathers in front seat of Blunderbuss. September 1970. (Bottom right photo) Blunderbuss parked by the side of the road. Brenda to the right. September 1970.
66. Ger Van Braam

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Week 12 (July 13, 2020) In this photograph, Lisa Ben (Edith Eyde) sits outside, in a bikini top, enjoying the Los Angeles sun and the pleasure of reading outdoors. She holds the May 1945 issue of Weird Tales, a pulp magazine specializing in supernatural and occult fiction, as she smiles at her photographer. By this time, Ben had long been a science fiction fan, and it was her interest in the occult that had brought her to Los Angeles, where she found community as part of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS). Even before her move to LA, she had written a letter to Voice of Imagination (VOM) in June of 1941 under her pseudonym, Tigrina the Devil Doll, saying, “I have always wished to belong to such an organization as yours, as I am deeply interested in the Occult, particularly Witchcraft and Black Magic.” Stuck in her childhood home in Fremont, California, Tigrina felt moved to express the camaraderie she felt with other science fiction fans and the community that publications like VOM created. In Los Angeles, she met VOM’s publisher Forrest J. Ackerman and Jim Kepner, who published sci-fi zines, including Toward Tomorrow and The Western Star. Science fiction was not the only interest they shared. Tigrina, adopting the name Lisa Ben (an anagram for lesbian) would publish Vice Versa in 1947, the first lesbian magazine in the United States.

Ben’s love of science fiction and its envisioning of new realities filtered into her writing for Vice Versa. Of note is her line in Issue 4 where she states: “Perhaps Vice Versa might be the forerunner of better magazines dedicated to the Third Sex which, in some future time, might take their rightful place on the news stands beside other publications, to be available openly and without restriction.” Her wish for the future, of course, would become a reality. Wishing, hoping, or imagining a world different than the one in which one currently lives does not make for a new reality, but it is an important step in working toward a new way of being that is safer, more accepting, and more equitable.