Knoxville – Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project

Merril Mushroom: Lifelong Feminist Butch, Radical Advocate, and so much more

Merril Mushroom: Lifelong Feminist Butch, Radical Advocate, and so much more

Merril Mushroom at her present home in 2022. Photo by Jill Spisak.

Merril Mushroom came out in the 1950s in Miami Beach, Florida, where she experienced homophobia and racism while learning the rules of being butch or femme. A lifelong butch, she has written scores of articles about lesbian life, including a play, Bar Dykes, that has been produced in San Francisco, California; New York City; and other cities in between. Her interview describes growing up Jewish in a city with signs saying “No Jews Allowed,” teaching elementary school in Harlem in the 1960s, and moving to rural middle Tennessee, where she has lived since the 1970s.

Posted on May 5, 2025 Posted in Publishing, Publications, and Booksellers, Social Justice, Women’s Health, and Social Services Tagged with AAUW, adoption, Alabama, ALFA, American Association of University Women, Anti-war movement, antisemitism, Association for Mentally Ill Children, Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance, Bank Street School, Brown v Board of Education, Caffe Cino, Camp Skytop, Charlie Johns, Coleman Younger, Dowelltown, Duke archives, Ed Sullivan, Feminist activism, feminist movement, Florida, Florida State University, Francis Lee, Freedom Bus, Gadsden, Gainesville, Girlfriends magazine, Gloria Steinem, Greenwich Village, Harlem, head shop, Jack, Jewish, John Harris, Johns Committee, Julia Penelope, Julia Penelope Stanley, Knoxville, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, lesbian, Lesbian Home Movie Project, Lincoln Legion of Lesbians, LSD, McCarthy hearings, Miami Beach, Millbrook Group, motorcycle messenger, New York, New York City, New York MIX Festival, OLAC, old lesbians organizing for change, Paranoia, Penny Stanley, photoanimator, psychedelics, puppeteer, racism, Ram Dass, Raspberry Exercises, Rosman, Sharon Thompson, Sinister Wisdom, Southeast, southern, Tampa, Tennessee, Tennessee Red Book, Timothy Leary, Toast of the Town, Tommy Trent, University of Florida, University of Miami, vaudeville

Lenny Lasater: Coal Miner, Electrician, Musician, and Renaissance Butch

Lenny Lasater: Coal Miner, Electrician, Musician, and Renaissance Butch

Lenny Lasater Photo credit Candi Pollitt

Lenny Lasater was a trailblazer for women, first in the Birmingham coal mines, then, in the trade union for electricians, The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, when she was in Nashville, Tennessee, and later, in Atlanta, Georgia. She formed her own business, Lenny Lasater Electrical, in Atlanta, where she also got clean and sober. Also, she started a band that is now called “Just Roxie.” Throughout, she has been out and proud of who she is, “a very butch lesbian.”

Posted on September 7, 2024 Posted in Culture and the Arts, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises Tagged with Atlanta, Birmingham Alabama, Blue Creek number 3, Cherry Omega, Decatur Georgia, Georgia, IBEW, IEW 429, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Nashville Local Union 429, Jim Walter Modular Homes, Jimmy Carter, Just Roxie, Knoxville, Metropolitan Community Church, Nashville, pipefitters union, Savannah River Plant, Tennessee, These Friends of Mine, trade unions, United Mineworkers Local

Mary Alice Stout: Teacher, Administrator, Entrepreneur, Landyke

Mary Alice Stout: Teacher, Administrator, Entrepreneur, Landyke

In mid-career, Mary Alice Stout left a successful professional job in Tennessee to follow her heart to rural South Carolina and off-the-grid Alabama.

Posted on August 4, 2023 Posted in Lesbian Land Groups, Lesbian-Owned Enterprises, Social and Political Groups Tagged with Alabama, Alapine, Anderson, Botany, Clinton Tennessee, earth-sheltered house, Ellen Spangler, Knox County Education Association, Knoxville, Mary Alice Stout, Mentone, Mountain Mama’s, Science Education, South Carolina, Starcrest, teaching, Tennessee