BOB: Good evening, welcome to Out-FM, your weekly progressive, intersectional program by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer, and questioning communities here. Our program originates from WBAI, Pacifica Radio in New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org. It’s also heard of Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles, 90.7 FM and kpfk.org. You can also follow us on Facebook and X.
I’m Bob Lederer, here with Out-FM co-host Stahimili Mapp. Our theme song is Together by Betty. Tonight’s entire program will be a tribute to the late Black and African American lesbian leader and lifelong human rights stalwart, Joan Gibbs, who passed on March 14 at her home in Brooklyn. She was 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. We will hear several voices explaining her monumental significance to multiple movements. We will also hear Joan talk directly about her own history and her views on the activist groups in which she played key roles.
Joan was an occasional contributing producer to Out-FM and a dear friend who we miss terribly. We want to thank Rosemari Mealy, Karen Taylor, and other devoted colleagues of Joan for providing some of the language in the following obituary, as well as their own reflections.
STAHIMILI: Joan Gibbs was an attorney of great commitment to the ideals of social and economic justice. She graduated from Rutgers Law School in 1985. She first worked at the ACLU, then 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, before getting her law degree, she had been 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. She was also co-chair of the Brecht Forum -- sponsor of leftist educational and organizing events and courses -- during the 2000s-2010s.
BOB: Joan 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 working to overturn their 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.
Whether she was working on behalf of People United for Children, a foster-care advocacy group, headed by Sharonne Salaam, mother of Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five; OR immigrants seeking to become citizens; or Black voters in New York City challenging discriminatory voting practices, her sustained ethos of freedom, democracy, and equity was always clearly evident.
STAHIMILI: Joan also has an impressive literary legacy as the founding editor of Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians, which presented fiction, poetry, and other forms by writers that included Audre Lorde, Sapphire, and Jewelle Gomez. It was published between 1977 and 1983 and is an early example of lesbians of color claiming their space in literature in a public way. In 1980, she co-edited the anthology, “Top Ranking: A Collection of Articles on Racism and Classism in the Lesbian Community.” Much more recently, in 2014, Joan launched and curated the important Facebook discussion group called LGBT Left, which, as she wrote, QUOTE “is dedicated to the revitalization and building of the LGBT Left.”
Karen D. Taylor is an essayist, editor, sometime vocalist, and the founder/executive director of Harlem preservation organization, While We Are Still Here. She met Joan in the mid-90s during the height of the Free Mumia Abu Jamal movement to save his life. Here is Karen’s tribute.
[PLAY Karen’s sound file]
We are myriad communities in mourning.
We are the socialists. The people who say Cuba Si. We are the lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. We are the Black Panthers. The revolutionary-nationalists. We are the political prisoners. We are constitutional-scholar attorneys and advocates for civil liberties. We are immigrants. We are the activists in ACT UP. We are the formerly incarcerated, who want the right to vote. We are the drug boys on the corner. We are those in need of new congressional lines, so we can get our just due.
We are myriad communities in mourning for one woman, whose love for humanity was as multilayered as her pursuit of justice. So much so that she devoted nearly her entire life — from adolescence to death — to easing the constrictions and restrictions of unencumbered patriarchal capitalism on top of racism, sexism, and hatred of any non-hetero sexuality.
She was a conversationalist and a storyteller — a consummate raconteur. Could turn a mishap or a tragedy into a hilarious tale. She had that kind of humor. We spoke one day about my second failed marriage —
“You know I introduced Dhoruba to Tanaquil, and you to Joe, so I guess it’s time for me to end my career as a matchmaker.”
We hollered! I hear her voice in my mind’s ear.
Her campaigns did not only include the political. I know this up close and personal. When she found out that I hadn’t finished my bachelors, did she not cajole, badger, and harass, finally introducing me to the director of SUNY Empire State? Oh, yes, she did! And when I graduated she took me out to dinner.
I called her Joan Phyllis, and we all know that she did not go into law to become a rich partner in some fancy, corporate, white-shoe law firm. Sometimes, she and I would talk about sexuality. She felt that the hardest thing for people to get over, even on the Left, is homophobia. And when I say Left, I do not mean the Democratic Party. I am speaking of those young men and women, who were simply ready to die for their beliefs in equity and peace — in short, EFF capitalism and all its [crap]. She became a lawyer, at Afeni Shakur’s suggestion, to defend the people and to defend her life as a lesbian, because Afeni told her, as a lawyer people would have no choice but to respect her. So she went to Rutgers Law and, in addition to the respect that she garnered, she also garnered love.
She was from Swan Quarter, North Carolina — a little, tiny place on the Atlantic coast. I asked her whether she knew anyone who had been lynched. She told me about her aunt, who was organizing a library for Black people down there. The Klan killed her. Joan loved reading and study, and I bet her aunt’s murder had something to do with the expansiveness of her home library, which could have been her way of honoring her aunt’s memory, because Joan, literally, had more books than her neighborhood NYPL branch.
Esmeralda Simmons founded the Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ). Joan was general counsel there for many years. Esmeralda said, “We had Joan Gibbs, one of the best activist lawyers in the country — dare I say world — who came and served as our general counsel and definitely pushed us forward in the work that she did; she wasn’t afraid to take on anything.”
Joan Phyllis Gibbs, that singular, petite person, rolled through this plane like mighty thunder and the after-quiet that steals your attention. Who was this woman? She was no mere mortal. She was in it for the long haul. She and Florence Morgan, another devoted attorney, represented Sundiata Acoli for decades, and when they felt their work was done, they paid for a different attorney resulting in Sundiata’s release. Joan was one of the most principled people that I have ever known.
BOB: We thank Karen Taylor for that beautiful tribute. And a note about one of Joan’s clients who Karen mentioned: Political prisoner Sundiata Acoli was a Black Panther, Black Liberation Army member, and co-defendant of Assata Shakur, who’s now living in political exile in Cuba. Sundiata, like Assata, was unjustly convicted of murder and sentenced to life. After many rejected attempts, he finally had a court-ordered parole in 2022 at age 85. Meanwhile, in 1988, Joan wrote an open letter to Rep. Maxine Waters protesting her vote for a Congressional resolution demanding that Cuba extradite Assata to the U.S. Waters later apologized and wrote a letter to then-Cuban president Fidel Castro saying she now opposed that resolution.
STAHIMILI: Joan Gibbs came out as a lesbian in the early 1970s, and in 1979, along with Sarah Bennett started a New York multiracial group called Dykes Against Racism Everywhere or DARE. So now let’s hear Joan describe DARE in her own words when interviewed in 2012 by lesbian author Sarah Schulman of the ACT UP Oral History Project.
[Play sound file – text below]
Joan Gibbs: We started DARE in November, I guess it was, ’79. Some demonstrators were murdered in Greensboro. They were members of this Communist Workers Party. They were having a protest against racism, and they were murdered by members of the Klan and Nazis. So we got involved in organizing. There was going to be a mass demonstration in Greensboro.
During the course of that, we would try to tell people, “You need to organize, reach out,” explicitly to the lesbian and gay community, right? So the group was very heterosexist, slightly homophobic, and so then we decided, “Well, listen, we should start a group, and then we can organize people going to these demonstrations.” And so that’s how we started.
So we started basically to challenge not only racism within society broadly, but also at a time within the lesbian and gay community to raise consciousness around racism. And the thought behind it also, which is when people talk about DARE, they never sort of get, was that by being lesbians and being active around issues of racism and the Left and particularly the black movement, we could also challenge homophobia.
And so that’s — I think that when all is said and done, that will be one of DARE’s greatest legacies, reducing homophobia in the black community.
STAHIMILI: Again, that was Joan Gibbs in an oral history interview.
BOB: By the late 1980s, as AIDS was spreading unchecked, particularly in Black and gay communities, Joan supported HIV-positive men at Riker’s Island, lost friends to the disease, and became involved in ACT UP, both as a member and as an attorney for other members arrested in direct actions. She particularly stood up for men of color in the organization, for instance representing Ortez Alderson, a Black openly gay anti-imperialist activist who had been an anti-Vietnam-war political prisoner and gay liberationist in the 70s, and who was arrested in 1988 at an ACT UP sit-in at the City Health Commissioner’s office.
Next we want to play a speech Joan gave in 2014 at a New York Public Library panel on women in ACT UP, followed by a final short clip from her 2012 interview with Sarah Schulman reflecting on the importance of ACT UP in Left movement history.
[transcript not available for 2014 Public Library panel]
[From the ACT UP Oral History transcript:]
Joan Gibbs: I think ACT UP’s greatest achievement was in changing, having real impact on the way people with AIDS were treated and on getting people treatment. And I think, politically I think ACT UP, to me, was one of the best expressions of progressive politics in its practice that has existed since. I would say — I would say since the Civil Rights Movement, and so that’s a high compliment.
Sarah Schulman: Yes.
Joan Gibbs: I would compare it to the Civil Rights Movement, because I think it’s unfortunate that a lot of people haven’t studied the history of ACT UP and learned from that, because I think that Occupy might have gotten more further along and be further in a different place had they studied the history of ACT UP.
[PLAY NINA SIMONE]
BOB: That song was Sealine Woman by Nina Simone, a Black queer woman and Black Power troubadour who was one of Joan Gibbs’s favorites. Before that, you heard Joan’s talk at the New York Public Library in 2014 on the women of ACT UP, followed by a clip from Joan’s 2012 interview with Sarah Schulman of the ACT UP Oral History Project. Our program, Out-FM, originates from WBAI, Pacifica Radio in New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org. It’s also heard of KPFK in Los Angeles, 90.7 FM and kpfk.org. We’ll be back soon with more about Joan’s amazing life.
But first we have to take a moment to ask you, our dear listeners, to help us sustain this powerful tribune of the people, noncommercial WBAI, part of the Pacifica Network. You’re listening to WBAI New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org.
PITCH:
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 your 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.
SECOND PART OF SHOW:
BOB: You/re listening to Out-FM, your weekly progressive, intersectional program by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer, and questioning communities. I’m Bob Lederer with Stahimili Mapp.
STAHIMILI: Tonight we’re paying tribute to the great Black lesbian attorney and activist leader, Joan Gibbs, who passed recently. Next we want to read a tribute from the National Conference of Black Lawyers, of which Joan had served as president among other roles. We thank Florence Morgan for this.
The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) expresses its heartfelt loss of one of its long-time members - Joan P. Gibbs. Joan had been a member of NCBL for decades and during this time, she worked on many issues that are consistent with the NCBL’s mission. She was a principled soldier who did not attach herself to causes just because they were popular and would bring accolades for her. She instead worked on issues that she felt passionately about, for example fighting to have the United States Embargo lifted against Cuba. She was passionate about voter education and the right to vote. Her work extended to many arenas and one of those arenas was the tireless fight for freedom of political prisoners. One would never hear Joan talk much about the work she had done, but she contributed much and her labor will not be in vain. She had a quiet spirit and infectious laugh and a great deal of tolerance for embracing justice and fairness on many fronts.
Finally, we’ll play a tribute to Joan Gibbs recorded yesterday by Dr. Rosemari Mealy, an activist and author who programmed at WBAI for years and served as its Public Affairs Director. Rosemari was also Joan's longtime friend, activist comrade, legal colleague, and confidant. Rosemari especially appreciated Joan’s insistence on alignments and coalition-building that were anti-racist, anti-sexist, gender-inclusive and anti-imperialist.
ROSEMARI:
Truthfully speaking, the U.S. efforts to effectuate regime change in Venezuela are not new as they date back to the reign of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The Trump administration, however, has not just continued these efforts but significantly escalated them…. The U.S. has no legal basis for attacking Venezuela as international law forbids the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state….”
Then she appealed to the CBC, Challenging that body to
1) Raise your voices in unity with organizations and activists opposing the Trump administration’s efforts to topple the existing Venezuelan government led by President Maduro by unlawfully and illegally militarily intervening in Venezuela and to halt its destabilizing tactics and actions.2) Hold Town Hall meetings to discuss the issues raised in this letter with your constituents.3) Send CBC fact-finding delegations to Venezuela to look into the issues raised in this letter.
As progressives in the United States we represented three generations of Cuba solidarity work – She stood beside Cuba. She did this by continually exposing the daily aggressions by the United States against our island neighbor, she always called on those elected officials who support an end to the blockade to raise your voices now and vigorously demand that President Biden immediately reverse the existing Cuba policies that were enacted by the Trump administration.
She was jubilant when it was announced on June 22nd, that by a unanimous voice vote, the New York City Council passed Resolution 0285 calling upon the president and the United States Congress to end the Cuban embargo and travel ban and remove Cuba from the U.S.’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism list. Joan then went on to further explain that by withdrawing Cuba from such unlawful and unilateral list would not put an end to the devastating commercial, economic and financial restrictions imposed on Cuba for over 60 years, but it could ease the tightening of such a hostile policy. A few weeks before she passed, she wanted to push for a local campaign to get powdered milk to Cuba for Cuban Children.
Our last trip together to Cuba was in 2019 where we attended an International Solidarity Conference. It was also there that I learned the magnitude of her relationships and solidarity with what is known as Afrofeministas Cubanas. I witnessed how those sisters embraced Joan with such love, reverence, and comradery. You could tell that those friendships and relationships had been established long before I knew her connections to Cuba’s LGBTQI community .
Today one of her and my longtime Cuban friends, activist, academic and psychologist Norma Guillard a principal collaborator at the National Center for the Prevention of AIDS and the National Center for Sex Education-known as (CENESEX in Cuba), which spearheads work to educate against homophobia and to lobby for civil unions in Cuba and was the founder of “Oremi,” the first organization of lesbian and bisexual women in Cuba wrote a little note expressing how she was feeling at the loss of her friend.
My Joan, a woman who showed us examples of love and solidarity. I lived in her house; I inherited her best hat, and we were in agreement about our struggles. She will Forever be in my heart, and We will continue her legacy of struggle not only in LGBTQI+ but for all people. Your sister Norma Guillard Limeeonta
Yes, Norma and those of us here will also continue her legacy and build on the friendships that she established while transcending borders. Joan Gibbs presente.
[Then play Eddie Hendricks song]
BOB: And that was Eddie Hendricks, another of Joan’s favorites, singing My People, Hold On. Before that, we heard a beautiful tribute by Dr. Rosemari Mealy, activist, author, and longtime friend, activist comrade, and confidant of Joan Gibbs.
PITCH
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 your 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.
THANK YOUS
BOB: Before we leave, Stahimili and I have many people to thank for helping us assemble this rich mélange of voices, information, and music in tribute to our dear sister Joan Gibbs: Rosemari Mealy, Karen D. Taylor, Florence Morgan, and Suzanne Ross, as well as Sarah Schulman and Jim Hubbard of the ACT UP Oral History Project. To see videos of the audio we played of the Oral History interview and the Public Library panel, visit actuporalhistory.org, and nypl.org . We also thank Matt Tracy, editor of Gay City News – you can read his excellent obituary for Joan, including more voices, at gaycitynews.com. Also check out our website, outfm.org, for links to more information on Joan.
Thanks as always to John Riley for his superb technical support and to Out-FM producers John Riley, Stahimili Mapp, and Pauline Park for their social media postings. And finally, thanks to our in-studio engineer, Max Schmid.
I’m Bob Lederer, here with Stahimili Mapp for Out-FM. Have a meaningful week.