Broadcast on Tues., March 26, 2024 

Joan Gibbs, Presente

WBAI's Out-FM presented a one-hour tribute to the late Black / African-American lesbian leader and lifelong human rights stalwart, Joan Gibbs, who passed on March 14 at age 71. Joan was a brilliant, strategic thinker and doer who was a forerunner of the intersectional action that’s now widely considered essential for social change. Co-producers Stahimili Mapp and I aired several voices explaining Joan's monumental significance to multiple movements. We also heard Joan talk about her own history and her views on the activist groups in which she played key roles. This included her reflections on:

• the importance of the late 70s/early 80s group DARE (Dykes Against Racism Everywhere), which she co-founded and which, as she explained, fought both racism in the lesbian/gay movement and homophobia in the Black movement;
• In the 70s, Joan's involvement with the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse (CARASA), which fought to always fight for reproductive rights holistically, including issues particularly affecting women of color.
• her representation of ACT UP members at protests and in courtrooms. She considered ACT UP “one of the best expressions of progressive politics in its practice that has existed since the Civil Rights Movement.”

Joan was also an occasional contributing producer to Out-FM and a dear friend whom we miss tremendously. Joan Gibbs, Presente!

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Just a few highlights of Joan's long and illustrious career (thanks to Rosemari Mealy, Karen D. Taylor, and other colleagues for this information):

Over the years Joan Gibbs worked at the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and for 28 years was general counsel for the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College.  In the 1970s, she was a key member of the National Lawyers Guild’s Grand Jury Project defending activists against intense grand jury abuse. Later, she became a leader in the National Conference of Black Lawyers and was co-chair of the Brecht Forum (sponsor of leftist educational and organizing events and courses) during the 2000s-2010s.

She not only litigated cases involving gender and racial justice, she represented organizations and political activists such as ACT UP (the overwhelmingly queer AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and Black Liberation leader Herman Ferguson. As an independent attorney, she also represented former members of the Black Panther Party such as Sundiata Acoli (co-defendant of Assata Shakur) in their efforts to overturn unjust convictions. In the 1990s, she played a key role in the legal and political defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at a time he was facing execution.

Tribute to Joan by Harlem leader Karen D. Taylor

Tribute to Joan by IFCO (Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization)

Tribute to Joan by Black Women Radicals

Obituary in Gay City News with moving quotes from Joan's queer comrades

Obituary in thebody.com emphasizing queer & AIDS activists' remembrances

ACT UP Oral History interview with Joan

Joan's 1998 letter to Rep. Maxine Waters protesting her vote for a resolution demanding that Cuba extradite Assata Shakur to the U.S. 

Note: Waters later apologized, saying she had made a mistake, and wrote a letter to then-Cuban president Fidel Castro saying she opposed the resolution.

Look for an announcement later about plans for a memorial in June.

Send messages of condolence to the family c/o:

Maferefun (Mafe) Lavezzari, 487 Lincoln Place-Apt. 1D, Brooklyn, NY 11238

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About Out-FM

Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show on listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio. It airs at 99.5 FM and wbai.org, generally on Tuesdays from 8-9 PM. Please consider donating ​$77 to WBAI and receive in turn a copy of the gorgeous,      large-format photo book Sister Comrades: The Women of the Black Panther Party, by Ericka Huggins and Stephen Shames. To make your donation, click here and type into the search box "Comrade Sisters."​ Or call any time (212) 209-2950. And important: remember to mention Out-FM as ​y​our favorite show.

Another way to support us is by becoming a WBAI member for $25 or a BAI Buddy (sustainer) for $10/month or more. Go to give2wbai.org or call 212-209-2950 and let the station know you listen to Out-FM by supporting the station with a donation. Be sure and mention our show when you donate.  

Sign up for Out-FM's Weekly Newsletter with show announcements.