Lynn Harris Ballen

Longtime lesbian and queer organizer Lynn Harris Ballen is based in Los Angeles and currently serves on the steering committee for Circa: Queer Histories Festival and is a board member of Dyke Day LA. Born and raised in South Africa, Ballen has co-produced conferences, publications, and lesbian art/history exhibitions like “GenderPlay in Lesbian Culture” and the “Lesbian Legacy Wall” at ONE Archives, and she was a member of the Lambda LitFest founding committee. Ballen and her late partner, Jeanne Cordova, created the queer magazine Square Peg, and she credits Cordova as being a huge inspiration: “When we met, she was already a groundbreaking journalist and pioneering West Coast LGBT activist. I learned how to live a deeply community-connected life from her.” Currently, she serves as the senior producer of Feminist Magazine on KPFK, an intersectional radio show and podcast. Ballen isn’t slowing down any time soon. She’s working on a documentary about the iconic ’70s Lesbian Tide magazine and says, “As a first-time filmmaker, I’ve been thrilled to discover how incredibly supportive the independent queer filmmaker community is.” Her goal is for the film to reflect the lineage of 1970s lesbian organizing and community building, and she hopes “it will also be relevant and thought-provoking for younger queers who want to learn more about how we can create communities to sustain and support us now!” –SS