Oral History with Monique Meadows (Queer Capital-Genny Beemyn)

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Monique Meadows moved to Washington D.C. in 1993 after graduating from college to attend Howard University working towards a masters in political science. Upon arriving in D.C., Monique began to question her sexuality and decided to connect with local LGBT organizations, like the Lesbian Resource and Counseling Center, and Howard’s black LGBT group Oshala. Through those organizations, she met many people who were living openly in their sexualities. Since 1993, Monique has been connected with the Black Lesbian Support Group (BLSG) and became vice president in 1998. Through her work with BLSG, Monique wanted to create a community where women could freely express their sexualities and be comfortable living openly.

Monique also discusses the black lesbian community in D.C. and the challenges they face in organizing within their community and with other LGBT communities in DC. Specifically, within the black lesbian community there was a disconnect between older and younger generations. Older generations felt like younger people were not interested in community organizing or in taking on leadership roles, while younger people felt like they wanted to be involved but needed mentorship and support from older people to make connections and understand how to organize. Monique explores how the black lesbian community wanted to connect LGBT issues to broader human rights campaigns to focus on intersectionality, leading to difficulty engaging with other communities to support LGBT issues and concern over how any action or inaction would be perceived. Additionally, she discusses the complicated connection between black lesbian and gay communities, including lack of interaction and women's discomfort existing in gay male spaces.

Genny Beemyn

Yes

24:45