Honoring Lesbian Writer Natalie Barney

Published August 20, 2009 @ 01:57PM PT

Natalie Barney was an American writer and poet who spent most of her life writing in Paris, France. But she was born in Dayton, Ohio, and if plans continue to move forward, a marker honoring Barney's legacy will become Ohio's first public memorial noting the sexual orientation of the person being honored.

Activists in Dayton say that Barney's legacy, as well as her openness about her sexuality, is something to celebrate. "Barney’s sexual orientation was part of her life’s work. What she did when it comes to women’s rights was significant," said John Zimmerman of the Greater Dayton LGBT Center.

And true to form, Barney was a path-breaker. She's the author behind "The Well of Loneliness," which many argue was one of the best (if not at least the best-selling) lesbian books of the 20th century. The book was banned by the British and allegedly "burned in the King's furnace," due to its lesbian themes.

Barney also ran a salon series in Paris, which influenced authors like Truman Capote, Ezra Pound, Jean Cocteau, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thornton Wilder, Sinclair Lewis, Rainer Maria Rilke, T.S. Eliot, Gertrudge Stein, and Marcel Proust to name a few. And wow, if there's a creative writing class in heaven, these sure sound like the teachers.

The Dayton City Commission will vote on August 26 whether or not to follow through and honor Barney with her own memorial. Strikes us that this would be yet another opportunity to honor the influence that LGBT Americans (albeit ex-patriates, in the case of Barney!) have had on both a national and global level.

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Comments (1)

Natalie Barney will have her monument in Ohio. Hopefully, the Dayton City Commission will do the correct thing by approving the marker. Although Natalie Barney lived in France for much of her life, her famous book was published much before the LGBT rights movement. Not too many lesbian authors were open about their sexual orientation in the early 20th C., thus this is the opportunity to commerate one of them. Commerations of famous LGBT people must be recognized.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 08/20/2009 @ 02:48PM PT
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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.