Former West Hollywood resident and LGBT advocate, Ivy Bottini, will remembered at an event taking place at Kings Road Park, located at 1000 N. Kings Road, on Sunday, February 28, 2021, from 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. The activist passed away yesterday morning, at her home in Florida, surrounded by her daughters. She was 94.
The Facebook event is hosted by Councilmembers Sepi Shyne and John Erickson, along with WeHo resident and member of the Women’s Advisory Board, Karen Andros Eyre.
“Our community lost a true hero and icon today,” reads the Facebook event’s page invite. “Ivy Bottini was an LGBTQ icon, community leader, and renowned activist. Please join us as we gather in Kings Road Park (1000 N. Kings Road) right across the street from where Ivy lived for a socially distanced (masks required) community event to remember Ivy. There will be no speeches but instead, we will be reading excerpts from Ivy’s writings to hear her voice in our community and holding space for a moment of prayer and silence”
Bottini was a woman who was at the forefront of the National Organization for Women (NOW) movement. “Ivy never sought to be famous or elected to office reads a statement from Hollywood NOW. She just wanted action. Organizing was her lifeblood. Activists today should know that they stand on the shoulders of often-unrecognized giants like Ivy Bottini.”
Hollywood Now lists some of Bottini’s many accomplishments:
- Into her 90s, Ivy was still advocating for change, to better the rights and safety of women and the LGBTQ community.
- She didn’t just use the process of consciousness raising in the early 1970s — she created and developed this technique. She toured the country to bring consciousness-raising to women’s groups, sparking a worldwide movement.
- A graphic artist by trade, Ivy created the logo for the National Organization for Women, which is still used today and has stood the test of time as an iconic image for the women’s movement.
- In 1976, Ivy became head of the Women’s Department at the Gay Community Center on Highland (the genesis of the Los Angeles LGBT Center) and brought much-needed attention to the lesbian population.
- In the early 1980s and after the unexpected death of her friend Ken Schnorr and other young men she knew, she was among the first in LA to reach out to the Center for Disease Control and demand answers.
Bottini is the subject of “The Liberation of Ivy Bottini: A Memoir of Love and Activism,” by Ivy Bottini as told to Judith V. Branzburg.
For updates on the Ivy Bottini Community Remembrance event, visit:Â https://www.facebook.com/events/180911033802853/
