Saying Goodbye (309 views)

A great woman died today. A fighter, a lover, an activist, a peacemaker, a visionary, and a leader. I was fortunate to have met her often through mutual friends, been to her home, and gotten to observe her in the company she called her "chosen family". She was generous, kind, intelligent, fearless, and had a great laugh. Her friends were fiercely loyal to her as she was to them. She carved a path for lesbian visibility and gay rights where there had previously been overgrown weeds of patriarchy and fearful traditions. She was a smart business woman, an ex nun, a journalist, a writer of plays and books, a leader of protest chants, and a tireless friend to disenfranchised women, preaching self empowerment, courage, and pride. Jeanne Cordova was one of a kind. For people in the majority, it's hard to imagine what power radiates from a single person standing up loudly and persistently for the rights of the minority. For those of us in the minority, seeing activists like Jeanne spill their lives open, spend their money, and risk everything to fight the majority for room at the table for us, is sacred encouragement that brings tears easily. In her battle with cancer, which had metastasized from her bowel, to her lung, to her brain causing her to walk with a cane, generally feeling lousy all the time, and in pain - yet she kept showing up to events, dress in her dapper duds, always smiling, always encouraging, always playing full out. That hat and that grin! She was fully alive until she died. Oh that we were all so empowered by our convictions, that we too could face our death with the confidence that our life mattered right to the end! The LGBT community lost a special butch dyke today. A class act. She will be missed by many... Her wife, her chosen family, her blood family, and her innumerable admirers whose lives were touched directly or indirectly by her. I count myself lucky to have met her. The planet is a bit lighter today. A heavy weight fighter has left the ring... Thank you Jeanne...