Her Ebony: A Historical Western Lesbian Story: 3 (The Jeweled Ladies)

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Stereotypes and myths about black lesbianism have been kicking around for at least a century, and black people have been hyper-sexualized and stereotyped as violent in the media and popular culture for far longer.

In these newspaper accounts, only some of which can be verified by public records, women in relationships with other women were described as a "class of perverts," an "unusual type," and crimes were the result of "perverted affections" and "insanity.It became the base of groups like the Older Lesbian Network, Zamimass Black lesbian group, and GEMMA, the friendship network for disabled and non-disabled lesbians.

I love that with my writing, I’m able to talk about who I am; the vulnerable parts, as well as the triumphant parts,” she says. In 1985, she became the founding treasurer of the LGBTQ rights organisation Glaad, and helped combat the homophobic reporting around the Aids crisis. She was the second ever Black woman to be elected the leader of a local authority when she when she became a Labour Councillor for Lambeth London Borough Council in 1985.The Gilda Stories recast Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century vampire heroine Carmilla as a character who begins as an enslaved child taken in by a multi-ethnic vampire coven. I got the best part of the bargain with my great-grandmother, and my grandmother, because they were both lively and interesting women,” she says fondly.

Forty-four years later, Gomez, feminist author, poet, playwright and activist, continues to claim space for queer storytellers in the realm of speculative fiction and beyond. The Centre eventually wrapped up its operations in 1996, when the group was informed that they'd receive no grant funding in that year's budget.My work is to hold the megaphone whenever I get an opportunity, to hold the beacon light and shine it on these women and say, “This is what we should be looking at. Through each episodic chapter, she navigates power, desire, violence, oppression and family within the marginalised communities in which she finds herself, from 1850s Louisiana through the feminist movements of the 70s and 80s, to the dystopian future of 2050. We are always very keen to add to the archives documenting the Centre, so do drop us a line if you have material you would like to donate.