Queer and Lesbian Suffragists

August 18, 2020 will mark 100 years since the 19th Amendment became law in the United States granting women the right to vote. In looking back on the suffrage movement on this momentous anniversary, it is important we recognize the women who fought for the right to vote. Often we are taught only about the upper class white members of the movement, when in reality women of color, working class, and immigrant women all played important roles in the movement. It is also essential that we recognize that the 19th Amendment did not mean all women could vote. It would be another four years before indigenous women were recognized as citizens with voting rights, even longer for some Asian Americans, and not until the 1965 Voting Rights Act were many Black women actually able to exercise their right to vote (Bennett and Chambers, 2020).

Another group that is gaining attention as important leaders and members of the suffrage movement are LGBTQ+ women. Recently, more and more individuals have called for recognition of the fact that many of the women who fought for representation were living nonheteronormative lives. Historian Susan Ware notes that these queer relationships were “part and parcel of the suffrage movement. It’s not like we are having to dig … they’re everywhere” (Salam, 2020). For LGBTQ+ women in the late 1800s and early 1900s the right to vote was intrinsically tied to their freedom to choose whom and how they loved. As LGBTQ+ historian Lillian Faderman put it, “They knew they would have no man to represent them … They needed to get the vote for themselves” (Salam, 2020). 

The following are just a few of the many notable women who held leadership roles in the movement while also existing as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Carrie Chapman Catt, a president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), was in a committed relationship with Mary Garrett Hay, a prominent suffragist in New York. Following the death of Catt’s second husband the two settled down together, with Catt even requesting to be buried alongside Hay rather than either of her husbands. Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, a notable name in the movement and another president of the NAWSA, had a decades-long relationship with Lucy Anthony, the niece of Susan B. Anthony (Salam, 2020). It is clear that many members of the movement, including notable ones, participated in what were sometimes called romantic friendships or Boston Marriages at the time. 

Queer and lesbian women were often at the forefront of the suffrage movement in the United States, and it is due to their tireless efforts that women today have the right to vote. Their deep desire to be able to choose, both in politics and in their personal lives, led to a great victory for women everywhere. We need to continue to recognize the role that the LGBTQ+ community plays in political and human rights movements in all areas of life, both today and in the annals of history. 

With the election coming up this November, be sure to exercise your right to vote! Check out our resource for information on registering to vote and where to find out who/what is on your ballot so that you can vote with pride at the polls on November 3.

References:

Bennett, J. & Chambers, V. (2020, August 14). Suffrage isn’t ‘boring history.’ It’s a story of

political geniuses. The New York Times. Retrieved on August 17, 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/us/women-voting-rights-suffrage-centennial.html

Salam, M. (2020, August 14). How queer women powered the suffrage movement. The New

York Times. Retrieved on August 17, 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/us/queer-lesbian-women-suffrage.html