Madeleine Tress

Madeleine Tress (1932–2009) was an American employment lawyer, LGBT rights activist and memoirist who worked in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.[1] She lost her job working for the U.S. government in the 1950s as a direct result of the lavender scare.[2]

Madeleine Tress
BornNovember 27, 1932
DiedSeptember 26, 2009(2009-09-26) (aged 76)
Alma materGeorgetown University
Occupation(s)Lawyer, business owner
Known forLGBT rights
Notable workRainbows on my Ceiling

Early life and education

Tress was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1932 to a Jewish family.[3]

She was a graduate of Georgetown University and also earned degrees from the London School of Economics, New York University and UC Berkeley.[4][5]

Professional career

In the 1950s, Tress worked as a business economist for the Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C.[6][7] In 1958 she was interrogated by the U.S. government for being a lesbian while working as a civil servant.[8] After losing her job in the State Department due to the Lavender scare, Tress began working as a lawyer.[4]

Tress had a longtime career as a lawyer and ran her own firm in the city of San Francisco.[9][10] John Wahl, the executor of Harvey Milk's estate, served as her legal mentor.[1] Tress also argued a case about job discrimination at the Supreme Court.[11]

In the 1980s she owned a San Francisco business which specialized in cat artifacts named Wholly Cats.[12]

In this period she also served as executive vice-president of the Fireman's Fund Insurance.[12]

Political activism

Tress was a longtime resident of San Francisco who was very civically active on behalf of a variety of civil rights issues.[13] Tress was a longtime gay rights activist.[14] Her papers are housed at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives and the University of Southern California.[15] Additional materials related to Tress's activism are available at the San Francisco Public Library as part of the Len Evans papers.[16]

Participation in LGBT marches

Tress and her partner Jan Sibley attended LGBT marches in San Francisco yearly starting in 1983.[17] They also attended the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.[1] In Rainbows on My Ceiling, she documented her participation in this march writing, "Gays had just been barred from the military. Cammemeyer was kicked out of the Army for being a lesbian and thousands of gay men were dying of AIDS...It was the right time to tell Washington how we felt."[1]

Publications

Rainbows on My Ceiling
Rainbows on my Ceiling by Tress.

In 2006 Tress self-published a memoir titled Rainbows on My Ceiling.[15] She hoped her story would have a wider readership as in the book she wrote "I...want my book to be an Oprah selection."[18] The book documented her childhood as well as her activism in the gay rights movement.[15] The book also includes information about her long term relationship with partner Sibley. Tress donated a copy of this book to the San Francisco Public Library.[19] In this memoir she wrote extensively about her life with Sibley after she died. According to Tress, "There is nothing like the death of a loved one to split your life apart. You feel like you are both before and after...Like the Tlingit Indians I believe that the rainbow is a communication device from the living to the dead."[1]

Jewish philanthropy

Tress wrote about Jewish philanthropy. Her work was published in a 1991 essay titled, "Tradition and Transition in Jewish Women's Philanthropy."[20]

"Halakha, Zionism, and Gender: The Case of Gush Emunim

In 1994 Tress published an article on Judaism titled, "Halakha, Zionism, and Gender: The Case of Gush Emunim" which appeared in the book, Identity Politics & Women: cultural Reassertions and Feminisms in International Perspective. The book was edited by Valentine M. Moghadam.[21]

Later years

In 1998 Tress wrote a letter to the editor of the San Francisco Examiner arguing President Bill Clinton should step down as a result of the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. She wrote he should resign after giving a "strong State of the Union address, offer an apology to his wife and daughter (if nothing else for his stupidity in being set up) and turn over the reins to Vice President Al Gore."[22]

Portrayal in the media

Actress Cynthia Nixon read as Tress in the 2017 film The Lavender Scare.[23] In the 2021 six -part documentary Pride, Tress was portrayed by actress Alia Shawkat.[4][24]

Personal life

Her brother is the photographer Arthur Tress.[25][26]

She lived for decades with her partner, teacher Jan Sibley, who she met in 1962.[15][11]

Tress died on September 26, 2009.[11]

See also

References
  1. Tress, Madeleine (2006). Rainbows on my Ceiling. San Francisco Public Library. p. 76.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. Blumenfeld, Warren J. (2006). "Book Review: The lavender scare: the cold war persecution of gays and lesbians in the federal government" (PDF). Feminist Review. 83: 159–161. doi:10.1057/palgrave.fr.9400297. S2CID 144494202.
  3. "Pride review – a beautiful rainbow patchwork of queer history in the US". the Guardian. 2021-06-25. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  4. "Politics and Pride Are Central to Building LGBTQ Community". Columbia News. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  5. "Madeleine Tress Obituary (2009) San Francisco Chronicle". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  6. Johnson, David K. (2009-02-13). The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-40196-6.
  7. "Madeleine Tress (Federal Bureau of Investigation)". MuckRock. May 2019. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  8. Toops, Jessica (Spring 2013). "The Lavender Scare: Persecution of Lesbianism During the Cold War" (PDF). Western Illinois Historical Review.
  9. "Employment Problems". Newspapers.com. February 4, 1984. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  10. "Crommie v. State of Cal., Public Utilities Com'n, 840 F. Supp. 719 (N.D. Cal. 1994)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  11. "Madeleine Tress". The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  12. Snider, Burr (May 1, 1980). "Everything but the Cat's Meow". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  13. Hamlin, Jesse (2012-03-22). "'Arthur Tress: San Francisco 1964' at the de Young". SFGATE. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  14. "Finding Aid to the Madeleine Tress Memoir Rainbows on my Ceiling Coll2014.115". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  15. "Finding Aid to the Madeleine Tress Memoir Rainbows on my Ceiling Coll2014.115". oac.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  16. Evans, Len (1920). Len Evans papers. OCLC 37497928.
  17. Tress, Madeleine (2006). Rainbows on my Ceiling. p. 76.
  18. Tress, Madeleine (2006). Rainbows on my Ceiling. p. 70.
  19. Tress, Madeleine (2006). Rainbows on my Ceiling. M. Tress. OCLC 259711649.
  20. Kosmin, Barry Alexander; Ritterband, Paul (1991). Contemporary Jewish Philanthropy in America. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-7647-7.
  21. Moghadam, Valentine M. (2019-04-09). Identity Politics And Women: Cultural Reassertions And Feminisms In International Perspective. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-72316-2.
  22. Tress, Madeleine (January 27, 1998). "Letter to the Editor". San Francisco Examiner.
  23. "The Lavender Scare (2017)". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  24. Anderson, John (2021-05-11). "'Pride' Review: Sweeping History Made Personal". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  25. Ganz, James A. (1964). "Arthur Tress" (PDF).
  26. "Arthur Tress show at the de Young gives a rich snapshot of San Francisco in '64". richmondsfblog.com. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 2021-07-02.

Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare. Lesson by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca (Madeleine Tress is featured in this lesson).

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