“I love my lesbian daughters” – The story of the 92-year-old woman who has been holding the same placard at New York Pride for 30 years
A black and white newspaper photo from the era showing a woman holding a placard with the message “I love my lesbian daughters. Keep them safe” has become particularly famous online lately. So have several similar ones, again depicting the same woman dressed usually in purple at different times and during several Pride festivals.
Photos of the woman have been shared thousands of times by social media users, who post them, moved by her attitude, even though in many cases they don’t even know who this woman is and what story is behind her.
Her sign reads “I adore my lesbian daughters, keep them safe” she hasn’t put it down once pic.twitter.com/ImIE93DDG7
– Nina Godlewski (@NinaGodlewski) June 26, 2016
A quick search solves the first basic questions. It was first reported in the Washington Post, in 1997, in an article about the Pride Festival in New York: “‘I love my lesbian daughters. Keep them safe’ reads the placard held by 73-year-old Frances Goldin, who said society allows discrimination against lesbians and gays. Her two daughters participated in the Portland and San Francisco parades. Goldin says many people approached her and gave her their phone number, asking, ‘Can I adopt you as my mother?” She told everyone she would call them. “Diversity makes us all richer,” she said at the time.
Frances Goldin has participated in New York Pride for more than 30 years, always holding the same placard. Her daughters Reeni and Sally live in New Paltz and San Francisco. They are now 68 and 70 years old respectively. They grew up in New York with both parents and came out as lesbians after the first Pride Festival in the ‘Big Apple’ in 1970. Neither of them can remember exactly when their mother first went to Pride, although Frances herself said that she has been involved “from the beginning”.
“Ever since Pride started, I’ve been going and waving my placard,” Goldin says. “In a way I’m hitting a very sensitive nerve, especially to those who have been rejected by their parents. The response to the placard is always tremendous; it motivates me to keep going,” she adds. Reeni’s daughter Reeni says her mother just believes in equality and justice and what is right. “It’s not just words. She works for it. This is her life. It’s just who she is,” she explains.
The placard was made by a friend of hers because she felt she couldn’t go to the parade without holding something. The message “I love my lesbian daughters” piqued the interest of the other participants from the start. The original sign did not include “Keep them safe”. This was added in 1993 when Goldin participated in the historic LGBT community march in Washington, D.C. She insisted that the placard should also have a “demand.” On the back it reads “A proud parent of lesbians.”
According to her daughters, at parades she is constantly approached by young people asking her to call or write letters to their unsupportive parents, and sometimes Frances does. “They all run up to her and cry, kiss her and say ‘Can you call my mother?’ or ‘Will you be my mother?'” says Sally. “She is an example of how parents should behave towards their children. She keeps names and addresses and actually writes letters to the mothers of these children. She’s very outgoing. She loves to be in the spotlight and she pulls it off flawlessly,” adds her daughter.
“I think I’ve changed some people’s minds and I’m glad for that. Everyone should support their children who are gay, they lose a lot in life if they don’t,” says Frances for her part.
Even in those years when her biological daughters can’t participate in the parades, Frances always goes with the placard classically in hand. And there she gets to hug other girls and when asked ‘Are those your daughters?” she answers in the affirmative, even if they aren’t. “Everyone who came with me was my daughter,” Frances says. Only once did she miss Pride because she had a heart attack.
However, Frances is much more than just a Pride “mascot”, having founded the Frances Goldin Literary Agency in 1977 and is a passionate activist for various causes; even now that she is in her old age. At 87 she participated in a protest march on Wall Street holding a placard that read “I am 87 and mad as hell!”.
In addition, she will be the focus of a documentary called “It Took 50,” which will chronicle her efforts from the 1960s onward to rescue a small slice of New York’s Lower East Side from development.
As for the infamous plaque, he still carries the original model, which he takes great care of, keeping it in very good condition. It’s very important to me and I’m grateful to be able to carry it every year. Today I am 93 years old and I hope to carry it on as long as I can.”
* With information from Buzzfeed