Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition Records

Founded by Rose Gladney and Marcia Winter in 1986, the Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition (TLC) began as a community-based production company dedicated to bringing popular lesbian artists and other lesbian cultural events to Tuscaloosa. Gladney and Winters felt inspired to create such a production company after attending the Southeast Women’s Music and Comedy Festival held in White County, Georgia, which connected them to the growing national movement. The first events held by the Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition included bringing "Out of Bounds: A Lesbian Journey," a "multi-image slideshow" by JEB (Joan E. Biren), and Immediate Family a play by Terry Baum and starring Iris Bloom. In addition to these more public events, members of TLC also met on the first and third Fridays as an informal social gathering and a forum to discuss lesbian concerns, respectively. By 1988, the Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition functioned less as a production company and more as a community organization with a steering committee and a newsletter. Through this transformation, TLC became involved with the Tuscaloosa Community Gay/Lesbian Organization, The University of Alabama LGBTQ student group under several different names—now known as Spectrum—and the planning of the National Lesbian Conference held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1991. The Tuscaloosa Lesbian Coalition disbanded in 1996.