Communists in Closets - Interview about queer communist activist Angela Davis and others

Tune in to Out-FM on Tuesday, Oct. 18 (or any time starting the next day on the archive) for Part 2 of Bob Lederer's three-part interview with Bettina Aptheker, author of the exciting new book, Communists in Closets: Queering the History, 1930s–1990s. Last week, Aptheker discussed queer communists Lorraine Hansberry and Harry Hay. This week, she'll share more about Hay (including his fiery defiance of anti-communist politicans) and discuss her lifelong friendship with Professor and activist extraordinaire Angela Davis -- and how Prof. Davis's thinking has evolved and queer and feminist issues (including a short clip from Prof. Davis's 2022 audiobook autobiography). Aptheker will also profile Black gay activist David Graham Du Bois and Chicana lesbian activist Victoria Mercado. Finally, Aptheker will discuss the major contributions made by these and other queer activists and the ways they supported each other.  Next week, on Oct. 25 at 8 PM EST, we'll air the third and final installment of this fascinating interview.

Aptheker's book explores the history of gay, lesbian, and non-heterosexual people in the Communist Party USA, which banned lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from membership between 1938 and 1992. Based on a decade of archival research, correspondence, and interviews, Aptheker explores this history, also pulling from her own experience as a closeted lesbian in the Communist Party in the 1960s and ‘70s. 

Bettina Aptheker is Distinguished Professor Emerita in Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also wrote Intimate Politics: How I Grew Up Red, Fought for Free Speech and Became A Feminist Rebel, and The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis, and she co-edited with Davis If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance. 

Bettina has been a lifelong radical activist who helped lead the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley for which she did a month in prison in 1967, as well as working for years with the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis. Bettina joined the Communist Party USA in 1962; she came out as a lesbian in 1979 and left the party in 1981 after 17 years in the closet.
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This program has been produced by Out-FM's Bob Lederer. Thanks to John Riley for production assistance.

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On both programs, we'll be offering copies of Bettina's e-book as thank-you gifts to those who donate $50 to WBAI. We urge those of you who value this type of progressive programming to make a donation so this listener-sponsored, progressive radio station can survive. Only by refusing to take corporate funding can this station, and its parent Pacifica network, keep radical voices on the air. Funding is more at risk now than ever. Any donation, however small, will make a real difference. Please visit give2wbai.org or call (any time) 212-209-2950. Thanks so much for your support.