![]() In honor of Pride Month, Jay reflects on the importance of identity, coming out, and the meaning of “lavender culture.” In 1969, you started using “Karla Jay” professionally. She is a leading lesbian-feminist activist and distinguished professor emerita of English and Women’s & Gender Studies at Pace University. She has written, edited, and translated 10 books, including 1972’s Out of the Closets (the first anthology written for and by LGBT people) 1979’s The Gay Report (a comprehensive survey and documentary of gay and lesbian sexuality) 1996’s Dyke Life (a Lambda Literary Award–winner) and 1999’s memoir Tales of the Lavender Menace. Over the next five decades, Jay helped empower and give voice to the LGBT community. Toward the end of the decade, Karla Jayne Berlin became professionally known as Karla Jay. That same year, she helped to produce New York City’s first-ever Pride Parade and participated in the Pride Parade of Los Angeles. ![]() Berlin joined the Gay Liberation Front and in 1970 became the first woman chair of the organization. ![]() The following year, the Stonewall uprising/riots erupted. Fifty years ago, when Karla Jayne Berlin ’68 participated in the 1968 student protests on Columbia’s campus, she was also a member of the feminist group Redstockings. ![]()
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