Author: Jennie Lazenby 1970s
Photo taken at the London Lesbian and Gay Parade after the discriminatory Section 28 became law in 1988. Photo © Jennie Lazenby. Please also see speakoutlondon.org.uk – search by my name.
This is the tale of a Proud Lesbian Socialist Feminist Adoptive mum
Who at the beginning could not see herself in that way
(Apart from the Socialist bit)
I believed the way that women burned their bras on TV was not for me
Once again the media were distorting and demonising
Yet I might have seen the signs from my childhood in the 60s
When my mum was judged for going out to work — so I was a latchkey kid
When I wanted to do woodwork yet although allowed
Being the only girl in the class put me off
When the boys in my mixed comprehensive nicknamed me Jennie Lesbian — instead of Jennie Lazeebee
The more innocent version my father was nicknamed
Maybe the boys sensed something at 15 I could not know in myself
I demonstrated against the war in Vietnam
Chanted Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh
Supported Allende against the military junta in Chile
I boycotted South African goods
I Banned the Bomb
How did I begin to see things differently?
How did I begin to see the connections
I took my cue from my single parent mum
But I only really explored when I got the chance to go to University
I experienced men shouting me down in Union meetings
And treating me as a sexual object
So I tentatively crossed the threshold of the university women’s group
Scary — those bra burning liberated feminists or so I thought
At first we were very proper — talking about equal rights
But then we dared to be different
We organised a Women–Only Party (the celebratory kind of Party)
I could not believe how enjoyable it was
How we were really talking to each other
This was East Anglia in summer 1974.
Then when us women re–met in Oct 1974
An out and proud lesbian came from the United States
She challenged us
I met someone and had my first lesbian relationship
And I have not looked back since
Not that there have not been hard and difficult times
Discrimination is a powerful weapon
But I have been true to myself