Kay Lahusen | |
|---|---|
 Lahusen in 2001, in front of her images on The Ladder | |
| Born | Katherine Lahusen January 5, 1930 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | May 26, 2021 (aged 91) |
| Other names | Kay Tobin Kay Tobin Lahusen |
| Occupation(s) | Photographer, activist, writer, real estate agent |
| Organization(s) | Co-founder, Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) |
| Partner | Barbara Gittings (1961–2007) |
Katherine Lahusen (also known as Kay Tobin; January 5, 1930 – May 26, 2021) was an American photographer, writer and gay rights activist. She was the first openly lesbian American photojournalist.[1] Under Lahusen's art direction, photographs of lesbians appeared on the cover of The Ladder for the first time. It was one of many projects she undertook with partner Barbara Gittings, who was then The Ladder's editor. As an activist, Lahusen was involved with the founding of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) in 1970 and the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). She contributed writing and photographs to a New York–based Gay Newsweekly and Come Out!, and co-authored two books: The Gay Crusaders in 1972 with Randy Wicker (under her pen name Kay Tobin) and Love and Resistance: Out of the Closet into the Stonewall Era, collecting their photographs with Diana Davies in 2019.
- ^ Riordan, Kevin (Fall 2001). "Together they sparked a movement: Gay Pioneers Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen reflect on their 40-year political—and personal—partnership". Visions Today; pp. 17–19, 38