Oral History Clip, "Maryetta and Claudia, Part 1 of 2", Maryetta Russell, Claudia Brick, and Marcia Schwemer, 2011/07/22
Interviewer: Alright, retake–
Brick: Retake three!
Interviewer: Ruth is directing now. Actually, she’s the camera person–
Brick: I’m a queen.
Interviewer: Okay.
Brick: Okay. I’m Claudia, this is Maryetta. Maryetta and I have been friends since 1972 when we played softball together in Portland on a team called The Lavender Menace. And– [laughs] It still sounds funny.
Russell: It does.
[laughter]
Brick: Well, when we started, the only prerequisite about being on the team was that you had to be a lesbian.
Russell: You didn’t have to know how to play at all.
Brick: It was a bonus if you knew how to play. Which is how we ended up with a pitcher that wore hiking boots.
Russell: Right.
[laughs]
Interviewer: Did she know how to play?
Russell: She wasn’t too bad.
Brick: Yeah. She understood it. She was no jock, but she knew the rudiments of the game, and wasn’t–as the Legally Blonde person says, “not too unfortunate.”
Russell: I hope she never sees this.
Interviewer: And how did your team do?
Russell: We won a few games, but we were kind of shunned, and–they were horrified that we were out lesbians. Of course, all the other teams were a lot of PE teachers, and they thought we were way too out. And–
Brick: They were fearful that, you know, guilt by association–
Russell: Right–
Brick: That they would be pegged and that they’d all lose their jobs.
Russell: Right. Which was accurate.
Brick: Yeah. Very realistic possibility at that time.
Russell: Yeah, But we weren’t teachers, so we weren’t paying any attention.
Brick: Yeah, we didn’t care. [laughs]
Russell: I actually managed the gas station on Broadway in Portland.
Brick: That was in–during the–
Russell: Right.
Brick: the ‘77 gas crisis?
Russell: Right. They hired all the lesbians.
Brick: Yeah. Give them all a job. And then we played tournament ball also, and–that’s the kicker–so we not only freaked out lesbians in Portland, but–
[shout]
[both Claudia and Marietta rush off-camera in response to a noise.]
[END OF VIDEO]
Maryetta Russell and Claudia Brick discuss playing softball on the all lesbian team the "Lavender Menace." Filmed July 2011.
Interviewee: Claudia Brick
Interviewee: Maryetta Russell
Interviewer: Unknown
Transcriber: Rachel P.
Transcriber: Mikhail Z.
Formatter: Serena R.
Recording Date: July 2011
Release Date: May 9, 2020
Location: Unknown
Interview Length: 00:02:14