Trailing Along Behind Lee Lynch -- by Garbo

 

Lee Lynch was born just over a decade before I was, and she began writing for the semi-underground Lesbian magazine "The Ladder" in the 1960s. (More on that next Wednesday.) In the 1970s and early 1980s, there was a smattering of what were then called lesbian & gay periodicals across the country, including The Washington Blade, Just Out, and Outlines. Lee wrote for these magazines and newspapers regularly and the title of one of her essays, "The Amazon Trail," became the title of her column, around 1984, I think. In the essay, Lee talks about the path down from Oregon's Mount Sexton as being a metaphorical trail to find a culture she could identify with, a community she could join and empower.  Here's the start of that piece:

We're able to feature "The Amazon Trail" on Wednesdays here at the Consortium, because Lee's been wruiting the column continuously since at least 1984. 1984 to 2021 is 37 years, a figure which leaves me saying both "Wowee!" and "Where did the time go?"

There are, so far, two best-of collections of Lee's fine column. My personal copy of the first collection is inscribed by Lee to me as her "sister columnist" because, at the time Lee's column appeared in Outlines, my own "Garbo Talks" column appeared in another Chicago LGBT paper. 

The Lee Lynch page at Bold Strokes Books has print copies of both collections of "The Amazon Trail."  The second volume is available as an Amazon Kindle ebook.

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Next week:  Lee's time writing, back in the day, for "The Ladder"