Lavina Tomer and Leslie Carlson

Lavina Tomer and Leslie Carlson share their experiences working as LGBTQ activists in Tucson during the 1970s, a crucial decade for the interconnected lesbian and feminist communities in the city. These women moved to the city in 1972, and in the clip they convey what the thriving lesbian community was like during that decade.

Local grassroots activism, feminist organizations, and gay organizations created by and composed of men are some of the topics Tomer and Carlson mention. They also explain how past sociopolitical contexts for the wider LGBTQ community in Tucson are echoed and still very relevant in the twenty-first century.

Lavina Tomer also appears in Southwest Feminists Reunite, another collection available on the AQA website: http://www.azqueerarchives.org/collections/show/2