Susan B.
Anthony
1820-1906
Susan B. Anthony needs no introduction. She was the most prominent
women's rights activist in American history. She played a pivotal role
in the
women's suffrage movement, and became the second real woman to appear
on money. Only Martha Washington, Lady Liberty and allegorical Indian princesses beat her to it.
How
lesbian was she?
There's no direct evidence, but there's the usual indirect evidence:
she never married, and she was close friends with other women. On the
other hand, she was a devout Quaker who got her start as an activist in
the temperance (anti-alcohol) movement. She just doesn't strike me as
self-indulgent enough to engage in something as
frivolous as sex.
Some LGBT writers argue that the complete
absence of proof that she was lesbian is solid proof of
"straightwashing", the active suppression of the truth. One online LGBT
writer
proudly described harassing some poor tour guide at SBA's house and
museum about this, and then being annoyed that the stubborn museum
employee refused to concede
defeat. (Anyway, probably not lesbian)
