Joan Gibbs
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{{Short description|Activist attorney in New York City}}
Joan Gibbs (January 17, 1953 – March 14, 2024) was a lawyer,{{Cite news |last=French |first=Howard W. |date=1987-12-19 |title=Police Admit Surveillance Violated Pact |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/19/nyregion/police-admit-surveillance-violated-pact.html |access-date=2024-06-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} activist,{{Cite web |date=2024-04-01 |title=Remembering NYC Activist and Civil Rights Lawyer Joan Gibbs (1953–2024) |url=https://www.thebody.com/article/remembering-joan-gibbs |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=www.thebody.com}}{{Cite book |last=Hanhardt |first=Christina B. |title=Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence |date=November 2013 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-5470-3 |location=Durham, NC}} and a founding editor of Azalea, the first literary journal for Black lesbians. She also co-founded Dykes Against Racism Everywhere, the first anti-racist lesbian organization in the United States. She achieved legal victories on behalf of organizations and activistsByron, Peg. "Black militant fights for FBI files". United Press International, January 9, 1992 within the United States. She helped craft a political campaign that led to passage of New York City Council Resolution 0285, calling on the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the restrictive travel ban on U.S. citizens.
Early life and education
Gibbs was born in Harlem on January 17, 1953, and raised in Swan Quarter, N.C., returning to New York City at the age of 14.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-03-27 |title=Joan Gibbs, activist attorney, dies at 70 |url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2024/03/27/joan-gibbs-activist-attorney-dies-70/ |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=New York Amsterdam News |language=en-US}}
In her youth, Gibbs was a member of left organizations; she was later an active participant in the fledgling LGBTQIA+ movement.{{Cite web |title=138 Joan Gibbs (1953–2024) |url=https://actuporalhistory.org/numerical-interviews/138-joan-gibbs |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=ACT UP Oral History Project |language=en-US}}
Gibbs attended the Bronx High School of Science and received her bachelor's degree from SUNY Empire State. She graduated from Rutgers Law School in 1985, where she studied constitutional and civil rights law. She was admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey, the New York State Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.
Legal career
Before law school, Gibbs worked at the National Lawyers Guild's Grand Jury Project.{{Cite web |last=outfm |date=March 26, 2024 |title=TRIBUTE TO JOAN GIBBS, BLACK LESBIAN MOVEMENT GIANT |url=https://wbai.org/upcoming-program/?id=9568}}{{Cite book |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/kuwasi-balagoon-a-soldier-s-story |title=A Soldier's Story |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-04-01 |title=Remembering NYC Activist and Civil Rights Lawyer Joan Gibbs (1953–2024) |url=https://www.thebody.com/article/remembering-joan-gibbs |access-date=2024-04-03 |website=www.thebody.com}}
She was a Marvin Karpatkin Fellow in the National Office of the ACLU. As staff attorney for its Women's Rights Project, she litigated sex discrimination cases under the 14th Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
As staff attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, Gibbs litigated cases involving gender and racial justice and represented political activists such Herman Ferguson. Gibbs was lead counsel in a CCR case that revealed New York Police Department surveillance of civil rights organizers. In 1987, with Paula Ettelbrick of Lambda Legal Defense, Gibbs sued the New York State Department of Corrections for refusing to let a prisoner with AIDS participate in a family reunification program. In 1988, Gibbs represented many arrested in ACT UP demonstrations{{Cite web |last=Tracy |first=Matt |date=2024-03-25 |title=Joan Gibbs, renowned lesbian activist and attorney, dies at 71 |url=https://gaycitynews.com/joan-gibbs-act-up-activist-attorney-dies-71/ |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=gaycitynews.com |language=en-US}} protesting the undercount of people living with HIV in the city health commissioner's office.{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=NLG NYC Spring Fling Journal 2019 |url=https://nlgnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NLG-NYC-Spring-Fling-Journal-2019-final-color-digital-1.pdf }} Gibbs also represented the Haitian American Anti-Defamation League after the CDC labeled them a high-risk category for AIDS. Along with Margaret Ratner, she sued DOCS for improper training of guards at Rikers. In 1989, with Peter Weiss, David Cole and Ellen Yaroshefsky, Gibbs sued the NEA on behalf of Karen Finley and David Wojnarowicz, after the agency rescinded grants to artists who had portrayed gay sex.
Gibbs served as general counsel for the Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ) of Medgar Evers College for approximately 28 years, working on redistricting cases, among others.{{Cite web |last=hlr |date=2015-04-10 |title=Favors v. Cuomo |url=https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-128/favors-v-cuomo/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=Harvard Law Review |language=en-US}} She also served as project director of the CLSJ Immigration Law Program. She was appointed to the New York City Campaign Finance Board's Voter Assistance Advisory Committee,{{Cite web |title=3-new-members-join-nyc-voter-assistance-advisory-committee {{!}} New York City Campaign Finance Board |url=https://nyccfb.info/media/press-releases/3-new-members-join-nyc-voter-assistance-advisory-committee/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=nyccfb.info}} interviewed in media{{Cite web |title=Joan Gibbs |url=https://tv.cuny.edu/bio/joan_gibbs |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=CUNY TV |language=en}} and contributed to academic journals.{{cite journal |last1=Gibbs |first1=J. P. |year=1998 |title=Civil rights |journal=Social Policy |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=10–13}}{{cite journal |last1=Humm |first1=A. |year=1998 |title=What's left? |journal=Social Policy |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=2–3}}
As an independent attorney, Gibbs also represented political activists, including members of the Black Panther Party such as Sundiata Acoli and Mumia Abu Jamal.{{Cite web |last=OutFM |date=March 26, 2024 |title=Tribute to Joan Gibbs, Black Lesbian Attorney, Activist and Movement Giant |url=https://outfm.org/liberation/index.php/home/internship-application/593-tribute-to-joan-gibbs-black-lesbian-attorney-activist-and-movement-giant}} Abu Jamal devoted an episode of his radio show to an obituary for Gibbs.{{Cite web |last=Abu Jamal |first=Mumia |date=June 5, 2024 |title="Joan Gibbs Esquire Presente" |url=https://www.prisonradio.org/commentary/joan-gibbs-esquire-presente/}} Gibbs was also a long-term member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers' International Affairs Section.
Poet, Editor, Journalist, and Public Speaker
Gibbs was a writer for the Liberation News Service, the activist news agency.{{Cite web |date=January 11, 2021 |title=Under the Ground: The Story of Liberation News Service |url=https://www.pbs.org/video/under-the-ground-the-story-of-liberation-news-service-ttqdpf/ |access-date=June 30, 2024 |website=PBS}}
Gibbs was the founding editor of Azalea: A Magazine by Third World Lesbians{{Cite web |title=Azalea {{!}} Lesbian Poetry Archive |url=https://www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org/Azalea |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org}}{{cite journal |last1=Boyce |first1=C. |last2=Brown |first2=L. |last3=Christian |first3=R. |last4=Daniels |first4=L. |last5=Furlonge |first5=C. |last6=Gibbs |first6=J. |year=1979 |title=Azaleas blooming |journal=Off Our Backs |volume=9 |issue=7 |pages=25}} which published fiction, poetry, and other forms by writers including Audre Lorde, Sapphire, and Jewelle Gomez. Azalea was published between 1977 and 1983.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpP6-cL0ZUg |title=Gay USA 3/20/2024 {{!}} Veteran Lesbian Civil RightsAttorney Joan Gibbs has Died. |language=en |access-date=2024-03-27 |via=www.youtube.com}}{{Cite journal |last=Strongman |first=SaraEllen |date=April 2018 |title='Creating justice between us': Audre Lorde's theory of the erotic as coalitional politics in the Women's Movement |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464700117742870 |journal=Feminist Theory |language=en |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=41–59 |doi=10.1177/1464700117742870 |issn=1464-7001}} In 1980, Gibbs co-edited the anthology Top Ranking: A Collection of Articles on Racism and Classism in the Lesbian Community.{{Cite web |title=Top Ranking: A Collection of Articles on Racism and Classism in the Lesbian Community {{!}} Lesbian Poetry Archive |url=https://www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org/node/444 |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org}}{{Cite journal |last=Moraga |first=Cherrie |date=1981 |title=Top Ranking: A Collection of Articles on Racism and Classism in the Lesbian Community, ed. by Joan Gibbs and Sara Bennett (Book Review). |journal=Conditions |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=140–144}}{{Cite book |last=Dillon |first=Stephen |title=Fugitive life : the queer politics of the prison state |date=2018 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-7189-2}}
Gibbs' own poetry was published in the Iowa Review.{{cite journal |last1=Gibbs |first1=J. |year=1981 |title=Internal Geography: Part One |journal=The Iowa Review |volume=12 |issue=2/3 |pages=99–100 |doi=10.17077/0021-065X.2703}} She also self-published a book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place.{{Cite web |title=Between a Rock and a Hard Place {{!}} Lesbian Poetry Archive |url=https://www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org/node/474 |access-date=2024-04-08 |website=www.lesbianpoetryarchive.org}}
In 2010, Gibbs spoke at the CLAGS conference on lesbian organizing in the 1970s, "In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbian Lives in the 1970s." Gibbs spoke at the plenary event "Defining the Boundaries of Lesbian Identity."{{cite web |last1=Chinn |first1=S. |year=2011 |title=In Amerika They Call Us Dykes: Lesbian Lives in the 1970s |website=CUNY Academic Works |url=https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1064&context=clags_pubs}}{{cite web |last1=Douglas |first1=E. |year=2010 |title=Whatever happened to 1970s lesbian-feminism? |website=Ms. Magazine |url=https://msmagazine.com/2010/10/18/whatever-happened-to-1970s-lesbian-feminism/}}
Political Activist and Organizer
Gibbs co-founded an anti-racist organization called Dykes Against Racism Everywhere (DARE).{{Cite journal |last=Lewis |first=Abram J. |date=2010-04-01 |title="Within the Ashes of Our Survival" Lesbian and Gay Antiracist Organizing in New York City, 1980-1984 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4zr1v4bq |journal=UCLA Center for the Study of Women Thinking Gender Papers |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Estes |first=Steve |date=2015-04-03 |title=Hanhardt, Christina B. Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence Durham, NC: Duke University Press 358 pp., $25.95, ISBN 0822354705 Publication Date: December 2013 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03612759.2015.989090 |journal=History: Reviews of New Books |language=en |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=60–61 |doi=10.1080/03612759.2015.989090 |issn=0361-2759|url-access=subscription }}Dykes Against Racism Everywhere (DARE). Unitarian Universalist Association. Office of Lesbian and Gay Concerns. Records, 1972-1999, bMS 1309, bMS 1309/10 (16). Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University. Gibbs played a role in numerous international campaigns, including the U.S. anti-apartheid movement. For decades, Gibbs was active in the Jericho Movement for Recognition and Amnesty for U.S. Political Prisoners.Hom, A. Y. (2011). Unifying Differences: Lesbian of Color Community Building In Los Angeles and New York, 1970s-1980s. Dissertation, The Claremont Graduate University.
Until 2014, Gibbs was co-chair of the board of the Brecht Forum.
Notably, she helped organize the successful campaign for New York City Council's Resolution 0285,{{Cite web |last=MEALY |first=JOAN P. GIBBS and ROSEMARI |date=2023-03-23 |title=Campaign launched for removal of Cuba from U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism |url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2023/03/23/campaign-launched-for-removal-of-cuba-from-u-s-list-of-state-sponsors-of-terrorism/ |access-date=2024-06-30 |website=New York Amsterdam News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=The New York City Council - File #: Res 0285-2022 |url=https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5755007&GUID=3EB3B06A-0229-4938-B48C-54EC35E2B003 |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=legistar.council.nyc.gov}} which in 2022 called on the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba and the restrictive travel ban on U.S. citizens. The resolution also called for removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-29 |title=Joan P. Gibbs, Esq. , Author at New York Amsterdam News |url=https://amsterdamnews.com/news/author/joan-p-gibbs-esq/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=New York Amsterdam News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=wibailoutpeople |date=2024-03-19 |title=In Loving Memory of Joan Gibbs |url=https://wibailoutpeople.org/2024/03/19/in-loving-memory-of-joan-gibbs/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement |language=en}} In recognition of Gibbs' work, Ambassador Yuri A. Gala López, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, addressed her memorial on June 8, 2024.{{Cite web |date=June 10, 2024 |title=Ambassador Yuri A. Gala López speaks about Warrior Sister, Joan Gibbs in NYC at The People's Forum |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpSP6vsYhP4 |access-date=June 30, 2024 |website=YouTube}}
Gibbs worked on behalf of People United for Children, a group advocating for children in foster care, headed by Sharonne Salaam, mother of Councilmember Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2024-03-27 |title=Joan Gibbs, activist attorney, dies at 70 |url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2024/03/27/joan-gibbs-activist-attorney-dies-70/ |access-date=2024-03-28 |website=New York Amsterdam News |language=en-US}}
Later Years and Death
In 2023, Gibbs underwent a series of surgeries related to cardiovascular disease. She died on March 14, 2024 at her home in Brooklyn.
References
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Category:American lesbian writers
Category:Members of the Black Panther Party
Category:American anti-racism activists