A celebration of the life of Elaine Lillian Romagnoli will be held on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 11 a.m. at the Stonewall Inn, 53 Christopher St. in New York City. She died at 79 on Oct. 28, 2021 at home in Manhattan.
In 1972, Romagnoli established Bonnie & Clyde’s in the West Village, reputed to be the first lesbian nightclub in New York and one of a series of venues that, as the New York Times put it, “became gathering spots for queer activists, artists and other patrons from all over the city.”
In an interview with the Times, New York state Sen. Tom Duane observed that Romagnoli “was ahead of her time with two things: her establishments welcomed people who were not just cis women, and it was incredibly important to her that women of color were welcome.”
Romagnoli visited Provincetown in her younger years, said her friend Jane Macdonald. She became close friends with Phyllis Schlosberg, who, like Romagnoli, established a groundbreaking nightclub, the Post Office Café and Cabaret, where she discovered and nurtured talent. Schlosberg welcomed Eartha Kitt and Elvira to her club while Romagnoli greeted Gloria Steinem and Yoko Ono at hers.
Reflecting on Romagnoli’s significance in lesbian social history, Macdonald wrote in an email that “Elaine provided sanctuary for lesbians in a time when there were no places to be safe. No places to meet. No places to have fun.” She was of the first generation to support gay rights and the struggle for equality, and she was, Macdonald emphasized, “very much in the vanguard. The Herstory. Written mostly on water.”
To attend the Stonewall event, or for more information, write to [email protected]. —Tom Recchio
