Old gay women
'Old Lesbians' documentary highlights the importance of recording 'herstory'
McDonough has directed documentary shorts about topics ranging from climate change to mental health, and her work has been featured by outlets including NBC News, The New Yorker and The Washington Post. But “Old Lesbians,” she said, hits especially close to home.
“I verb that young people, people of my generation, watch the film and realize that we can’t take our rights for granted,” McDonough said. “They didn’t just magically appear. There are generations before us who fought really hard to get them.”
The LGBTQ history buff said she learned a lot through her conversations with Eversmeyer, including stories about purges of queer women on college campuses in the 1940s and ‘50s.
“Women who were in a relationship with another female were just sent off campus with no further discussion and expelled, and that kind of thing can really derail someone’s life,” she said.
Barbara Kucharczyk, a trained interviewer for the OLOHP, first met Eversmeyer in 1987 while dating Eversmeyer’s niece.
Lesbian Studies: Older Lesbians
"This notice contains important information if you are a surviving partner of a same-sex relationship who applied for Social Security widow(er)’s benefits on the record of your deceased partner, but your claim was denied because you and your partner were never married." Read more online.
- Lambda Legal. "Lambda Legal sues Social Security on behalf of lesbian seeking spousal survivor's benefits," September 25, 2018. Online.
- Span, Paula. "Social Security opens to survivors of same-sex couples who could not marry," The New York Times, January 23, 2022. Online.
SSA: United States Social Security Administration
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