Today's Out Spotlight is JEB (Joan E. Biren) best known for her photographic portraits, some of the earliest documents of late 20th-century lesbian
life and an internationally recognized documentary artist, she began chronicling the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people over 30 years ago. JEB grew up in Washington D.C., graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1966, and pursued graduate degree in she studied political science and sociology at Oxford University and communications at American University.
She joined the women's liberation movement in D.C. in 1969. One of the first out lesbians in the movement, Biren and others (including Rita Mae Brown and Charlotte Bunch) formed a lesbian-separatist collective, the Furies, in 1971. Though the collective was short-lived, it had, through its publications, a significant impact on the strategies of the women's movement. 
Realizing the need for affirming images and self-expression she chose photography as a way to make lesbians more visible. She took a correspondence course in photography and worked in a camera store, in the audio-visual division of a large trade association, and on a small-town weekly newspaper in order to develop her talent and technique.
Between 1971 and 1991, JEB concentrated on making photographs of lesbians. Her images reached a national--and sometimes international--audienceher work has appeared in off our backs, The Washington Blade, Gay Community News, and on countless album and book covers. Her two ground-breaking collections of her photography: Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians (1979) and Making a Way: Lesbians Out Front (1987), made lesbian life visible in a way never seen before. In the 1990s, JEB turned from photography to filmmaking. She documented the 1987 and 1993 gay and lesbian marches on Washington. With the Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer, she produced the first lesbian video funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Removing The Barriers, used throughout the nation to train health care providers. Her latest work is the documentary No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyliss Lyon.
Queerly Visible: The Work of JEB (Joan B. Biren) (pdf)
OMG Season of Sharing
Founded in 1977, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is a dynamic global foundation providing critically needed financial support to lesbian-led, LGBTI and progressive organizations. Separated by continents, language and culture, Astraea grantees are seizing opportunities, and laying the groundwork necessary for women and LGBTI people to claim their human rights. Today, Astraea is the only foundation in the world solely dedicated to supporting LGBTI organizations in both the U.S. and internationally. They raise funds and issue grants based on the belief that all women can participate in the philanthropic process - from giving to grantmaking.
