Farnsworth, Susan

Interviewer

Larisa Filippov

Files

Description

Susan Farnsworth is a 75 year old lesbian who has lived in Maine for over 50 years. She currently resides in Hallowell, ME, but has lived all over Maine and other places in New England. Farnsworth is an attorney and has her own law practice where she helps a variety of clients with their legal problems. She realized she was a lesbian while she was in law school during her marriage to a man. Farnsworth attended Bates College for her undergraduate degree before going to the University of Maine School of Law in Portland. The multiple political organizations she has been involved in include the MLGPA, now known as Equality Maine, and the Dirigo Alliance, a coalition of political organizations who use teamwork to achieve success. She first got involved with LGBT political activism in the 1980s, after the tragic death of Charlie Howard. Some of her time with the MLGPA was as a lobbyist. During this time, Farnsworth helped advocate for civil rights amendments, including the Yes on 6 referendum, marriage equality, transgender issues, Native American issues, and anti-discrimination laws. Farnsworth spent many years involved with the Maine state government on multiple different levels, including holding a position as State Representative in the Maine Legislature. Although she is unable to be as heavily involved in political activism due to her busy law practice, Susan Farnsworth still has a vested interest in the future of LGBT rights in Maine.

Please cite as: Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ Collection, Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine, University of Southern Maine Libraries. For more information about the Querying the Past: Maine LGBTQ Oral History Project, please contact Dr. Wendy Chapkis.

Publication Date

11-23-2022

Publisher

University of Southern Maine Special Collections

City

Portland

Keywords

MLGPA, Equality Maine, Dirigo Alliance, Native American issues, LGBT+ issues, transgender issues, activism, government, legislature, law, attorney, sexuality, lesbian, transgender, identity, homophobia, discrimination, Maine Won’t Discriminate, Yes on 6, teamwork, visibility, awarness, civil rights, educating, COVID-19, queer spaces, gay bars, Maine, New England

Disciplines

History of Gender | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Oral History | Women's Studies

Recommended Citation

Filippov, Larisa, "Farnsworth, Susan" (2022). Querying the Past: LGBTQ Maine Oral History Project Collection. 87.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/querying_ohproject/87

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.