Barbara Gittings, Pioneer Promoting Gay/Lesbian Literature, Dies at 75

-- Library Journal, 02/22/2007

Barbara Gittings, the force behind the American Library Association’s (ALA) Gay Task Force (now the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table), and an early pioneer in gay rights, has died at the age of 75. Gittings, although not a librarian, was involved with ALA for more than 20 years. In 2003, she was awarded ALA’s highest honor, an honorary membership. The Round Table now sponsors the Stonewall Book Awards, and the literature award is named for Gittings.

When honored by ALA in 2003 with an honorary membership, Gittings was cited for programs that highlighted the availability of gay materials for use in libraries. In 1971, for example, she helped to establish the Gay Book Award. She was a past member of the Endowment Committee for the Hormel Center Gay and Lesbian Library at the San Francisco Public Library. At the Free Library of Philadelphia's Independence Branch, she’s honored with the Barbara Gittings Gay/Lesbian Collection of circulating materials.