User:Edenaviv5/Second Congress to Unite Women

The Second Congress to Unite Women was an event organized by the National Organization for Women in May 1970. It became notable in lesbian-feminist history due to the protest of lesbian and bisexual women, organized as the Lavender Menace, that occurred during the event. The women who organized this protest distributed their manifesto, the The Woman-Identified Woman, during the event in order to spark conversation about the role of lesbian and bisexual women in the women's movement.

Background
Bisexual and lesbian women, despite having participated in the women's movement since its inception, had been labeled as a "lavender menace" on the women's movement by the President of NOW, Betty Friedan. Friedan said that lesbian and bisexual women would threaten the credibility of the movement and only increase the perception of women's movement activists as "man-haters."

In response, women, primarily of the Gay Liberation Front in New York — including Karla Jay, Rita Mae Brown, Martha Shelley, and others — planned a protest for the Second Congress event.