Dolores Klaich: January Portrait of the Month

Dolores Klaich, 1986

Dolores Klaich (b. 1936) is a lesbian feminist author and activist who has devoted much of her writing to documenting the social history of lesbianism, including her seminal book, Woman Plus Woman: Attitudes Toward Lesbianism. Klaich was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in a leftist household. Her father was an organizer for the Socialist Labor Party. She graduated from Western Reserve University  (now Case Western Reserve University) in 1958. In the 1960s, Klaich was a reporter for Life Magazine, and in the late 1960s to mid-70s, she was an associate editor for the literary journal, Transatlantic Review. Woman Plus Woman, published in 1974, combines research and personal interviews to unravel historical and contemporary misconceptions about lesbianism; it also includes a short account of renowned lesbian figures. Klaich’s 1988 novel Heavy Gilt, a murder mystery spoof about internalized heterosexism, was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. She has also written numerous essays, articles, and short fiction in publications such as TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism, Harrington Lesbian Fiction Quarterly, and Ladder. Klaich’s recent contribution in the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide (Nov/Dec 2013) recounts a 1984 speech that she gave as a tribute to American author May Sarton during a charity event for the Fund for Human Dignity. Entries on Klaich are included in Feminists Who Changed America, 1963–1975 and Who’s Who of American Women. She is currently writing a personal chronicle of the early lesbian and gay rights movements.