Entertainment :: Books
Rita Mae Brown: A Rebel With Plenty Cause by Joseph Erbentraut
EDGE ContributorThursday Apr 23, 2009 Rita Mae Brown has never been one for playing by the rules, and this is perhaps her most endearing quality. The celebrated author and activist is a legend of the gay liberation movement, also playing an instrumental role within the feminist and anti-war movements and eventually jumpstarting the lesbian fiction genre with her razor-sharp writing ability.
As an activist, Brown co-founded a number of ground-breaking organizations including the Student Homophile League and the Furies Collective, also working with the National Organization for Women at one point, though she resigned from her position when the organization began distancing itself from lesbian groups. She was also present on the nights that forever changed the route of the LGBT rights - the riots at Stonewall.
Today, the 64-year-old Brown lives in Virginia and continues to write, most notably focusing on a mystery series "coauthored" with her cat Sneaky Pie. She also maintains an avid passion for wildlife, including horses and the American fox.
EDGE recently had the privilege to speak with Brown for an exclusive interview, leading up to her appearance Saturday at the Center on Halsted’s Hoover-Leppen Theatre, sponsored by the Gerber/Hart Library, at 4 p.m.
EDGE: How is life? Tell me a bit about your current projects and explorations.
Rita Mae Brown: Life on the farm is lush, busy, beautiful. The dogwoods and redbuds are in bloom and as spring is high here at 800 feet, I can watch it crawl up the Blue Ridge Mountains. I face Humpback Mountain which, I think, is somewhere around 4000 ft. elevation. Spring is still a third of the way from the top where it is still winter with occasional dustings of snow.
Working on the next Sneaky Pie mystery. Project: overseeing my pastures, fixing fences, painting some, etc.
EDGE: Are you excited to be coming to Chicago? How long will you be in town for?
RMB: Chicago’s resources and that incredible lake should excite anyone. If not, take their pulse. I like Midwesterners very much although someone from Kansas isn’t like someone from Illinois. It’s the same with the South. People assume we’re the same but trust me, a Virginian can peg someone from Alabama in a heartbeat and vice versa. (Love those Alabama folks). What I like best about the Midwest is, for the most part, what you see is what you get.
I’ll be in town for about a day and a half which does not count the airport where I, and a great part of the flying nation, languish. You know, it’s just too damn big.
EDGE: Gay marriage has been on the tip of the tongues of many since its legalization in Iowa and Vermont in the past weeks. What are your thoughts on this?
RMB: When people are losing jobs by the hundreds of thousands and the unemployment statistics only count those on the payroll, so to speak, but do not count those whose benefits have run out, I deem it highly unwise to push the issue.
However, I do not see, if we actually believe the Constitution, how [marriage] can be denied. And I add, the only way I will tie the noose is around somebody’s neck. I don’t mate in captivity.
Next: On gay marriage
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