Photojournalist Katherine “Kay” Lahusen Dies at 91
Pioneering activist documented early days of LGBTQ rights movement
BY MARK SEGAL
Kay Lahusen, who became
known as the
fi rst openly gay photojournalist,
died in
gentle hospice care at the age of
91 at Chester County Hospital on
Wednesday, May 26, after a brief illness.
She was born in Cincinnati in
January 1930 and as an infant was
adopted and raised by her grandparents.
After graduating from
Ohio State University, she moved
to Boston, where she met her lifelong
partner Barbara Gittings at a
Daughters of Bilitis picnic in 1961.
Kay and Barbara lived variously
in New York, Philadelphia, and
Wilmington, Delaware. They were
activists from the early days of the
LGBTQ rights movement in the US,
marching openly in picket lines in
Washington, DC and Philadelphia in
the early 1960s. Kay’s photos documenting
Katherine “Kay” Lahusen
these and many later activities
were printed in various gay publications
including Gay (a national
weekly) and The Ladder. Her photos
PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS
are archived in the New York Public
Library, which drew upon them for
the book, “Love and Resistance; Out
of the Closet Into the Stonewall era.”
REMEMBRANCE
Kay researched and wrote the
book Gay Crusaders (1972), which
was published under her pseudonym
Kay Tobin and with the addition
of a male “co-author” (her
friend, Randy Wicker) to help with
its public acceptance. The original
research for that book is archived
at the New York Public Library.
Kay and Barbara remained
activists throughout their lives.
Shortly before Barbara’s death
in 2007, they moved to Kendal at
Longwood, Kennett Square PA. After
Barbara’s death,
Kay is survived by trusted
friends Judith Armstrong of
Hockessin Delaware, John Cunningham
of Philadelphia, Ada Bello
of Philadelphia, James Oakes
of Secane, Pennsylvania, and the
many, many friends, acquaintances,
and admirers — too numerous
to name here — who made up her
chosen family.
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