Jinx Beers
{{Short description|American activist and editor (1933–2018)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jinx Beers
| image = JinxBeers1951.png
| alt = A young white woman with short wavy hair, wearing cat-eye glasses
| caption = Jinx Beers, from the 1951 Pasadena Community College yearbook
| other_names =
| birth_name = Clara Jean Beers
| birth_date = October 12, 1933
| birth_place = Pasadena, California
| death_date = October 4, 2018
| death_place = Los Angeles, California
| occupation = Activist, journalist, editor, member of the US Air Force
| years_active =
| known_for = Founder, The Lesbian News
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| partner = Alicia Austin
| relatives =
}}
Jinx Beers (October 12, 1933 – October 4, 2018), born Clara Jean Beers, was an American activist and editor. She was founder of The Lesbian News, the longest-running newspaper for the lesbian community in the United States.{{Cite web|title=Jinx Beers|url=https://www.nlgja.org/blog/2017/09/jinx-beers/|access-date=2021-06-05|website=The Association of LGBTQ Journalists|language=en-US}} She was also a United States Air Force veteran, a scientist studying driver impairment, an art gallery director, and a mystery writer.
Early life and education
Beers was born in Pasadena, the youngest of five children born to William Earl Beers and Frances Edith Woodley Beers. She attended Pasadena Junior College in 1951.{{Cite news|date=1951-05-18|title=Name PCC Board Vote Candidates|pages=28|work=Pasadena Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78982321/name-pcc-board-vote-candidates/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}} After her service in the United States Air Force, she used the G. I. Bill to earn a bachelor's degree in psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).{{Cite web|last=Zonkel|first=Phillip|date=2018-10-04|title=Jinx Beers -- pioneering feminist, Lesbian News founder -- dies at 84|url=https://qvoicenews.com/2018/10/04/jinx-beers-pioneering-feminist-lesbian-news-founder-dies-at-84/|access-date=2021-06-05|website=Q Voice News|language=en-US}}
Career
Beers served in the United States Air Force, stationed in Germany from 1951 to 1955, and at the USAF Hospital in Long Beach;{{Cite news|date=1959-04-18|title=Time for the Sergeant|pages=8|work=Pasadena Independent|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78981929/time-for-the-sergeant/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}} after her honorable discharge she served in the Air Force Reserve Command for another twelve years. She worked at the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering at UCLA for 18 years, studying driver alertness and fatigue, impaired drivers, signage, and safety.{{Cite news|last=Houdek|first=Dick|date=1965-02-02|title=Tranquilizers' Effect on Motorists Studied|pages=3|work=Valley Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78981568/tranquilizers-effect-on-motorists/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|last=Ames|first=Walter|date=1962-06-04|title=Sugar Level in Blood Traced in Crash Study|pages=24|work=The Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78981685/sugar-level-in-blood-traced-in-crash/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|last=McCarthy|first=Dennis|date=1979-07-27|title=Scientists Study Effects of Drugs|pages=6|work=News-Pilot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78982109/scientists-study-effects-of/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}} She taught a 1970 course in UCLA's Experimental College titled "The Lesbian Experience". She was active in many protests, demonstrations, and other community activities in Los Angeles,{{Cite news|last=Schwartz|first=Bob|date=1988-04-18|title=Lesbians Trying to Step out of Closet, into Politics|pages=66|work=The Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78982048/lesbians-trying-to-step-out-of-closet/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}} and was a member of the National Organization of Women's Lesbian Rights Task Force.{{Cite web|date=November 15, 2018|title=Jinx Beers Obituary (1933 - 2018)|url=https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/latimes/190745796|access-date=2021-06-05|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en}}
In 1975, Beers founded The Lesbian News (also known as LN or TLN), a free monthly publication for the lesbian community in Southern California.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6whnQAACAAJ&q=Jinx+Beers|title=The Lesbian News: A Digest of Information and Opinion from Southern California and Beyond|publisher=Jinx Beers.|language=en}} LN included community announcements, interviews, practical advice, and reviews.{{Cite news|date=1985-09-26|title=Best Lesbian Publication|pages=172|work=LA Weekly|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78982677/best-lesbian-publication/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}} Beers' editorial policy was explicitly anti-racist, anti-ageist, anti-sexist, and anti-violence.{{Cite news|date=1988-09-29|title=Best Place to Hear it Not Through the Grapevine|pages=144|work=LA Weekly|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78982591/best-place-to-hear-it-not-through-the/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}} “I never planned to have a publication. I had to learn everything along the way,” she said later. In 1989, she sold LN and began another periodical, LSF: Lesbian Short Fiction.{{Cite book|last=The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives and The Regents of the University of California|url=http://archive.org/details/MakingInvisibleHistoriesVisibleTheJuneL.MazerLesbianArchive|title=Making Invisible Histories Visible (The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives)|date=2014|pages=75|via=Internet Archive}}
In 1986, Beers became director of Pendragon Gallery, "the only gallery on the West Coast devoted exclusively to the science fiction and fantasy genre."{{Cite news|last=Brooks|first=Jim|date=1986-09-18|title=Sci Fi Art|pages=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78981412/sci-fi-art-continuedjim-brooks/ C2]|work=News-Pilot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78981293/sci-fi-artjim-brooks/|access-date=2021-06-05}} In 2009, she published an autobiography, Memories of an Old Dyke, with proceeds supporting the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives.{{Cite web|last=Adjarian|first=Maude|date=September 27, 2010|title=Review of Memoirs of an Old Dyke|url=https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/memoirs-of-an-old-dyke/|access-date=2021-06-05|website=Foreword Reviews|language=en}} In 2013, she gave an oral history interview to the Mazer Archives. She also wrote mystery stories,{{Cite news|date=1998-02-12|title=Media calendar|pages=141|work=LA Weekly|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78982537/media-calendar/|access-date=2021-06-05|via=Newspapers.com}} and was a member of the Los Angeles chapter of Sister in Crime.
Awards and honors
Beers received the Community Service Award from Southern California Women for Understanding.{{Cite news|date=September 4, 1986|title=SCWU Seeks Nominees|page=36|work=Bay Area Reporter|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=BAR19860904.1.36&srpos=14&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-Jinx+Beers-------1|access-date=June 4, 2021|via=California Digital Newspaper Collection}} In 1987, she received the Dick Michaels Media Award from Christopher Street West. She was named the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club's Woman of the Year in 1990. In 2009, the Lesbian & Gay Advisory Board of West Hollywood presented Beers with the Rainbow Key Award, and the City of West Hollywood presented her with the Etheridge Award.{{Cite web|date=2010-10-01|title=Jinx Beers: Lesbian, Pioneer and Activist - A Profile|url=http://www.pride.com/g-spot/jinx-beers-lesbian-pioneer-and-activist-profile|access-date=2021-06-05|website=Pride|language=en}} In 2017, Beers was inducted into the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame in Philadelphia.
Personal life
Beers and artist Alicia Austin were partners. Beers died from renal failure in 2018, aged 84 years, at a senior living facility in Los Angeles.{{Cite journal|date=December 2018|title="Jinx Beers: Pioneering Feminist and Founder of Lesbian News"|url=http://mvd.cloud/press/MVD2013BR/LESBIAN_NEWS.pdf|journal=Lesbian News|volume=44}} Her papers are archived in the Special Collections Library at UCLA.{{Cite web|title=Jinx Beers papers 1975-2013|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8pv6njn/|access-date=2021-06-05|website=Online Archive of California}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://vimeo.com/455901066 Mazer Oral Herstory Project, “Jinx Beers Interview: Creating an Image”] and [https://vimeo.com/455900426 “Jinx Beers Interview: Love At First Sight”] (November 21, 2013), parts of the oral history interview with Beers, posted on Vimeo by the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives
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Category:People from Pasadena, California
Category:American LGBTQ military personnel
Category:American LGBTQ rights activists
Category:University of California, Los Angeles staff
Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Category:Pasadena City College alumni