Jeanne Cordova’s final wordsīefore she died, Jeanne sent an open letter to the community informing them about her illness. After, she came back to Los Angeles where she lived with her partner, Lynn Ballen.īefore she died, she had three books published: Sexism: It’s a Nasty Affair (1974), Kicking the Habit: A Lesbian Nun Story (1990), and her memoir When We Were Outlaws: a Memoir of Love and Revolution (2011). She then retired in 1999 and lived to Mexico for eight years. She later became the president of the Stonewall Democratic Club to help in the state-wide campaign to elect 88 openly-gay delegates to the 1980 Democratic National Convention.įrom politics to business, she founded the Community Yellow Pages, which featured hundreds of Southern California’s gay and lesbian businesses in the ‘gay yellow pages.’

She also helped fight the anti-gay Proposition 6 Briggs Initiative. She was also the Human Rights Editor of the LA Free Press.ĭuring the ‘70s, she helped organize a number of lesbian conferences, including the first National Lesbian Conference in LA. Jeanne Cordova: a life worth fighting forīorn in Germany in 1948 to an Irish mother and a Mexican father, Jeanne grew up in California to lead a varied, rich life.įrom the nunnery at the Immaculate Heart of Mary to becoming a community organizer and activist, Jeanne became the president of the LA chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.įrom there, she gave a voice to a new generation of lesbian feminists through the publication The Lesbian Tide, which became a national news magazine. Here’s to you, Jeanne, you will always live in my heart,” Bottini wrote. “But right now I am grieving her lost presence, her laughter, her grit, and the love we both had for each other. There will never be another lesbian activist like Jeanne. On her passing, close friend Ivy Bottini wrote on her Facebook page: “Our community has lost a guard at the gate of hatred and I have lost my Best Butch Bud of over 40 years. She was with her spouse and partner for 25 years, Lynn Ballen, as well as her friends.

Suffering from brain cancer, Jeanne died peacefully at her home in Los Angeles last Sunday morning. Jeanne Cordova, a lesbian pioneer and force of nature for LGBT civil rights, has died at the age of 67. Lesbian pioneer Jeanne Cordova dies at 67

Kicking the Habit by Jeanne Cordova