Sally Miller Gearhart papers

Dr. Sally Miller Gearhart was a scholar, educator, science-fiction writer, feminist, and lesbian activist.

Sally Miller Gearhart was born in Pearisburg, Virginia, on April 15, 1931, to Sarah Miller Gearhart and Kyle Montague Gearhart. Gearhart’s parents divorced when she was young, and she spent much of her childhood with her maternal grandmother, who ran a women’s boardinghouse and owned a theater building.

After graduating high school in 1948, Gearhart attended Sweet Briar College, a women’s college near Lynchburg, Virginia, where she graduated with a B.A. in English and drama in 1952. She earned an M.A. in public address from Bowling Green State University in 1953 and a Ph.D. in theatre from the University of Illinois in 1956.

In 1956, Dr. Gearhart began teaching speech and theatre at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where she taught until 1960. She was a visiting associate professor of theatre at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, from 1959-1960. At Texas Lutheran College (now University) in Seguin, Texas, she was an associate professor of speech and drama from 1960-1970 and a department chair from 1965-1970. She did post-doctoral work at the University of Kansas from 1969-1970. During these years, Dr. Gearhart hid her sexuality and attempted to fit in with the conservative Protestant environments in which she lived and worked.

In 1970, Dr. Gearhart moved to San Francisco and began living openly as a lesbian. She was hired by San Francisco State University in 1972 to teach speech communication, where she became the first open lesbian to obtain a tenure-track faculty position. At San Francisco State University, Dr. Gearhart helped establish one of the first women’s studies programs in the United States. She developed and taught the first university course on sex roles and communication. She served as chair of the Speech Communication Department from 1981-1984, associate dean of the School of Humanities from 1984-1986, and the Women Studies Program coordinator from 1989-1990. Dr. Gearhart retired from teaching in 1992.

After receiving tenure, Dr. Gearhart became increasingly politically active, advocating for gay and lesbian rights, animal rights, and radical feminist causes. In 1978, Dr. Gearhart rose to prominence fighting alongside Harvey Milk to defeat California Proposition 6, known as the “Briggs Initiative,” which would have banned gay and lesbian teachers from working in public schools. In an influential televised debate, Dr. Gearhart and Milk debated Senator John Briggs, the author of the initiative.

In addition to her scholarly writings on rhetoric, religion, sexuality, feminism, lesbian rights, and animal rights, Dr. Gearhart expressed her utopian feminist ideals in science fiction novels and short stories. Her most famous novel, The Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women (1978), explores themes of ecofeminism and lesbian separatism. Her other works include Loving Women/Loving Men: Gay Liberation and the Church (1974), The Feminist Tarot (1975), and the Earthkeep series (2002-2003). Dr. Gearhart featured in films including Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1977), The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), Framing Lesbian Fashion (1992), Last Call at Maud’s (1993), and No Secret Anymore (2003).

Dr. Gearhart established an all-female community, Women’s Land, near Willits, California, where she lived in a cabin in the woods. Dr. Gearhart’s partner was Jane Gurko, a fellow professor at San Francisco State University and a co-developer of the women’s studies program, until Gurko’s death in 2010. After a gradual decline in health, Sally Miller Gearhart died in Ukiah, California, on July 14, 2021.