Helen Jane "Sandy" Sandoz (November 2, 1920 – June 7, 1987), also known by her pseudonym Helen Sanders, was an American lesbian rights activist and writer. She was involved in the

Daughters of Bilitis The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to le ...

and its official publication, '' The Ladder'', from 1956 to 1970.

Biography

Sandoz was born on November 2, 1920, in Corvallis, Oregon. Her mother, who worked as a maid, had immigrated to the United States from Sweden and was a descendant of Edouard Sandoz, the co-founder of the

Sandoz Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loca ...

pharmaceutical company. She met her father, a railroad worker, for the first time when she was eighteen years old. After completing a bachelor's degree in psychology at

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

, she worked at department stores in Oregon and Washington state. Following a car accident that left her with a broken neck, she was unable to sit down for long periods of time, so she became a sign painter. Sandoz later moved from Oregon to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, where she joined the

(DOB), a lesbian rights organization, in 1956. She was hired as an assistant to the editor of the DOB's official magazine, '' The Ladder''. Although she used the pseudonym "Helen Sanders" for most of her public work with the DOB, when the organization filed a legal charter in 1957, Sandoz was one of few women who signed the charter with her real name. She served briefly as president of the DOB in 1957, before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, where she became the first president of the local DOB chapter. She was involved in the publication of ''The Ladder'' in a variety of roles, as a production manager, director of publications, and a frequent cover designer. In 1966, she was appointed editor of the magazine, a position that she passed on to Barbara Grier in 1968. As editor, she amended the DOB's Statement of Purpose to use the word "lesbian" instead of the vague "variant". Under her leadership, ''The Ladder'' became less political and more lighthearted; Sandoz occasionally wrote editorials from the perspective of her cat, credited as "Ben the Cat". When the DOB folded in 1970, Sandoz chose not to follow most of its members to the newly formed

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

, since she did not agree with its rhetoric and wanted to campaign for the rights of gay men as well as lesbians.

Personal life

Sandoz met her long-term partner, Stella Rush, through the DOB in 1957. From 1958, they lived together in

Silver Lake, Los Angeles Silver Lake is a residential and commercial Neighbourhood, neighborhood in the east-Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Originally home to a small community called Ivanhoe in honor of Walter Scott, Sir Walter Scott. In ...

, until Sandoz's death from lung cancer on June 7, 1987.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandoz, Helen 1920 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers American lesbian writers American LGBT rights activists Activists from Oregon Activists from California Writers from Corvallis, Oregon Reed College alumni LGBT people from Oregon Writers from California Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers Daughters of Bilitis members 20th-century American LGBT people