The Ladder was the first nationally distributed lesbian publication in the United States. Published from 1956 to 1972 (bimonthly in 1971 and 1972), The Ladder was the primary monthly publication and method of communication for the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first lesbian organization in the US. It was supported by ONE, Inc. and the Mattachine Society, with whom the DOB retained friendly relations. The name of the magazine was derived from the artwork on its first cover, simple line drawings showing figures moving towards a ladder that disappeared into the clouds.
The DOB disbanded in 1970 due to internal disputes, and two of the magazine’s original editors joined the National Organization for Women and encouraged the readers of The Ladder to do the same. The DOB president Rita LaPorte took possession of the 3,800-member mailing list of the magazine and effectively took over the magazine as well. LaPorte and Barbara Grier continued to publish it until September 1972 when they ran out of funds. There was a controversy about the unauthorized use of the mailing list, with claims that it was stolen.
History
The first lesbian publication in the United States was a newsletter called Vice Versa, subtitled “America’s Gayest Magazine”. It was created and edited by a secretary named Edith Eyde (using the pseudonym Lisa Ben, an anagram of “lesbian”) in Los Angeles, and distributed privately in that area from 1947 to 1948.
The first edition of The Ladder appeared in October 1956, edited by Phyllis Lyon, who co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) in 1955 with Del Martin, both of whom had journalism experience. Many of its contributors used pseudonyms or initials. Lyon edited The Ladder as “Ann Ferguson” for the first few months, but dropped the name as a way of encouraging their readers not to hide. The first issues of the magazine averaged 20 pages with each issue increasing in length from 12 pages to 30 pages by the end of the first volume. A volunteer staff produced each issue on a typewriter, copied by a mimeograph, and hand stapled. It included book reviews, news, poetry, short stories, a running bibliography of lesbian literature, letters from readers, and updates from DOB meetings. In 1959 it took a rare political stance against San Francisco mayoral candidate Russel Wolden who criticized incumbent mayor George Christopher‘s making the city a haven for “sex deviants.” The Ladder was issued in a brown paper covering for the duration of its existence. There were 175 copies of the first issue, and members of the DOB mailed them to every woman they knew who might be interested, including woman professionals in the San Francisco telephone book, and others throughout the United States. It soon became available in newsstands in major cities and by subscription, obtained by word of mouth.
By October 1957, there were 400 subscribers on the mailing list. An early respondent to the magazine was playwright Lorraine Hansberry, writing a letter of thanks in May 1957 signed “L.H.N”, offering $2.00 US for any back issues, and stating she was “glad as heck that you exist.” Lyon published her entire letter, taking up two of the 30 pages of that issue. Historian Marcia Gallo wrote of The Ladder, “For women who came across a copy in the early days, The Ladder was a lifeline. It was a means of expressing and sharing otherwise private thoughts and feelings, of connecting across miles and disparate daily lives, of breaking through isolation and fear.” While Gallo’s assertion is supported by the publicized letters in the magazine, the letters left unpublished criticized the magazine on format, purpose, and content as ineffective.