Taking inspiration from the women who came before us with Diane Anderson-Minshall

Diane Anderson-Minshall

March is Women’s History Month in the U.S. and the world honors International Women’s Day on March 8, making the month a great time to highlight and commemorate women’s achievements — past, present, and future. Revry is joining that effort to honor women’s contributions to our history and society, and to provide recognition of and encouragement to those working for a more inclusive future. 

Far too often women are overlooked and left out of our histories. Women’s History Month is an effort to address that exclusion and a time to showcase the talent and creativity that lives within our female-identifying community. To do so we’ll be interviewing creative and inspirational women who make a difference with their art, and in their roles as directors, actresses, writers, and more.

Diane Anderson-Minshall is the CEO of Pride Media, which includes such iconic media outlets as The Advocate, Out, Plus, Out Traveler, and Pride.com.  She was named to Folio’s Top Women in Media list and additional accolades have come from GLAAD, the NLGJA, and WPA. She’s the first female to hold the CEO position at Pride, a role she is filling after 30+ years of experience as a LGBTQ+  journalist and editor. 

What does Women’s History Month month mean to you?

Well, it reminds us that 11 months of the year women (and I’m sure nonbinary folks, too) don’t get enough recognition for their work and historically lesbian, bi, queer, and trans women — especially women of color and Indigenous and two-spirt women like myself — have been written out of our own histories. For example, throughout childhood and beyond, we get told stories of battles (from wars to Civil rights) and often women are left out of them even if we’re critical to their success. One case in point, from the defeat of Colonel Custer at Custer’s Last Stand (Battle of Bighorn)…it was a Northern Cheyenne woman named Buffalo Calf Road Woman, who reportedly delivered the final blow to him and won victory for Native Americans. I never learned that in school, never saw that on film, yet, it’s common knowledge among the victors.

There are so many unacknowledged women who made history. Is there a women creator who has impacted your work? 

Oh so many women have impacted my work from my high school journalism teacher, Mrs. Anne DeBord, to my first newspaper editor, Darlene Allison (who gave me a column when I was only 14 and set me on the path I am on now).  But I looked to a series of lesbian and bi women when I came out for great inspiration: comic Robin Tyler; authors Jayne Maiman, JoAn Loulan, and Jewel Gomez; founder of Lesbian Herstory Archives Joan Nestle; and so many more. But I will say though I didn’t meet her until close to her death I took great inspiration from Edythe Eyde, who started the first lesbian magazine Vice Versa under her pen name Lisa Ben, in the early 1940s. In the same way we were creating ’zines in the 1980s and early ’90s (often while working other jobs and using their copy machines) she was a secretary at RKO who just had to look busy typing so she turned that time into a ’zine of her own. Del Martin, Phyllis Lyon, and Barbara Grier were also later inspirations for their work in queer publishing as well. 

History is inspirational to future generations. What advice would you give the next generation of women creators?

Don’t let anyone tell you your voice doesn’t matter, that you can’t do what you want to do, or that nobody will buy/listen/watch/read your work. But do listen to anyone who wants to give you a hand and carefully consider what they say, especially if they are folks who’ve paved the way for you. They may see roadblocks you can’t, so instead of saying “things are different now” consider the ways in which they aren’t and how to navigate around them ahead of time. I didn’t do this well myself, so I reinvented the wheel (and I see other kids doing the same, so perhaps it’s just a generational issue). For every time I considered myself “the first” or “the only” person to do something, I later realized that in many ways that’s because we’re on the shoulders of other women who tried it ahead of us. I kind of wish I could go back and talk to every person over 45 that I didn’t listen to in my 20s and say, “Hey I’m sorry I wasn’t a good listener. I totally see you now. You helped!” [Laughing] So hopefully I’m doing the same. I never turn down any LGBTQ+ person who reaches out for advice, especially college or high school students (even more and more middle school students!) who reach out for advice.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Revry has curated a powerful collection of stories told by female artists featuring films, TV series, music, and more.