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Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns

 Collection
Identifier: SFHL-RG4-091

Scope and Contents

Records of the Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns, 1973-2009. Includes minutes, clerks' correspondence, publication files, financial records, miscellaneous resource files, and conference records. Topics of particular interest include same-sex marriage and the gay rights movement within the Society of Friends.

Dates

  • Creation: 1973-2009

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Clerks' and Ministry and Counsel correspondence restricted for a period of 75 years from date of creation; permission to access may be obtained from the Clerk of FLGBTQC.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce items in this collection beyond the bounds of Fair Use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder or their heirs/assigns. See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-RUU/1.0/.

Biographical / Historical

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) is a North American Quaker faith community. A national Quaker-affiliated group of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and sympathetic others was initially organized as the Committee of Concern in 1971. In 1974 the name was changed to Friends Committee on Gay Concerns. In 1978 the name became Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. The name was changed to Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns at the Mid-Winter Gathering held February 2003.

FLGBTQC holds twice yearly conferences. The Midwinter Gathering is held over the long weekend surrounding U.S. President's Day in February, and the Summer Gathering is held with the larger Friends General Conference Gathering the first week in July.

The group was started by Ron Mattson, ministering secretary at Minneapolis Meeting, who gathered with other Friends including Larry S. Butler, Gerald Turnbull, Geoffrey Kaiser, D.W. Kaiser, and D.W. Beedle to create a "Committee of Concern." Ron Mattson published the newsletter from 1973-1975. Arthur Gross took over as editor in 1975, and the group was renamed the Friends Committee for Gay Concerns. Bruce Grimes assumed the editorship after 1976. In 1978, the name of the group was broadened to include lesbians, Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (FLGC). In 2003, it formally acknowledged broader inclusion with the name change to Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC). In 1989, the group published Each of Us Inevitable, a compilation of keynote addresses given at FLGC Gatherings, 1977-1989, edited by Robert Leuze. In 2003, an expanded version was published in a book form.

Extent

7 linear ft. (14 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) is a North American Quaker faith community. It was founded in 1971 as a Committee of Concern. In 1978 it became the Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (FLGC), a national Quaker-affiliated group of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and sympathetic others. The name was changed to Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns at the Mid-Winter Gathering held February 2003. Records consist of minutes, clerks' correspondence, financial records, publication records, miscellaneous resource files, and conference materials.

Arrangement

The collection is divided into six series:

  1. Minutes
  2. Clerks' correspondence and Ministry and Counsel
  3. Publications
  4. Financial records
  5. Miscellaneous
  6. Conferences

Physical Location

For current information on the location of materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donor: Bruce Grimes, 1989, 1989-90. Accession number: 1990.16

Accruals: 1990, 1999, 2006

Transferred from Haverford College (L.S. Butler Papers, E5.14.1) Bruce Grimes' donation sorted by topic, order maintained; L.S. Butler Papers were largely unsorted and included approximately 1.5 linear ft. of reference materials on homosexuals and homosexual issues. Most of this material was not directly related to the Committee or to Friends in general and was not retained.

Donor: FLGBTQC. Accession number: 2015.002 Donor: Bruce Grimes. Accession number: 2006.005 Additional accrual: papers collected by Robert Leuze. Accession number: 2018.063.

Related Materials

See also:

  1. RG4/128 Quaker Lesbian Conference Planning Committee records, 1977-2009/
  2. RG5/290 Bonnie Tinker papers
  3. RG2/PHy Philadelphia Yearly Meeting records

Separated Materials

The following materials, originally received with the records, have been recatalogued:

Newsletters

  1. Committee of Concern (Ron Mattson, Secretary). [Newsletter], 1973-1975.
  2. Subcommitte (sp) on Lesbian and Gay Concerns/Family Relations Committee of Philadelphia Yearly
  3. Meeting. NEWSLETTER, 1988-90 (incomplete).
  4. Lone Star [Austin, Texas] FLGC. NEWSLETTER, 1989-1990.
  5. Bay Area Quaker Lesbian Meeting. Newsletter, 1985-1987. Includes mailings of Quaker Lesbian Conference.
  6. Friends Meeting of Washington, D.C. Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. Newsletter, 1985-87, 1988.
  7. Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns/New York. Newsletter, 1981-1990.
  8. Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (Baltimore, Md.). Newsletter, 1984-1989.
  9. Twin Cities Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns. F.L.G.C. Newsletter, 1985-1990.
  10. Dallas Friends Meeting AIDS Committee. Networking Quaker Concerns on AIDS, 1987.

Books, moved to the FHL stacks:

  1. BX7613.P6735 1978 Kirkman, Steven & David Murphy. The Poetic Friends Nosegay: An Anthology of Quaker Poetry, ca. 1978
  2. BX7748.S47 K7 1984 Kristensen, Eric. Voices from Exile: Lesbians and Gay Men in the Church, 1984.
  3. RC607.A26 W52 1990 Wick, Gary Dean. Aids: A Healing Harvest, [1989].
  4. BX7748.S47 R3 1988 Quaker Home Service. Study Pack/The Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships in the Religious Society of Friends, 1988.
  5. + BX7748.S47 D26 1987 Ben Pink Dandelion. The History of F.H.F., 1973-87, [1987].

Audio Visual: Audio Cassettes

  1. OE Pictures Oversize Photograph: Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns Worship Annual
  2. Gathering of Friends (FGC)
  3. Banner/Timeline
  4. Computer discs Keith Harpending discs with Midwinter Keynotes 1990 Muriel Bishops Steve Finn
  5. Computer disc, "Quakers for over 350 Years," Australian Friends

Processing Information

Materials were retained in the same units in which they were received, and arranged into series according to function. 2015 deposit included RG4/128 Quaker Lesbian Conference Planning Committee records which were processed as RG4/128.

Title
An Inventory of the Friends for Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns Records, 1973-2009
Author
FHL staff
Date
2015
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Find It at the Library

Most of the materials in this catalog are not digitized and can only be accessed in person. Please see our website for more information about visiting or requesting repoductions from Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Library

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