Kim Christensen was interviewed by Julia Callahan on March 27, 2020 via Zoom Platform from Florence, MA and New Rochelle, NY.

Narrator:

Kim Christensen was born in 1954 in rural Ohio. After early introductions to the labor, civil rights, and antiwar movements, Christensen attended Earlham College, a Quaker school where she studied Eco nomics and Peace Studies. Christensen later moved to the Pioneer valley in 1977 for the Economics pro gram at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where she helped found the Gay and Lesbian Ac tivists group, GALA, in 1982. As a founding member of GALA, Christensen can also be credited as a founder of the Northampton Gay Liberation March now known as Noho Pride.

Christensen describes herself as a Quaker, as a bisexual, and as a person living with a disability. She is an economist and professor of economics at Sarah Lawrence College. Christensen is a lifelong activist for gay liberation, the labor struggle, and civil rights for persons with disabilities, immigrants, and all op pressed groups. After leaving the Pioneer Valley, Christened was heavily involved with the AIDS activist group ACT UP/NY. Christensen lives with a partner in New Rochelle where she works as a professor of economics.

Abstract:

In this interview, Kim Christensen traces her life as an activist from its roots in the union politics of rural Ohio to the radical Antioch student teachers and progressive Lutheran pastor she was exposed to in grade school. She describes further forays into political activism while at Earlham College and her introduction to the life of out lesbians. Christensen reflects upon her move to, and years living in, the Pioneer Valley, working for gay liberation through the foundation of GALA with friends and collaborators, Gerry Scoppettuolo, Jetta Fraser, Randy Albedla, Elaine McCrate, Jeff Jerome and others, in response to the Family Protection Act. She describes her life in Northampton including the violence she faced as an outspoken lesbian and the internal difficulties she faced as a gay woman among leftists and a leftist among more apolitical lesbians. She emphasizes the coalition building done by GALA with local progressive groups such as Pledge of Resistance against the US invasion of Nicaragua and Latinos Unidos. Christensen also discusses her decision to leave Northampton, her subsequent move to New York and her work there with the AIDS activism group, Act Up. Additionally, Christensen reflects on her lifelong struggle with a rare connective tissue disorder and her subsequent current work with the Ehlers Danlos Society as well as her work advocating for labor unions for maintenance workers and food service workers at Sarah Lawrence College.

Interviewer:

Julia Callahan is a MLIS graduate student at Simmons University West graduating in May of 2020.

Please note: this interview mentions homophobia, sexual assault, violence and threats of violence.