Lorraine Fontana

Lorraine Fontana (born 1947) is an American lesbian activist and founder of the Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance.

Early life Fontana was born in Queens, New York, to an Italian American family. She was inspired to become involved with racial justice movements after seeing the civil rights movement on TV as a child.

Career and activism In 1968, Fontana first came to Atlanta as a volunteer for VISTA under President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, where she helped organize food buying clubs in poor neighborhoods. During this time, Fontana lived in a collective household in the Little Five Points neighborhood. She lived in ALFA's Mansfield Street house, also known as the ALFA House, which served as the organization's hub. She pitched for ALFA's softball team, the Omegas.

In 1976, Fontana left ALFA and moved to Los Angeles to attend the People's College of Law from 1976 to 1979. At the People's College of Law, Fontana became a member of the caucuses for women, gay, and working-class students. From 1980 to 1983, she worked in the Atlanta office of the National Jury Project, which worked to support progressive trial lawyers. Channel 2 quoted her saying, "What we need is less cops, more people to help people in financial, health, mental health. We need that kind of health. We don’t need more police."

Personal life She came out as lesbian in 1971. Exhibit curators gathered buttons from Fontana's and Maria Helena Dolan's personal collections, created replicas, and collected oral histories from the two women.