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Joan Gibbs was a lawyer,[1] activist,[2][3] and a founding editor of Azalea,[4] the first literary journal for Black lesbians. She also co-founded Dykes Against Racism Everywhere, the first anti-racist lesbian organization in the United States.[5][2][3] She achieved legal victories on behalf of organizations[1] and activists[6][7] within the United States. She helped craft a political campaign that led to passage of New York City Council Resolution 0285,[8][9] calling on the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the restrictive travel ban on U.S. citizens.

Early life and education

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Gibbs was born in Harlem on January 17, 1953, and raised in Swan Quarter, N.C., returning to New York City at the age of 14.[6]

In her youth, Gibbs was a member of left organizations; she was later an active participant in the fledgling LGBTQIA+ movement.[10]

Gibbs attended the Bronx High School of Science and received her bachelor's degree from SUNY Empire State.[2] She graduated from Rutgers Law School in 1985, where she studied constitutional and civil rights law. She was admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey, the New York State Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.[2]

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Before law school, Gibbs worked at the National Lawyers Guild's Grand Jury Project.[11][12][13]

She was a Marvin Karpatkin Fellow in the National Office of the ACLU. As staff attorney for its Women's Rights Project, she litigated sex discrimination cases under the 14th Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.[6]

As staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, Gibbs litigated cases involving gender and racial justice and represented political activists such Herman Ferguson. Gibbs was lead counsel in a CCR case that revealed New York Police Department surveillance of civil rights organizers.[1] In 1987, with Paula Ettelbrick of Lambda Legal Defense, Gibbs sued the New York State Department of Corrections for refusing to let a prisoner with AIDS participate in a family reunification program. In 1988, Gibbs represented many arrested in ACT UP demonstrations[14][10] protesting the undercount of people living with HIV in the city health commissioner's office.[15] Gibbs also represented the Haitian American Anti-Defamation League after the CDC labeled them a high-risk category for AIDS. Along with Margaret Ratner, she sued DOCS for improper training of guards at Rikers.[15] In 1989, with Peter Weiss, David Cole and Ellen Yaroshefsky, Gibbs sued the NEA on behalf of Karen Finley and David Wojnarowicz, after the agency rescinded grants to artists who had portrayed gay sex.[15]

Gibbs served as general counsel for the Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ) of Medgar Evers College for approximately 28 years, working on redistricting cases, among others.[16] She also served as project director of the CLSJ Immigration Law Program.[6] She was appointed to the New York City Campaign Finance Board's Voter Assistance Advisory Committee,[17][6] interviewed in media[18] and contributed to academic journals.[19][20]

As an independent attorney, Gibbs also represented political activists, including members of the Black Panther Party such as Sundiata Acoli and Mumia Abu Jamal.[21] Abu Jamal devoted an episode of his radio show to an obituary for Gibbs.[22] Gibbs was also a long-term member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers' International Affairs Section.[6]

Poet, Editor, Journalist, and Public Speaker

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Gibbs was a writer for the Liberation News Service, the activist news agency.[23]

Gibbs was the founding editor of Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians[4][24] which published fiction, poetry, and other forms by writers including Audre Lorde, Sapphire, and Jewelle Gomez.[14] Azalea was published between 1977 and 1983.[5][25] In 1980, Gibbs co-edited the anthology Top Ranking: A Collection of Articles on Racism and Classism in the Lesbian Community.[26][27][28]

Gibbs' own poetry was published in the Iowa Review.[29] She also self-published a book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place.[30]

In 2010, Gibbs spoke at the CLAGS conference on lesbian organizing in the 1970s, "In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbian Lives in the 1970s." Gibbs spoke at the plenary event "Defining the Boundaries of Lesbian Identity."[31][32]

Political Activist and Organizer

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Gibbs co-founded an anti-racist organization called Dykes Against Racism Everywhere (DARE).[33][34][3][35] Gibbs played a role in numerous international campaigns, including the U.S. anti-apartheid movement. For decades, Gibbs was active in the Jericho Movement for Recognition and Amnesty for U.S. Political Prisoners.[36]

Until 2014, Gibbs was co-chair of the board of the Brecht Forum.[2]

Notably, she helped organize the successful campaign for New York City Council's Resolution 0285,[8][9] which in 2022 called on the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the restrictive travel ban on U.S. citizens. The resolution also called for removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.[6][37][38] In recognition of Gibbs' work, Ambassador Yuri A. Gala López, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, addressed her memorial on June 8, 2024.[39]

Gibbs worked on behalf of People United for Children, a group advocating for children in foster care, headed by Sharonne Salaam, mother of Councilmember Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five.[40]

Later Years and Death

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In 2023, Gibbs underwent a series of surgeries related to cardiovascular disease.[6] She died on March 14, 2024 at her home in Brooklyn.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b c French, Howard W. (1987-12-19). "Police Admit Surveillance Violated Pact". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Remembering NYC Activist and Civil Rights Lawyer Joan Gibbs (1953–2024)". www.thebody.com. 2024-04-01. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  3. ^ a b c Hanhardt, Christina B. (November 2013). Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-5470-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ a b "Azalea | Lesbian Poetry Archive". www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  5. ^ a b Gay USA 3/20/2024 | Veteran Lesbian Civil RightsAttorney Joan Gibbs has Died. Retrieved 2024-03-27 – via www.youtube.com.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Joan Gibbs, activist attorney, dies at 70". New York Amsterdam News. 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  7. ^ Byron, Peg. "Black militant fights for FBI files". United Press International, January 9, 1992
  8. ^ a b MEALY, JOAN P. GIBBS and ROSEMARI (2023-03-23). "Campaign launched for removal of Cuba from U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
  9. ^ a b "The New York City Council - File #: Res 0285-2022". legistar.council.nyc.gov. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  10. ^ a b "138 Joan Gibbs (1953–2024)". ACT UP Oral History Project. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  11. ^ outfm (March 26, 2024). "TRIBUTE TO JOAN GIBBS, BLACK LESBIAN MOVEMENT GIANT".
  12. ^ A Soldier's Story.
  13. ^ "Remembering NYC Activist and Civil Rights Lawyer Joan Gibbs (1953–2024)". www.thebody.com. 2024-04-01. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  14. ^ a b Tracy, Matt (2024-03-25). "Joan Gibbs, renowned lesbian activist and attorney, dies at 71". gaycitynews.com. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  15. ^ a b c "NLG NYC Spring Fling Journal 2019" (PDF). 2019.
  16. ^ hlr (2015-04-10). "Favors v. Cuomo". Harvard Law Review. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  17. ^ "3-new-members-join-nyc-voter-assistance-advisory-committee | New York City Campaign Finance Board". nyccfb.info. Retrieved 2024-06-30.
  18. ^ "Joan Gibbs". CUNY TV. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  19. ^ Gibbs, J. P. (1998). "Civil rights". Social Policy. 28 (3): 10–13.
  20. ^ Humm, A. (1998). "What's left?". Social Policy. 28 (3): 2–3.
  21. ^ OutFM (March 26, 2024). "Tribute to Joan Gibbs, Black Lesbian Attorney, Activist and Movement Giant".
  22. ^ Abu Jamal, Mumia (June 5, 2024). ""Joan Gibbs Esquire Presente"".
  23. ^ "Under the Ground: The Story of Liberation News Service". PBS. January 11, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  24. ^ Boyce, C.; Brown, L.; Christian, R.; Daniels, L.; Furlonge, C.; Gibbs, J. (1979). "Azaleas blooming". Off Our Backs. 9 (7): 25.
  25. ^ Strongman, SaraEllen (April 2018). "'Creating justice between us': Audre Lorde's theory of the erotic as coalitional politics in the Women's Movement". Feminist Theory. 19 (1): 41–59. doi:10.1177/1464700117742870. ISSN 1464-7001.
  26. ^ "Top Ranking: A Collection of Articles on Racism and Classism in the Lesbian Community | Lesbian Poetry Archive". www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  27. ^ Moraga, Cherrie (1981). "Top Ranking: A Collection of Articles on Racism and Classism in the Lesbian Community, ed. by Joan Gibbs and Sara Bennett (Book Review)". Conditions. 3 (1): 140–144.
  28. ^ Dillon, Stephen (2018). Fugitive life : the queer politics of the prison state. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-7189-2.
  29. ^ Gibbs, J. (1981). "Internal Geography: Part One". The Iowa Review. 12 (2/3): 99–100. doi:10.17077/0021-065X.2703.
  30. ^ "Between a Rock and a Hard Place | Lesbian Poetry Archive". www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  31. ^ Chinn, S. (2011). "In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbian Lives in the 1970s". CUNY Academic Works.
  32. ^ Douglas, E. (2010). "Whatever happened to 1970s lesbian-feminism?". Ms. Magazine.
  33. ^ Lewis, Abram J. (2010-04-01). ""Within the Ashes of Our Survival" Lesbian and Gay Antiracist Organizing in New York City, 1980-1984". UCLA Center for the Study of Women Thinking Gender Papers.
  34. ^ Estes, Steve (2015-04-03). "Hanhardt, Christina B. Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence Durham, NC: Duke University Press 358 pp., $25.95, ISBN 0822354705 Publication Date: December 2013". History: Reviews of New Books. 43 (2): 60–61. doi:10.1080/03612759.2015.989090. ISSN 0361-2759.
  35. ^ Dykes Against Racism Everywhere (DARE). Unitarian Universalist Association. Office of Lesbian and Gay Concerns. Records, 1972-1999, bMS 1309, bMS 1309/10 (16). Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University.
  36. ^ Hom, A. Y. (2011). Unifying Differences: Lesbian of Color Community Building In Los Angeles and New York, 1970s-1980s. Dissertation, The Claremont Graduate University.
  37. ^ "Joan P. Gibbs, Esq. , Author at New York Amsterdam News". New York Amsterdam News. 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  38. ^ wibailoutpeople (2024-03-19). "In Loving Memory of Joan Gibbs". Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
  39. ^ "Ambassador Yuri A. Gala López speaks about Warrior Sister, Joan Gibbs in NYC at The People's Forum". YouTube. June 10, 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  40. ^ "Joan Gibbs, activist attorney, dies at 70". New York Amsterdam News. 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
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