An inside look at "Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power," at the National Museum of Women in the Arts
By Kelsey Brannan
After entering D.C.'s National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) to view the "Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power" exhibition, I encountered Lady Gaga's childhood piano (1966)—the same piano that enabled her to rock and queer the minds of music lovers around the world. But she did not create this vision of change on her own. It was built by the foremothers of rock: Ma Rainey (1920s blues), Wanda Jackson (1950s rockabilly queen), The Supremes (1960s girl group), Tina Turner and Cher ('60s), Patti Smith ('70s), and Madonna ('80s), to name few. And, some of these trailblazers are still recording and touring today.
Since the early 2000s lesbian D.C. leaders have created both online and offline community spaces for LGBT people to gather and socialize in the city, such as PhatGirlChic.com, WhereTheGirlsGo.com, LezGetTogether.com. The creators of these sites sought to conquer existing disparities between various female identified lesbian and queer groups to create a "common ground" for socialization. Despite the efforts, many new city transplants still find it hard to connect with others in the LGBT community. The Gay Women's Alternative (GWA), a defunct non-profit lesbian community organization that existed in DC between 1980 – 1993, was able to create this common ground. The GWA was designed to bring women of all ages and backgrounds together in a safe space to educate and enrich the cultural, intellectual, and social lives of lesbians of the Washington D.C. Metro area.
