Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project – Collecting, archiving, and celebrating oral and written stories of unsung, Southern, lesbian-feminist activists during the second half of the twentieth century.

SLFAHP IN THE NEWS

July 2026

--Batya Weinbaum, celebration of life, Wednesday, July 1, at 8:00 pm EDT (USA & Canada), on Zoom:
Meeting ID: 856 207 500 32
Password: 486401

--Melissa Connelly, our SLFA Herstory Project intern from last year, wrote a story about artist and Pagoda resident, Rainbow Williams, to be published in the upcoming issue of Maize magazine.

--Emily Morgan, our SLFA Herstory Project intern from last summer, is presenting with our own Rose Norman in the Memorial Archiving workshop at the National Women's Music Festival in Michigan, July 2 to July 5, 2026. See nwmf.info

--Herlands: Lessons from Societies Where Women Make the Rules by Megha Mohan, just published in the UK, is a new book about women's communities around the world. Each chapter explores women's lands in different countries.
In 2023, Mohan interviewed our own Rose Norman about women's lands in the United States.
--Megha Mohan quotes Rose Norman in Chapter 4, about the United States.
--Megha Mogan also quotes from Cedar Heartwood's story published on our website, "Finding Women's Lands and Lesbian Communities"

NEW:
Our Remembering Lesbians* tab now includes a tab for Remembering Lesbians of Womonwrites who have joined the ancestors.
Click on our drop-down menu on here on the Home page under the Showcase tab. We added a new page there:
*Remembering Lesbians: She Who Will Be Remembered

NOTE:
If you would like to write a remembrance, use our Contact form: Contact SLFAHP.

Merril Mushroom, Barbara Ester, Kate Ellison, Harvest, Gail Reeder, unidentified woman, Beth York, Phyllis Free — A Herstory Project workshop on the porch at Womonwrites in 2011. Seated at the table, left to right: Merril Mushroom, Barbara Ester, Kate Ellison, Harvest, Gail Reeder, unidentified woman, Beth York, and Phyllis Free.

Spotlight

Beth Marschak: Virginia Trailblazer and Community Leader

Elizabeth “Beth” Marschak died on June 3, 2026, in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 75. The community was shocked by her sudden death of smoke inhalation from a house fire. In the words of Richmond Mayor Danny Avulo, “Beth Marschak dedicated her life to advancing LGBTQ rights, and championing the equality, justice, and dignity of all people.”

In recent years, she had received multiple honors for her work. She is one of seventy-one “Faces of Virginia” honored at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. She coedited the book Lesbian and Gay Richmond (2008). She served on the national steering committee of the National Women’s Political Caucus for sixteen years. A founding member of Richmond Lesbian Feminists in 1975, she was the first woman to serve as the chair of the board of Diversity Richmond. Diversity Richmond said, “Beth Marschak embodied the belief that Pride is not simply something we celebrate. It is something we practice. Beth practiced her pride through service, advocacy, and leadership with an unwavering commitment to justice, challenging all of us to be more courageous, more compassionate and more committed to the work of building a better world.”

Her lifelong friend and fellow activist, Mary Dean Carter, wrote this on the occasion of Beth’s sudden death: “I am shocked and devastated. We met as students at Westhampton Collage at the University of Richmond around 1973, at a Women’s Liberation group she had organized. She was an icon in our Richmond LGBTQ community. Always on the forefront of social justice issues, Beth fought for racial equality and worked in coalition with many groups. Her resume is too lengthy to record here, but she is leaving quite a legacy. She was clever, funny, wise, and determined. Most of all, she was kind, compassionate, and loyal.”

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