Lesbian community: from sisterhood to segregation.

This article is about the Lesbian-hatred the author and her first lover experienced as teenagers and how finding a strong Lesbian-identified community in 1970 made all the difference for her as a life-long Lesbian. The Lesbian Feminist politics and ideals of equality and support and questioning all patriarchal/heterosexual/mainstream values and oppressive attitudes in the Lesbian community also made a huge difference for her since she is working-class. It was a wonderful time of female-only space with many kinds of events, and later Lesbian writing and Lesbian music (euphemistically called "Women's Music.") That community is mostly gone now and what remains is often segregated by more privileged Lesbians from less privileged Lesbians because of classism and other oppressions. Increasing acceptance of "Male to Female Transsexuals" as Lesbians, as well as increased embracing of male-identified "femininity," continues to damage what remains of Lesbian community.