GINNY BERSON, COLETTA REID: QUEERCORE PODCAST

FURIES, OLIVIA RECORDS, DIANA PRESS

Left to right: Lee Schwing, Coletta Reid, Ginny Berson, Jennifer Woodul by Sharon Deevey, 1971.

Don’t call it “gay lib,” says Ginny Berson, a pivotal member of the Furies. “Gay lib” doesn’t justify it.

This episode is an oral history with Ginny Berson and her comrade in the lacking revolution, Coletta Reid. They were both members of the Furies, a lesbian “separatist” activist group based in Washington, D.C., active from 1971 to 1972. They lived collectively and published a widely circulated and influential newspaper until 1973.

After the Furies, Coletta founded Diana Press in 1972, a significant publisher that amplified women’s voices and lesbian literature. In 1973, Ginny founded Olivia Records, an early and consequential all-woman record label.

This is the story of the Furies, told by two women who lived it.

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• Ginny Berson, Olivia Records and the Furies Oral History

• Coletta Reid, Diana Press and the Furies Oral History

• Ginny Berson and Coletta Reid Discuss the Furies, Olivia Records, and Diana Press Oral History Transcript

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• Read About the Gay Liberation Front with Our GLF Archive

About The LGBTQ History Project

The LGBTQ History Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit preserving the lives and legacies of LGBTQ+ activists from the first wave of gay liberation through oral histories, archives, and the QueerCore Podcast.