(Untitled)

[rollercoaster14]

adrian made me realize that i wanted to post this for ya'll to see:

clara's obituary.

she did way more than it even gets into, but it gives a good idea of just how much she was to the world.

Comments

[gengy]

It never fails to piss me off when queer peoples' loved ones are excluded in obituaries and things of the like. Of course, this is sometimes due to the wishes of the people themselves, and then that makes me mad at society. Anyway, good for her for having such a nice huge article in the NYT.

[rollercoaster14]

i doubt clara would have wanted lola mentioned in the obit. it used to frustrate me when clara was alive that she kept up the "lola my sister" pretense even with me, but i came to understand that clara and lola got together in the late 1950's. pre-stonewall, pre mattachine even. so keeping it out of the public eye was important to them.

at clara's funeral though, she had asked susan to read a poem she wrote about lola and wanting to go be with her in death, and lola was mentioned a ton. so in her personal life, it was different. the obit is really more to speak to her housing work, which was, second to lola, the most important thing in her world.

it's also unfortunately a bit political, the obituary i mean, in terms of drawing attention to housing and getting some steam under it in the aftermath of her passing.

clara & lola are buried next to each other, and while i don't believe in an afterlife, i take comfort in knowing that when clara died, she thought she was going to go be with lola.

[gengy]

I appreciate the explanation.. sounds like Clara got what she wanted overall, and that's good.

[absconded_mind]

Youre lucky to have known such an incredible woman.