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Lesbian American history addresses the history of women who are attracted to other women in the United States . A relatively new field of historical inquiry, the breadth of understanding and knowledge regarding Lesbian American history has expanded significantly since the beginning of the Gay And Lesbian Rights Movement . Primary historical resources for lesbian American history are scant and, hence, this is a fledgling discipline ripe for investigation. DIFFICULTIES IN STUDY from a 1915 criminology text.]] Longstanding denial of the very existence of Lesbianism frustrates the exploration of Lesbian American history. As much of early American sensibilities were fashioned by Victorian English colonization, it is no coincidence that for a great while lesbianism was denied, and fringe discussion of the very possibility of lesbianism was tabled in both legislatures and academic circles. Hence, few resources exist making more detailed study of certain eras impossible. The study of lesbian American history might thus be described as embryonic. Certain resources have survived and are discussed below. ATTEMPTS TO CRIMINALIZE Two women were prosecuted for lewd conduct in 1649 in Plymouth Colony, and one of them was convicted. This may be the only conviction for lesbianism in American history.1 remained gender-specific. EARLY HISTORICAL RECORDS The earliest American historical records concerned with Female Homosexual Conduct were not drawn from sources sympathetic to lesbians, or women in general. Although it is through early records of Colonial Legislatures and writings that clearly consider lesbians a Social Outgroup , the sparse material shows mainstream attitudes toward lesbianism, and the opposition to homosexual women during the years prior to the Gay And Lesbian Rights Movement . Some of the earliest published studies of female homosexual activity were written from observations of, and data gathered from, Incarcerated Women . Margaret Otis published "A Perversion Not Commonly Noted" in the 1913 Journal of American Psychology, coupling a decidedly Puritanical Moral Foundation with an almost revolutionary sympathy for lesbian relationships; her focus revolved more around her revulsion for sexual contact between those of different ethnic backgrounds, yet offered an almost radical tolerance of the lesbian relations themselves, as Otis noted "...sometimes the love one young woman for another is very real and seems almost ennobling." This document provided a rare view from a tightly controlled setting monitored by a Corrections supervisor. Kate Richards O'Hare , imprisoned in 1917 for five years under the Espionage Act Of 1917 , published a firsthand account of the life of incarcerated women ''In Prison''4 complete with frightening accounts of lesbian Sexual Abuse among inmates. So wrote O'Hare: "...A thorough education in sex perversions is part of the educational system of most prisons, and for the most part the underkeepers {Link without Title} and the stool pigeons are very efficient teachers..." O'Hare then recounted a systematic induction of women into a cycle of Forced Prostitution to which authorities turned a blind eye: "...there seems to be considerable ground for the commonly accepted belief of the prison inmates that much of its graft and profits may percolate upward to the under officials...the...stool pigeon...handled the vices so rampant in the prison...she, in fact, held the power of life and death over us, by being able to secure endless punishments in the blind cell, she could and did compel indulgence in this vice in order that its profits might be secured." Though these both provided second-hand accounts from two very different perspectives, no locatable known lesbian first-hand accounts of life in a correctional institution are known to exist, leaving this area of study incomplete and ripe for further investigation. BOSTON MARRIAGES , shown here, was in a Boston Marriage with Annie Adams Fields until Jewett's death in 1909.]] ''Main article: Boston Marriage '' In New England Certain arrangements were permitted to varied extents between two women throughout communities in New England , and, while far from mainstream, these households offer a more substantial pool of primary sources from which to draw information on early lesbian behavior. Primarily being a product of the town, and having a literary origin, the arrangements have been dubbed Boston Marriage s. These relationships vary in character and do not necessarily imply sexual intimacy. In Utah Another unlikely enclave hosted an acceptance of Boston Marriage style arrangements. In Utah, the Mormon Church formally denounced lesbianism and these arrangements ended.5 EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY: ASSOCIATION AND EARLY ACTIVISM The 20th Century saw the birth of the earliest Lesbian Rights Organizations , most importantly of which was Heterodoxy, founded as a feminist luncheon club for "unorthodox women," in whose membership is included notable and prominent lesbians Katherine Anthony , Sara Josephine Baker , Helen Hull, and Elisabeth Irwin . Concurrently established in San Francisco , Mona's 440 club became the first recognized lesbian bar.6 Emma Goldman , internationally known Anarchist and social activist, once dubbed "the most dangerous woman in America" by J. Edgar Hoover , was also an outspoken advocated of the rights of gays and lesbians, perhaps for the first time in American history. Whether or not Goldman was involved in any lesbian relationships is uncertain, but her advocacy has resulted in some calling her the Mother of the Gay And Lesbian Rights Movement . BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT Founded in leadership.8 The Metropolitan Community Church was founded in 1968 , the first Christian assembly of gays and lesbians. In 1969 , the church's founder, Rev. Troy D. Perry , performed the first known Same-sex Marriage in the United States . .]] Gay liberation See Also: Compton's cafeteria riot Stonewall riot In the second half of the 1960s, LGBT activism spilled over into social protest and Gay Liberation . On the East Coast, beginning in 1965, Homophile organizations picketed the White House , the Pentagon , the United Nations , and Independence Hall , demanding an end to anti-gay discrimination. The picketers were few in number, but received attention (generally unfavorable) in national news reports. More dramatically, Transgender ed people rioted in August 1966 at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco, the first time in history an organized group of LGBT people resisted arrest. In 1969 , Rita Mae Brown , along with many other lesbians, took part in the Stonewall Riots . This event, known as the birth of the modern Gay And Lesbian Rights Movement , began in response to a targeted effort by police to close known gay and lesbian establishments. 9 The Kinsey Reports and their legacy In 1948 , Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey released a groundbreaking report on male sexuality, and followed it with ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Female'' in 1953 . Kinsey concluded that while only 2% of the female population would remain completely Homosexual , 13% of all women will engage in some level of lesbian activity during their lives. Kinsey's studies offered scientific data to refute the idea of homosexuality as a medical condition, and subject to being cured. These findings helped to convince the psychiatric community to remove homosexuality from its catalog of psychological diseases.10 At that point, with friends in both the religious and science communities, lesbians were able to make progress. RADICAL LESBIAN IDEOLOGY Radicalesbians Some lesbians were uninterested in heterosexual acceptance and instead sought life beyond interaction with men. Radical thinkers began alliances and published unprecedented lesbian separatist literature. While all of these organizations, including the Lesbian Separatist Movement, ONE, Radicalesbians, et al., differed slightly in ideology, examination of the Radicalesbians offers a representative sample of the separatist ideology. Essential to their beliefs is the perception of ubiquitous oppression by the Heteropatriarchy. Furthermore, gender and sexuality are Constructs of the heterosexual male-controlled society, and must be circumvented to approach any semblance of equality for either homosexuals or women. The Radicalesbians produced a formal treatise that clarifies this perspective: on the cover of the SCUM Manifesto .]] This treatise, " The Woman-Identified Woman ", is considered one of the founding works of lesbian feminism.11 Valerie Solanas Ideas for lesbian separatism ranged from the self-segregation of lesbian individuals into autonomous communities, to the most radical of all, proposed by Valerie Solanas , which was eradication of the male gender entirely. Though Solanas stopped short of advocating the execution of men, she contended that the male of the species was an accident spawned by an incomplete X Chromosome . Her ''SCUM Manifesto'' remains a classic of both feminist and lesbian scholarship, calling for the asexual reproduction of the species and the genetic irregularity (i.e. men) to be discontinued. SEE ALSO
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