Blue Lunden 1936-1999
The reception room of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center-Key West was named in honor of activist and Sugarloaf Women's Village matriarch and guardian, Blue Lunden. Tom Runyan, president of the board of directors of The Center, made the announcement. Blue Lunden died August 4, 1999 of cancer.
"No one is more deserving of recognition within and beyond the Key West community than Blue," said Runyan.
Last year (1998) an award-winning video on her life, 'Some Ground to Stand On,' was released. The documentary production spotlighted her in roles of a teenage cross-dresser in New Orleans, a young mother, and a life-long crusader for feminists' rights, peace and lesbian and gay rights. She is the founder of Lesbians in Paradise which meets Friday evenings at The Community Center.
"Over the decades Blue has welcomed countless lesbians from all over the world to Sugarloaf," said Connie Gilbert, vice president of The Center. "No area is more fitting to honor Blue than a reception room."
Harriet Marks-Nelson, a member of The Center's board of directors, coordinated the dedication.
Some Ground to Stand ON
This compelling and beautiful documentary tells the life story of the late Blue Lunden, a working class lesbian activist whose odyssey of personal transformation parallels lesbian women's changing roles over the past 40 years. The documentary starts with Blue's experience of being run out of town after her arrest in the 1950's at a New Orleans bar for wearing men's clothing... combines interviews, rare photos and archival footage to trace her fascinating life.