19 Facts About Elsa Gidlow

Elsa Gidlow was a British-born, Canadian-American poet, freelance journalist, philosopher and humanitarian.

Elsa Gidlow is best known for writing On a Grey Thread, the first volume of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America.

Elsa Gidlow was the author of thirteen books and appeared as herself in the documentary film, Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives.

Elsa Gidlow was born Elsie Alice Gidlow on 29 December 1898, at 9 Wells Terrace, Great Thornton Street, Hull, Yorkshire, England.

Elsa Gidlow had six siblings: Thea, Ivy, Stanley, Ruby, Eric, and Phyllis, whom she referred to as her "unfortunate family," because of their intimate association with mental illness.

At the age of 15, Elsa Gidlow was first employed by her father on the Canadian Railway, and later by a contact of her father's in Montreal, a factory doctor, as assistant editor to Factory Facts, an in-house magazine.

Lovecraft, a fellow amateur journalist, attacked their work, leading Elsa Gidlow to defend it and attack back in return; the dispute created a minor controversy but brought Elsa Gidlow and Mills public, albeit negative attention.

Elsa Gidlow became the poetry editor later becoming the associate editor.

However, as a philosophical anarchist Elsa Gidlow was ideologically opposed to communism, and she denied the accusation.

Elsa Gidlow named her portion of the mountain ranch, which included a secondary dwelling, "Druid Heights", a nod to her friend, Irish poet Ella Young.

Besides Alan Watts, notable residents who, through Elsa Gidlow's largess, found cheap rent and a place to create or escape were David Wills, Catherine Mackinnon, Roger Somers, Sunyata, John Blofeld, and many leaders of various women's rights efforts.

Elsa Gidlow helped plan the funeral for her friend Alan Watts when he died there.

Gidlow's autobiography Elsa, I Come with My Songs: The Autobiography of Elsa Gidlow, published in 1986, gives a personal and detailed account of seeking, finding and creating a life with other lesbians at a time when little was recorded on the topic; notably, it is the first lesbian autobiography written where the author does not use a pseudonym.

Elsa Gidlow openly discussed her lifetime experience as a lesbian in the critically acclaimed 1977 documentary feature Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives, which was released theatrically and which was broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States starting in 1978.

The last few months of her life, Elsa Gidlow experienced several strokes.

Elsa Gidlow chose not to seek medical care in a hospital and died at home in Druid Heights at the age of 87.

Elsa Gidlow was cremated and her ashes were mixed with rice and buried beneath an apple tree in Druid Heights.

Parts of Druid Heights have subsequently fallen into ruin, but Elsa Gidlow's home remained intact as recently as 2012.

Elsa Gidlow's estate donated her extensive personal papers to the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco in 1991.