Oral History Interview with Connie Newman: Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project

Title: Oral History Interview with Connie Newman: Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
LC Subject: Lesbianism Lesbian community
Local Collection ID: Coll 520
Repository: University of Oregon. Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Interviewee: Newman, Connie
Interviewer: Long, Linda, 1956- Raiskin, Judith L.
Description: The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection consists of interviews of 83 people for the Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, conducted by Professor Judith Raiskin and Curator Linda Long at the University of Oregon starting in the summer of 2018.
Abstract: Connie was born in 1950. Her parents met in the military, and she grew up on military bases. Connie’s mother was Mexican-American and her father was of German ancestry. Connie discusses issues of race, class, and ethnicity. Connie went to college in 1968 at the University of California, Irvine, and mentions the Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinations and protests against the Vietnam War. She had an affair with her college roommate. She joined a political collective called Sherwood Forest. It published a leftist newspaper also called Sherwood Forest. Connie did reporting, layout, and design for the paper. As a reporter for the newspaper, Connie attended many demonstrations, including a Chicano community picnic that was attacked by police in riot gear using pepper spray. Connie discusses the women’s movement. In 1972, Connie moved to Eugene. She discusses her impressions of Eugene. Connie worked at the Women’s Press Collective in Eugene, which published the Women’s Press newspaper. Connie describes the hippie character of Eugene, anti-war work, and the beginnings of gay rights. She describes working at Starflower Natural Foods & Botanicals, and its founders, including Charlie Glass who wrote the text of the law for labeling true organic foods. Connie discusses women’s music and her work at a law firm, which represented local communes and collectives, including the Hoedads tree planting collective. She discusses Referendum 51 in Eugene, gay marriage, gays in the military, and Nina Robbins (who died of breast cancer at age 32) and the circle of women who cared for her. In the 1970s, Connie had relationships with four women. She describes working on the book It Could Happen to You, which chronicles the gay community's campaign against Proposition 51. After the victory of the anti-gay forces, many of the gay men who had worked against Proposition 51 in Eugene left for San Francisco. Although she didn’t identify as straight, Connie met a man and they had children together and married. Shoshana Cohen is the children's honorary aunt.
Subject: Adoption; Collectives; Communal living – California; Cormier, Margaret; Cormier, Thomas; Drescher, Marlene; Feminism -- Oregon -- Eugene – Periodicals; Glass, Debbie; Glass, Charlie; Heterosexuality; Hippies – California; Internalized homophobia; Hoedads, Inc.; Lesbian separatism – Oregon; Ordinances, Municipal -- Oregon – Eugene; Organic food; Parenting; Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Protest movements -- United States; Wallflower Order Dance Collective; Women’s Press Collective; Women's rights – Newspapers.
Location: University of Oregon >> Lane County >> Oregon >> United States
Date: 2018-09-06
Identifier: Coll520_do041
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: University of Oregon Libraries
Local Collection Name: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Type: Moving Image
Format: video/mp4
Set: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Institution: University of Oregon