ForrestHouse

A Woman's Place / Forrest House

An undated leaflet for Forrest House read:

A Woman's Place which identifies with women's needs in order that they might fully participate in their new role in society... The new role or fourth dimension, portrays woman as a person herself using her abilities in changing the world, in contrast to the three dimensional role of woman as wife, mother & housewife, and essentially passive & dependent role in a timeless world."1

LynnMurphy

A Woman's Place - Forrest House (that was its full name) was active in the 1970s and 1980s. Its orientation was feminist rather than lesbian, but it attracted many lesbians, especially more separatist women who did not wish to work with men in a mixed organization like GAE. Although it was certainly a safe place to be open, there was sometimes conflict between the more conservative of the feminists and the more militant of the lesbians. At one point the lesbians were asked to withdraw (or maybe just withdrew, I am not sure). Suddenly many Forrest House programs were way under-volunteered, as there had been a lot more (and more active) lesbians than some people had realized. Forrest House realized the error of its ways, all was forgiven, sisterhood prevailed, and everything returned to a slightly more guarded normal.

It was on Barrington Street near the train station.

On the ground floor there was a second-hand clothing store run by the Junior League of Halifax. On the second floor was a space where women could meet, hold small dances -- it was not unknown for there to be toplessness happening at those dances. They published a monthly women’s calendar, listing events, meetings, and demonstrations. On the top floor of the building there was a project funded by the federal government called “Women’s Employment Outreach”.

[00:02 You can hear Lynn tell this story here.] (mp3, a couple minutes)

For more information, see page 32 of QueerLookingQueerActing.

This page is part of the HistoryProject.