Feminism and Diversity

Dear Obamanut:
I find your comments interesting but also misleading in regard to your mention of Gloria Steinem as one who had been hard on "The Outcasts of Feminism". Steinem is the only person you mention by name and though you say she has since retreated from her earlier negative stands I think if you researched this you would find that you are misspeaking. It was Betty Friedan who wanted to keep lesbians out of the women's movement for fear of turning others off. It was Steinem who insisted that the movement had to be inclusive of all. From the beginning she has stood up for gays, lesbians, blacks (she was one of the first to foster the writing of Alice Walker, bell hooks and others; she defended Angela Davis and raised defense funds for her when she was on the run), Native Americans (Wilma Mankiller, the first woman chief of the Cherokee nation was a long-time colleague), she marched with the Farm Workers when Delores Huerta and Cesar Chavez first organized the grapepickers strike; she has worked to help organize household and pink collar workers and welfare mothers. The list could go on and wold extend back to the 1060s. Could you cite your sources for your comments that Steinem considered any of these movements or people embarrassments?