
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 8, 1992                   TAG: 9203080320
SECTION: HORIZON                    PAGE: F-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Los Angeles Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LESBIAN ISSUE RESURFACES

NOW President Patricia Ireland's disclosure that she has a husband and a woman "companion" once again raises the issues of lesbian visibility within the group and its effect on NOW's image.

Combined with other forces - including the backlash against the women's movement - the Ireland matter could hurt, says NOW's organizing founder, Betty Friedan. As an analogy, she suggests, "You don't see Bill Clinton bragging about adultery."

In "Moving the Mountain: The Women's Movement in America Since 1960," feminist historian Flora Davis points out that, until 1969, most lesbians in NOW had kept their sexual orientation secret and the majority of feminists were "straight."

For a long time, Davis writes, NOW activists "failed to see the parallels between sexism and heterosexism (the assumption that only heterosexuality is `normal')." As lesbians insisted that the movement recognize them, Davis writes, "fierce conflicts" arose. Some chapters did not want the movement associated with anything as controversial as homosexuality.

In 1971, the matter was officially resolved when the membership, at its national conference, voted for a resolution that spelled it out: Oppression of lesbians was a legitimate feminist concern.

"It makes me kind of sad," says Davis now, "that [sexual orientation] still is an issue. I think it's very clear that a lot of people opposed to the movement are delighted any time they can find an excuse to suggest that all feminists are lesbians."

Although some NOW leaders insist the lesbian presence in the group probably is no greater than in the general population, it is a very visible one. The is-she-or-isn't-she discussion of Ireland has triggered more speculation.

By the 1980s, at national conferences, some women could be seen snuggling and hand-holding during plenary sessions. Women-only dances featuring lesbian entertainers were a conference staple.

If the overriding public perception is that the organization is headed by a lesbian, "I think it's going to hurt NOW, but I don't think it's going to hurt the women's movement," says Gene Boyer, a NOW charter member and board member of its Legal Defense and Education Fund.

by CNB