Diane Sabin
Encyclopedia
Diane A. Sabin was born in New York City
and has been a lesbian feminist activist in the San Francisco Bay Area since the early 1980s. Her early work was in production of lesbian musical performers as well as the Pride stages in San Francisco. She founded and ran a successful community clinic in the Castro district of San Francisco for almost 20 years called Sabin Chiropractic. She does activist work to improve the health of lesbians and the LGBT community through representation in the larger health care institutions and research.
Raised in a suburb of Chicago
Dr. Sabin attended the University of Redlands
in southern California
. She spent some years in Boston, Massachusetts during the blossoming lesbian feminist movement at the time that the oft-quoted Combahee Collective was in formation. It was here that she co-founded the Bessie Smith Memorial Collective which produced women's music concerts, including one of the first public performances of Black women's acappela group, Sweet Honey in the Rock
.
After moving to the Bay Area and before becoming a chiropractor, she produced events in San Francisco including the tour of "Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women" based on the collection of well-known poet and activist, Cheryl Clarke
. This production was produced in collaboration with two local lesbians of color, Sharon Page Ritchie and Cara Vaugh. She was also responsible for the production of the early San Francisco Pride Stage in the 1980s.
She maintained a chiropractic practice in the Castro
for more than 15 years where she developed a community-based private clinic. Sabin Chiropractic was known for its holistic care and the practice of treating patients regardless of their ability to pay.
She was one of the founders of 100 Lesbians and Our Friends with Andrea M. Gillespie, a philanthropic collective in the mid-1990s. The group held periodic meetings modeled after lesbian pot luck or CR groups, designed to re-educate women about the power of philanthropic giving. The philosophy was that girls are miseducated about their relationship to money from early youth and needed to rethink how they used their economic power and how they might support each other. The group raised over $200,000 specifically for lesbian organizations and projects in two years before disbanding. This followed becoming the target of disgruntled articles in a local free newspaper,the Bay Area Reporter
, expressing the feeling of some transgendered people that they were marginalized. Dr. Sabin and members of the group addressed the issue in several community meetings.
Sabin is currently the executive director of The Lesbian Health & Research Center at University of California
in San Francisco. She directs programs working in collaboration with community organizations that develop information about and educate communities about the health of lesbians, bisexual and transgender women. She is also the administrative director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF.
She and her partner, Jewelle Gomez
, along with 12 other gay couples became part of a law suit against the State of California in 2004. The suit asking for the right to marry. The complainants are being represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights
and the American Civil Liberties Union
.
About the lawsuit's significance Sabin said in the San Francisco Daily Journal (3.4.08), a legal periodical: "I think we live in a place where a lot of change is initiated. I think this is a very elemental place. ..it's simply about ending discrimination."
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and has been a lesbian feminist activist in the San Francisco Bay Area since the early 1980s. Her early work was in production of lesbian musical performers as well as the Pride stages in San Francisco. She founded and ran a successful community clinic in the Castro district of San Francisco for almost 20 years called Sabin Chiropractic. She does activist work to improve the health of lesbians and the LGBT community through representation in the larger health care institutions and research.
Raised in a suburb of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Dr. Sabin attended the University of Redlands
University of Redlands
The University of Redlands is a private liberal arts and sciences university located in Redlands, California. The university's campus sits on near downtown Redlands. The university was founded in 1907 and was associated with the American Baptist Church. The land for the university was donated by...
in southern California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. She spent some years in Boston, Massachusetts during the blossoming lesbian feminist movement at the time that the oft-quoted Combahee Collective was in formation. It was here that she co-founded the Bessie Smith Memorial Collective which produced women's music concerts, including one of the first public performances of Black women's acappela group, Sweet Honey in the Rock
Sweet Honey in the Rock
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an American Grammy Award-winning troupe who express their history as women of color through song, while entertaining their audience. They have together worked from four women to the difficult five-part harmony...
.
After moving to the Bay Area and before becoming a chiropractor, she produced events in San Francisco including the tour of "Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women" based on the collection of well-known poet and activist, Cheryl Clarke
Cheryl Clarke
Cheryl L. Clarke is a writer, educator and lesbian Black feminist activist, born in Washington DC in 1947.-Writing:Raised in Washington DC, some of her earliest work reflected the troubled times of the 1960s and the rebellions that ripped through the District of Columbia following the...
. This production was produced in collaboration with two local lesbians of color, Sharon Page Ritchie and Cara Vaugh. She was also responsible for the production of the early San Francisco Pride Stage in the 1980s.
She maintained a chiropractic practice in the Castro
The Castro, San Francisco, California
The Castro District, commonly referenced as The Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco, California. The Castro is one of America's first and best-known gay neighborhoods, and it is currently its largest...
for more than 15 years where she developed a community-based private clinic. Sabin Chiropractic was known for its holistic care and the practice of treating patients regardless of their ability to pay.
She was one of the founders of 100 Lesbians and Our Friends with Andrea M. Gillespie, a philanthropic collective in the mid-1990s. The group held periodic meetings modeled after lesbian pot luck or CR groups, designed to re-educate women about the power of philanthropic giving. The philosophy was that girls are miseducated about their relationship to money from early youth and needed to rethink how they used their economic power and how they might support each other. The group raised over $200,000 specifically for lesbian organizations and projects in two years before disbanding. This followed becoming the target of disgruntled articles in a local free newspaper,the Bay Area Reporter
Bay Area Reporter
The Bay Area Reporter is a free weekly newspaper serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities in the San Francisco Bay Area; it is the oldest-continuously published, and one of the largest LGBT newspapers in the United States....
, expressing the feeling of some transgendered people that they were marginalized. Dr. Sabin and members of the group addressed the issue in several community meetings.
Sabin is currently the executive director of The Lesbian Health & Research Center
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
in San Francisco. She directs programs working in collaboration with community organizations that develop information about and educate communities about the health of lesbians, bisexual and transgender women. She is also the administrative director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSF.
She and her partner, Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez is an American author, poet, critic and playwright. She lived and worked in New York City for twenty-two years working in public television, theatre as well as philanthropy before relocating to the West Coast...
, along with 12 other gay couples became part of a law suit against the State of California in 2004. The suit asking for the right to marry. The complainants are being represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Lesbian Rights
The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national non-profit, public interest law firm that advocates for equitable public policies affecting the LGBT community, provides free legal assistance to LGBT clients and their legal advocates, and conducts community education on LGBT legal issues. It...
and the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
.
About the lawsuit's significance Sabin said in the San Francisco Daily Journal (3.4.08), a legal periodical: "I think we live in a place where a lot of change is initiated. I think this is a very elemental place. ..it's simply about ending discrimination."