“Being an organizer and journalist in the lesbian, gay, feminist and women of color communities — and loving it — has been the focal point of my life. It has been a wild joyous ride,” lesbian publishing pioneer and activist Jeanne Córdova wrote in a “Letter About Dying, to My Lesbian Communities,” an email she distributed to her network in September 2015 while saddled with what she called “chemo-brain.”
Jeanne Córdova, a self-identified Chicana butch lesbian feminist, described her battle with cancer since a 2008 diagnosis and its 2013 comeback, and lately feeling like she was dying “in increments, one piece at a time.” In anticipation of her passing she wanted to tell her lesbian community that she loved us, and also to discuss her plans for her estate.
If you’re familiar with Córdova’s early work within the lesbian feminist community, it might surprise you, as it did me, that she even had an “estate.” Throughout Jeanne’s twenties, she’d struggled to make ends meet and often relied on food stamps while running groundbreaking Los Angeles publication The Lesbian Tide, reporting for LA Weekly and devoting every spare minute to lesbian feminist activism. She was The Tide‘s only full-time employee, finally making a salary of $7,500 a year (around $21k in today’s money) at the time of the magazine’s shuttering in 1980. The Tide, which aimed to do for lesbians what The Advocate did for gay men, remains one of lesbian publishing’s most highly revered and longest-running magazines, covering an unprecedented breadth of topics and filling its pages with ads for feminist and lesbian publications, bars, music and events.
In 1981, Córdova unexpectedly tapped into a profitable project with the launch of the Gay & Lesbian Community Yellow Pages. Coupled with some smart real estate investments, Córdova gradually established a sizable estate and made “an early personal vow” to give half of it back “to the movement.” The majority — $2 million dollars — would go to the Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice, and she encouraged her peers to “not think heterosexually [about wealth], like ‘I’ll give it to some random relative that I’ve never met. We need to think about giving to our gay or lesbian youth and institutions like Astraea or other lesbian organizations. They’re the ones who are nurturing our real daughters right now, around the world.”
In this spirit, smaller parcels of the estate were designated to be delivered to a number of like-minded non-profits, projects and publications. Autostraddle.com was one of them.
In July of 2015, Jeanne Córdova reached out to me directly, saying she was considering making a large donation and asking if we expected to be in business for the next five years. “I co-founded and ran the ‘Lesbian Tide‘ for many years and find your site very worthwhile in the same way,” she told me. I couldn’t believe Jeanne Córdova even knew we existed, let alone wanted to help us continue existing.
So I wanted to close out LGBTQ History Month with this story, because I think it’s an important one: because we are stronger when we reach out across generations to understand and support each other. Because this gift from Córdova is meaningful on multiple levels, uniting our past and our present and hopefully our future. Because in the spirit of her extensive work as a reporter, we have been steadily offering higher rates for reported features, hoping to elevate the discourse and tell important stories for and by our community. She made it possible for us to do that.
In her memoir When We Were Outlaws, Córdova details a life I know well — directing lesbian feminist media is hard work for so many specific reasons. The economic pressures, the working with friends/lovers/exes and their friends/lovers/exes, the political conflicts, the emotional processing. It’s complicated, exhausting, and irresistible work, but the rewards are immense. I’m so glad she saw a kindred spirit in Autostraddle.
We weren’t sure when the check would come or what it would be for, but it made landfall in July — and boy did we need it. It’s been a rough year, emotionally and financially, and although year-to-year revenue continues going up (because I’m good at my job), so do expenses. The cost of staying in the game still keeps us always on the verge. That check rescued us from “things are tight” to “things are okay” — and anybody who’s ever run a business or lived on a small budget knows how much time and stress is saved when every proposed expense isn’t an endless saga. That check has brought us much closer to our most pressing short-term goal, which’s to bring another woman of color onto our Senior Editors team.
When Jeanne passed in January 2016, I wrote an obituary that included an extensive history of The Lesbian Tide and its pioneering work, and you should read that, it’s important. Returning to that magazine over the past week while thinking about writing this post has been thrilling and familiar. It’s incredible how much we change and how little we change. The angry letters to the editor and the exhausted letters from the editors. The recaps of feminist conferences, the roundups of lesbian custody battles and hate crimes across the country, the grievances with mainstream feminism and gay men. But there’s so much joy, too, a keen sense of humor and enthusiastic determination. Love for the community radiates from every page, as does sarcastic acknowledgments of dire circumstances: “we realize once again what we realize every month with menstrual regularity — our litany of ‘not-enoughs’: not enough news coverage, not enough graphics, not enough in-depth analysis, not enough staff, not enough time, and of course, not enough money,” followed by a solicitation for help and support “in the most seductive spirit of lesbian love.” It feels like a secret clubhouse we’re all so lucky to be a part of, even when it’s hard.
There’s a pitch-perfect blend of playfulness and righteous anger, nostalgic picture collages from Women’s Music Festivals, biting comics about lesbian relationships, profiles of musicians and witches, calls to action, expansive reader surveys. There’s a mish-mash of visual styles as diverse as the community itself, getting more and more polished as the years go on, invoking some nostalgia for the hand-lettered headlines of yore. It’s easy to see the parallels between them and us.
This post was intended to go up early today, but last night we got some bad news that derailed the evening and some of that bled into this morning and threatened the wilting afternoon. But like I said: it’s Lesbian Herstory Month and we’re doing this.
When We Were Outlaws opens in the aftermath of the 1973 National Lesbian Conference she’d co-coordinated, which she describes as “a moment of divination and a specific kind of hell,” riddled with in-fighting that “split our community into rabidly disparate political ideologies.” Conflicts arose over transgender inclusion, a “divisive rant” from Robin Morgan, Kate Milllet’s “public drunkenness” at her own keynote, and some complications involving the Socialist Worker’s Party. Córdova was traumatized by the experience, enduring “highly charged arguments of warring dyke tribes.” She’d put her heart into it but that hadn’t ended up mattering, not really. Following the conference, she “simply crashed into a full-blown nervous breakdown.” She ended up fleeing Los Angeles and the community she’d midwifed. She spent seven months upstate, laying low while lesbian feminist media descended on her and other easy, misguided targets. She remembers, “All I could do was mark the rising and the setting of the sun as I crouched in random corners of her living room, rocking myself to sleep.”
Whenever I convene with other publishers and movement-builders, regardless of age, we always come around to this — our beloved LGBTQ community’s enormous capacity for generosity and comfort, but also for ruthless accusations of bad faith that cut close to our earnest bleeding hearts. When I’m asked how I, as a woman in the media, handle the chronic harassment from men experienced by most women in the media, I’m hesitant to admit the truth: despite my passionate misandry and the fact that men are solely responsible for a solid bulk of everything bad in the world, the vast majority of social media bullying I experience is not coming from men.
Perhaps this is the way it must be, has always been, will always be. When we’re unclear on the appropriate moment for the personal to become political, when your demographic is chronically exhausted and underpaid, when the work is hard and complicated and, at least for me, when your empathy for all sides of a conflict can override your ability to decisively lead and take defiant risks. Today, reeling from a situation with an ad network pulling out some truly ridiculous stops to avoid paying us a much-needed pile of money they owe us, I was unseated from a fragile precipice by assholes on twitter and combative comments. My skin should be thicker by now, but I think it gets thinner every year, wearing down, exposing vulnerable bones. I spiraled. I’ve spiraled before. Laneia and my ex-girlfriends can tell you all about it. When various forces align to make everything feel impossible and insurmountable and I declare I can’t do this anymore and go hide in my bed.
So I shut off my computer and phone and walked through my yard to the forest behind it, going as far as I could, traipsing through the defiantly picturesque fall foliage, getting brambles stuck on my leggings and mud on my busted boots. I walked in circles like a crazy person. I sat on a log and cried. I looked at the sky even though doing so made me feel like I was in an Abilify commercial, and I wondered how Jeanne Córdova bounced back, and I remembered how reading The Lesbian Tide sometimes feels like looking in the mirror. I wondered how she stayed strong through everything, with limited funding in a hostile political climate, butting against the ridiculous assertion that everybody in a specific demographic group should be fighting for the same thing at the same time, that different focuses cannot co-exist but must compete.
The bulk of When We Were Outlaws traces a conflict between the Los Angeles Gay Community Services Center (and the mostly gay men who run it) and lesbian feminists formerly employed by it. Córdova was thrust into the middle of the battle, struggling to reconcile her own opinions and loyalties as well as the relentless criticism and accusations of betrayal from allies on both sides and the pressing urge to break off entirely from gay men in order to achieve lasting change for women. She eventually concludes, “Waging a labor battle, inside a gender war, surrounded by a movement for civil rights, portended an untenable conflict with no exit strategy tied to anything I could have called victory.” That sentence likely seems senseless out of context but it’s not, really, it’s just a pretty dead-on description of so many of the conflicts that threaten not just to tear us apart, but totally wear us out and wipe us out.
Today, in the woods, I did my best to draw strength not from my usual sources, but instead from lesbian history, from our imperfect legacy. From Córdova’s assertion that “sometimes in the losing is the winning; and in the struggle, is the living.” From how she picked up after that conference and went on to organize more conferences, and kept writing, and kept advocating. This gift was about the money, sure, but it was also about the vote of confidence. That maybe this was a calling and I have answered it. I promised her we had five more years, at least. I’ve promised you as much, in so many words too. Because it’s worth it, even when it’s hard.
“You gave me a life’s cause,” Córdova wrote in her Letter, a sentiment I relate to intensely. “It is wonderful to have had a life’s cause: freedom and dignity for lesbians. I believe that’s what lesbian feminism is really about, sharing. We built a movement by telling each other our lives and thoughts about the way life should be. We cut against the grain and re-thought almost everything.”
And then, she remembers, she writes, she thinks: “With just enough left undone for our daughters to re-invent themselves.”
I am crying buckets. That sounds hyperbolic, but I am literally sniveling into my sleeve.
Thank you, Jeanne.
Tomorrow is Día de los Muertos, and I will most certainly be lighting a candle for you. Thank you for seeing us, for taking care of us, and I am proud to be one of your daughters.
Thank you, Carmen. Jeanne was my partner for 27 years, and I know that you lighting a candle for her, on Dia de los Muertos, would’ve meant so much to her. Means so much … xo
Lynn,
It is my absolute honor.
oh wow, this is amazing. she was amazing.
Thank you Jeanne. Thank you Riese. I read her book and wondered how she did it. I’ve read Autostraddle and wonder how you do it.
I’ve had a few of my own experiences with the “warring dyke tribes.” The most recent was incredibly painful. It makes me not want to engage the community at all, and that’s a huge loss for me–that’s my family, or should be.
And that’s just one incident (albeit a really bad one). That you do it again and again, every day–my hat’s off to you, thanks for helping make the world a better place, even though it’s so hard.
This is beautiful, Riese. Stay strong and know there’s a lot of love out there for you!
This was beautiful. Thank you Jeanne for all you have done in the community Thank you Rise for giving us a beautiful, diverse, & accepting community. I’m sure Jeanne would be glad you the site is still here. I know I am!
Thank you for your gracious gift, Jeanne, and to you Riese and team for sharing YOUR gifts with us every day.
This is amazing / you are amazing / I gotta read that fucking book!
This is the most beautiful thing I have ever read. Thank you, Jeanne Córdova. And thank you, Riese Bernard.
Riese. I fucking love you. You are doing such good work all the time. You give a window to so many people who need that little light. <3
I’m so grateful for everything you all do & for Jeanne Córdova for keeping this dream alive.
?❤️????❣️
This is awesome.
Riese I love you so much, I’m so grateful for this and for you and for everything we’ve built, thank you thank you
Thank you Jeanne! Thank you Riese! I think I’ve read an excerpt of When We Were Outlaws, and am now committed to read it all! Thinking about how much AS has enriched my life, challenged me and made me grow always gets me sentimental and makes me cry! I don’t know if my words will ever explain how much I love this community and the people who love and support it too!
In honour of her and her name let me suggest this wonderful Colombian version of George Brassens’ “La Jeanne”
https://open.spotify.com/track/1p00xyre62NnrpEDfEkPnN?si=aFEcx9KVQjaUWx9qKVXMog
Thank you, Jeanne!
Riese, love you and everything you do here. Thank you and all of the editors, writers, contributors, etc. for continuously breathing life into this community. Y’all have changed my life just by being yourselves and fearlessly sharing those selves with us. Keep doing that – it really does make a difference.
Thank you, Jeanne. Thank you, Riese, and thank you all of you here at Autostraddle.
Thank you Jeanne! and thank you Riese!
Reading this made me cry because I’m so happy and proud there are women like you leading us to a better world. I’m sorry it is so fucking hard.
Thank you, Jeanne. For everything.
Autostraddle, I am so proud of you.
This is so powerful, thank you Riese, and thank you Jeanne for the extraordinary lessons in generosity- of wealth, of spirit, of giving oneself to community.
What a beautiful day to have my A+ subscription auto-renew. I think I will upgrade in honor of Jeanne.
What bloody legends, the both of you. This post is a battle-cry and it sounds like Jeanne’s life was a battle-cry, a life shouted against a world that would rather not make space for us. Thank you to those of you who live your lives grabbing that space, pushing it wider to make room for us, giving us a voice and a place to be.
And this:
“although year-to-year revenue continues going up (because I’m good at my job)…”
Yes, Riese. You really are. And yes for claiming it, owning it. An absolute bloody legend.
RIGHT?!? Living LEGENDS right here! Battle cry is right!
What an amazing tribute, and so glad to hear of her support for Autostraddle. Thank you for including us in this wild ride.
ahh this was beautiful, also you are beautiful. i love you. <3
“It feels like a secret clubhouse we’re all so lucky to be a part of, even when it’s hard.”
“I looked at the sky even though doing so made me feel like I was in an Abilify commercial, and I wondered how Jeanne Córdova bounced back, and I remembered how reading The Lesbian Tide sometimes feels like looking in the mirror. I wondered how she stayed strong through everything, with limited funding in a hostile political climate, butting against the ridiculous assertion that everybody in a specific demographic group should be fighting for the same thing at the same time, that different focuses cannot co-exist but must compete.”
“I believe that’s what lesbian feminism is really about, sharing. We built a movement by telling each other our lives and thoughts about the way life should be.”
What an incredible gift! Jeanne Córdova’s belief in our community and her inspiring words are a balm to me today. As are your reflections here, Riese.
I’m so grateful for this place and the amazing work and love y’all put into it every day. Thank you ❤️
All the love to you and the crew, Riese. All of the love.
Thank you Jeanne, Riese, and all of Autostraddle!
I feel so grateful to be a lesbian and to be a part of this wonderful community which looks out for each other even from beyond the grave. Thank you AS and thank you Jeanne!!! <3
<3
Riese, thank you. This is beautiful. You are there in the muck, making this place happen. I don’t know you and yet I feel like you’re this friend… I always look forward to your writing and your perspective on current events and always wish you well about your personal life. Your ability to just be real and publicly live your truth and struggles is powerful. I’m sorry that you get stuck in the crosshairs. Your work changed my life and keeps changing me every day. Autostraddle is a home. Thank you for fighting the good fight. I believe in you!
Rainbow sugar unicorns we gotta take care of each other. We do that a lot by being responsible and caring in comments, and sharing stuff, and respond to pain and anger with healing and/or space. And A+ starts at a fancy hot beverage (or a regular coffee if you’re on in a coastal metro area) per month: https://www.autostraddle.com/join-autostraddle-plus/
Let’s aim for Riese to take a solid sabbatical in a couplefew years – if she can do that, then Autostraddle can live a long life!
Wow, this was a tearjerker. We are indebted to Jeanne in so many ways. Thank you for honoring her memory while reminding us that Autostraddle is indelibly linked to the movements that came before it.
Riese,
Your job would have killed me. Killed me dead. Like, 2 years in. (Being generous to myself with that estimate.)
So, luckily you are doing your job and I have a new job that actually pays the bills (on time!), so I can at least A+ again and thank you for doing your job so well.
It’s been inspiring to watch the site grow and to watch y’all grow and learn from the well-intentioned, good faith critiques and not throw up your hands and quit when the bad faith attacks are incessant.
Thanks for everything you and the staff do. And thanks Jeanne Códova for everything.
This is amazing. You are superhuman. Thank you for existing.
well, i cried while reading this last night and cried again while reading this today and honestly will probably cry while reading this again tomorrow!
i love you, riese. i love jeanne, too. thank you both for everything.
This was an incredible piece and such a wonderful tribute to Jeanne Cordova.
You are a testament to her legacy, Riese. Thank you for persevering when so many others would’ve given up…
This was beautiful. Thank you, Riese and all the Autostraddle staff for the work you do to make our world a better place.
This is amazing and very inspiring. Thank you for being v. good at your job!
In the absence of knowing how to create a legally binding will, I have a Note on my iPhone that’s called “IN THE EVENT OF MY DEATH” and I just added Autostraddle to it.
I’ll stand with you gals, any goddamn day. Thank you so, so much.
Wow. This makes me feel so much gratitude for you Riese, and also for Jeanne, but also more broadly for all of the queer women and nonbinary folks everywhere for doing the hard work of making and keeping queer spaces. Thank you so much.