Gay Women's Alternative, GWA-DC (Series III)

Gay Women's Alternative, GWA-DC (Series III)

Documents relating to the Gay Women's Alternative of DC from 1980 to 1993. includes committee reports, ephemera, newspaper clippings and program announcements.

From 1981 to 1993, the Gay Women's Alternative of D.C. served as an essential educational and social focus for the metropolitan area's lesbian community. The organization dedicated itself to presenting an alternative to the closet and to the bars for the area's women, by providing lectures, social events, and discussions, often at the Washington Ethical Society. GWCDC became known for its dances for women, particularly its signature Spring Cotillion, and for its involvement with other women's events in the area including the summer Sisterfire musical extravaganzas and the Passages conferences. In 1985, GWA-DC presented its first conference. The initial organizers included Ina Alterman, Trish Bangert, Bonnie Becker, Susan Geiger, Maryl Kerley, Ann Meltzer, Lil Russo, and Joyce Sideman. By 1993, facing competition from a growing array of competing lesbian organizations, the demands of running a major social organization, and the group's inability to meet speakers' and performers' growing requests for payment (GWA had from the outset determined not to pay such fees), the board of Gay Women's Alternative decided to close down the organization following its final Spring Cotillion in May 1993.

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