LGBTQ Activists in Suffragette Organizations

The suffragette movement was

The lesbian presence in the suffrage movement is quite remarkable. Both Finland's Selma Lagerlof and American Jane Addams were recipients of the Nobel Prize. Individuals such as Ireland's Frances Power Cobbe, Britain's Emmeline Pankhurst, and Americans Dr. S. Josephine Baker, Susan Brownell Anthony and Sophonisba Breckinridge, among others, are icons in the history of the movement.

Many of these individuals are notable for achieving firsts for women, such as the first woman to be awarded a PhD or the first woman to represent the United States in an international conference.

Great Britain

• Mary Blathwayt
• Annie Kenney
• Mary Lloyd
• Christabel Pankhurst
• Emmeline Pankhurst
• Ethel Smyth

Finland

• Hilda Maria Kakikoski
• Selma Lagerlof

Ireland

• Louie Bennett
• Helen Chenevix
• Frances Power Cobbe
• Madeleine ffrench-Mullen
• Kathleen Lynn
• Violet Martin
• Helena Molony
• Edith Anna Somerville

United States

• Jane Addams
• Susan Brownell Anthony
• Dr. S. Josephine Baker
• Sophonisba Breckinridge
• Molly Dewson
• Nina Otero-Warren
• Anna Howard Shaw

Further Reading/Research

• https://theconversation.com/when-lesbians-led-the-womens-suffrage-movement-129867#
• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/us/queer-lesbian-women-suffrage.html
• https://www.alicepaul.org/the-queer-history-of-the-suffrage-movement/

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