Alix Dobkin was a singer and songwriter whose 1973 album “Lavender Jane Loves Women” was a milestone for the lesbian community.
- Died: May 19, 2021 (Who else died on May 19?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in Woodstock, New York of a brain aneurysm and stroke, according to her family, at the age of 80.
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Music by and for lesbians
Dobkin began playing music in Greenwich Village coffeehouses in the 1960s. Married to a man at the time, she came out as a lesbian in 1970 and began playing music that boldly talked about the lesbian experience, which was rare at the time. “Lavender Jane Loves Women” is considered the first full-length album to celebrate lesbianism, with songs including “View from Gay Head” and “Talking Lesbian.” Dobkin became popular in feminist circles and was nicknamed “The Head Lesbian” by her fans. A 1975 photo of Dobkin by her then-partner Liza Cowan became iconic. Dobkin wore a t-shirt reading “The Future Is Female” in the photo. Four decades later, the photo went viral and the slogan was revived as a motto for feminists.
Dobkin released music into the 1990s and wrote the 2009 memoir “My Red Blood: A Memoir of Growing Up Communist, Coming Onto the Greenwich Village Folk Scene, and Coming Out in the Feminist Movement.” In later years, she was co-director of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change, an advocacy group that fights ageism and offers support to the lesbian community.
Notable quote
“I knew my coming out would be important and significant. It was a message. It was going to let lesbians all over the world know they are not alone.” —from a 2010 interview for Out
Tributes to Alix Dobkin
Full obituary: The Washington Post
