Madeline D. Davis

Madeline Davis (born 1940), is a long time gay activist. She was a founding member of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier, 1970, the first gay rights organization in Western NY. She was also a founding member of Lesbians Uniting, 1971.

Politics

Davis marched and spoke at the first gay rights rally at the State Capitol in Albany, NY in 1971 and participated in the first NY state legislative lobbying effort. In 1972 she became the first openly lesbian elected delegate to a major political convention - Democratic National Convention, Miami, McGovern, and she addressed the convention on behalf of inclusion of a gay rights plank in the Democratic Platform.

Davis became a Democratic Committee member after this and worked within the party for gay acceptance. As part of the Political Action Committee of Mattachine she confronted the Buffalo Vice Squad on the issue of entrapment and gay bar raids, the "Buffalo Evening News" on publication of names of gay persons arrested for misdemeanors, and local politicians including the District Attorney for Niagara Falls on denigrating news articles and hate speech. In 2007 she co-founded a committee with Danny Winter that met with Tonawanda Police on the issues of arrests for solicitation in local public parks.

In the 1970s, she organized "Legislative Night" in which local politicians running for office came to answer questions and ask for endorsements. She was a regular lecturer, with Dr. James D. Haynes, Chair of the Health Committee of Mattachine, in human sexuality to preceptors and medical students at the University at Buffalo and organized workshops and study groups. From 1982 to 84, Davis was a board member of the Western NY Association of Professionals Working in Human Sexuality, researching sex and gender issues for medical publication. She worked to gain acceptance of gay congregants in their religious institutions.

In 1973, Davis organized a Pride workshop for friends and families of gays and lesbians, which later became the local PFLAG chapter, and continueswhen to chair yearly Pride workshops on GLBT history and culture. In 1988, she addressed the American Library Assn 95th Conference on AIDS in the Workplace. She has addressed university classes on gay issues. In 2002, Davis and Danny Winter co-founded Rainbow Elders of the Niagara Frontier, a peer support and social group for GLBT Seniors. She is currently co-chair of the organization. Davis continues to be involved in politics and is Vice President for Community Liaison for Stonewall Democrats.

In 1972 Davis taught, with Margaret Small, the first course on Lesbianism in the United States - Lesbianism 101 - State University of NY at Buffalo. She taught the renamed course, Woman + Woman in 1978 as a lesbian history course. The final project interview tapes for this course were used as a basis for the Buffalo Women's Oral History Project, 1978, seeking to document the lives of older lesbians. In 1981, they won an Astraia Foundation grant to pursue their work. Davis co-authored "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: the history of a lesbian community". She has also published numerous journal and magazine articles on sexuality and women's history as well as short stories and poetry. Davis has lectured on Women's history and sex and gender issues at a number of Universities.

Music

Davis's musical career began in the 1950s when she sang as a soloist with the University Chorale, U.B. and later with the City of Good Neighbors Chorale and the Temple Beth Zion Choir. From the mid 50s, she performed as a folk singer in coffee houses in Buffalo, NYC, Seattle, San Francisco and Toronto. She was the lead singer for the jazz-rock band, "The New Chicago Lunch" and subsequently formed "The Madeline Davis Group". She began writing gay/lesbian oriented music in the mid-60s and in 1971, wrote and recorded the first gay anthem in the U.S., "Stonewall Nation". In 1983, Davis produced a tape of original lesbian music titled, “Daughter of All Women”. For over four decades she organized and performed benefit concerts for the gay community in Buffalo, NY. She is the composer of 45 songs, most with gay and lesbian themes.

In 1994, she co-founded Black Triangle Women's Percussion Ensemble and continues to perform on djembe, conga and other Afro-Caribbean instruments with the percussion group, Drawing Down the Moon.

Theatre

Davis has been involved in theater since 1957, when she played Lampito in a production of Lysistrata at U.B. In 1971 she wrote, directed and produced "Liberella", a feminist comedy. She was a founding member of HAG Theatre, the first all lesbian theater company in the U.S. In 1988, she became a member of Buffalo United Artists, a gay oriented professional theater company, with a performance in "Last Summer at Bluefish Cove". In 1993, she won an Artie Award nomination for her portrayal of Typhoid Mary in the one-woman drama, "Cookin’ With Typhoid Mary" by Carolyn Gage, directed by Margaret Smith

Personal life

Davis is a Reiki Master, with a specialty in animal healing and with her partner, Wendy Smiley, has done breed rescue for Keeshonds since 1995. She is a founding member of Spiderwoman Coven, an all women's Wiccan spiritual circle and has performed Wiccan ritual for local spiritual events. In 1995, Davis was married to Smiley at Temple Beth Zion in the first same-sex marriage performed in the Buffalo Jewish Community.

As the result of undergoing gastric bypass surgery, Davis founded the first GBS peer support group for the medical practice of Gastrointestinal Surgeon, Dr. Joseph Caruana. Over a period of 6 1/2 years, she facilitated the group and expanded its mission to include the founding of 13 GBS support groups throughout Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Niagara Counties. She continues to do individual counseling with Gastric Bypass patients.

In 2001, Davis founded the Buffalo Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Archives which is collecting and preserving the history of Buffalo, NY's gay communities and she continues to be its Director. In 2007, the name of the Archives was changed to: The Madeline Davis Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Archives of Western N.Y. Davis continueswhen to work as a writer, archivist, historian and political activist.

She is also an avid quilter and gardener.

Awards

*Community Service Award – Buffalo Lesbian and Gay Community, 1993
*David DeMarie Entertainer of the Year Award – 1988
*Delegate Appreciation Award - Mattachine Society, 1972
*Community Service Award – Empire State Pride Agenda, 1974
*Certificate of Appreciation – Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, 1989
*Proclamation of Madeline D. Davis day in NY State – by State Sen. Byron Brown, April 25, 2004
*Founders Award – PFLAG, 1989
*For "Boots of Leather" with co-author Elizabeth L. Kennedy Lambda Literary Award – Women’s Studies – 1994, Jesse Bernard Award, American Sociological Assn. – 1994 Ruth Benedict Award, Urban Anthropology - 1994

References

* "Reflections on Coming out", Ethos, 1982
* Bonnie Bullough, Madeline Davis & Beverly Whipple "The Grafenberg Spot and Female Ejaculation", "International Journal of Nursing", 1983.
* "Multiple

* Davis & Kennedy, '"Oral History and the Study of Sexuality in the Lesbian Community, Buffalo, NY, 1940-1960" in "Hidden From History", Duberman, Vicinus, Chauncey, 1989. (Previously published in Feminist Studies journal, 1986)
* “The Femme Tapes” , “Old Femme” in "The Persisten Desire: a femme- butch reader", Joan Nestle, ed., 1992
* Kennedy & Davis, "Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community", New York: Routledge. (1993)ISBN 0-415902-93-2
* Kennedy & Davis, “They Was No-One to Mess With: the construction of the butch role in the lesbian community of the 1940s and 1950s” in "The Persistent Desire", Joan Nestle, ed. , 1992
* “The Piercing” in "The Second Coming, a leatherdyke reader" Pat Califia & Robin Sweeney, eds., 1992
* “Forever Femme” in "Fem(me): feminists, lesbians and bad girls", Laura Harris and Elizabeth Crocker, 1997
* “Seniors in the GLBT Community: problems and solutions” in conference Breaking Down Barriers, Niagara Falls, NY, 2004
* “Where have all the gay kids gone? Gay seniors in Buffalo", "NY SAGE Newsletter", Feb. 2007.