Barbara Gittings

Barbara Gittings
source
Name	Barbara Gittings
Birth date	August 18, 1932
Death date	February 18, 2007
Birth place	Vienna, New Jersey, United States
Death place	Towson, Maryland, United States
Occupation	Activist, editor, organizer
Known for	LGBT rights advocacy, American Library Association cooperation, removal of homosexuality from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Movement	LGBT rights movement, civil rights

Barbara Gittings Barbara Gittings was an American activist and editor who played a central role in the postwar LGBT rights movement in the United States. She organized early demonstrations, influenced professional institutions such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Library Association, and helped cultivate networks linking activists across cities such as Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C.. Her work contributed to landmark changes including the 1973 decision by the American Psychiatric Association to revise the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Early life and education

Gittings was born in Vienna, New Jersey, and raised in Mays Landing, New Jersey and later in Rosedale, Maryland, where her formative years paralleled social currents shaped by figures like Eleanor Roosevelt and institutions such as Smith College-era discussions of civil equality. She attended Upper Dublin High School and pursued higher education in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Influences during her youth included periodicals and libraries associated with the Library of Congress and regional systems linked to the American Library Association, which later intersected with her professional and activist trajectories.

Activism and advocacy

Gittings emerged as a visible organizer within the Mattachine Society-aligned currents and allied with groups such as the Daughters of Bilitis in the 1950s and 1960s, collaborating with contemporaries like Frank Kameny, Barbara Grier, Kay Lahusen, and Rita Mae Brown. She coordinated public demonstrations that intersected with events in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., drew attention from national media outlets including The New York Times and Time (magazine), and engaged policymakers linked to bodies like the Civil Service Commission and the U.S. Congress. Gittings also worked with researchers at institutions such as the Kinsey Institute and activists connected to Stonewall riots aftermath networks, creating bridges between grassroots protest and professional advocacy.

Editing and publishing work

As an editor and librarian, Gittings leveraged links to the American Library Association and collaborations with publishers like Alyson Publications and editors associated with The Ladder to expand access to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature. She oversaw library displays and curated bibliographies that connected readers to authors such as James Baldwin, Adrienne Rich, Radclyffe Hall, Leslie Feinberg, and Audre Lorde. Gittings worked with periodicals and small presses that included ONE, Inc., The Advocate (magazine), and the independent networks surrounding Daughters of Bilitis publications. Her editorial contributions reinforced ties to archival repositories such as the Library of Congress and university collections at Johns Hopkins University and Rutgers University.

Major campaigns and milestones

Gittings was prominent in campaigns to depathologize homosexuality, targeting the American Psychiatric Association and engaging allies in mental health reform including Dr. Evelyn Hooker-inspired researchers and clinicians at institutions like Columbia University and Harvard Medical School. She helped coordinate activism that culminated in the American Psychiatric Association's 1973 vote to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), a milestone echoed in broader legal and cultural shifts exemplified by litigation in state courts and policy changes within the U.S. Civil Service Commission. Gittings also led visible protests such as pickets in front of the Independence Hall-area landmarks and organized book displays that pressured the American Library Association to adopt more inclusive cataloging and collection development policies. Her campaigns intersected with contemporaneous movements—labor organizing linked to AFL–CIO affiliates, feminist activism associated with National Organization for Women, and civil rights mobilizations involving figures like Bayard Rustin—helping situate LGBT rights within a constellation of social justice efforts.

Later life and legacy

In later decades Gittings continued to shape archives, collaborating with historians and curators at institutions including the Smithsonian Institution and university special collections to preserve materials documenting LGBT history. She received recognitions from organizations such as the American Library Association and community awards presented by regional LGBT centers in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Her partnerships with younger activists and scholars—connecting to networks involving Harvey Milk-era organizers and academic programs at Temple University and University of Pennsylvania—helped institutionalize LGBT studies and archival practice. Gittings's papers and curated collections now inform scholarship on twentieth-century social movements and are consulted alongside holdings related to the Stonewall riots, the Mattachine Society, and the Daughters of Bilitis. Her impact endures through policies, archives, and commemorations in museums and civic observances across the United States.

Category:American LGBT rights activists Category:American librarians Category:1932 births Category:2007 deaths