1938-03-13

BARBARA “BOBBI” PREBIS, one of the last of the pre-Stonewall bar dykes, was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. She was the youngest of ten siblings in a Catholic, working class family (d: 2026). She was close with her siblings, particularly the third eldest, Margaret. All of her brothers were in the military during World War II and/or the Korean War, so these wars, especially World War II had a major impact on her life, and was a big reason why she was a part of the anti-Vietnam war movement later on.

Bobbi always liked girls growing up, and she and others called her a tomboy. Later on after understanding her identity, she adopted the terms dyke and butch. Bobbi attended public school until high school when she attended an all girls catholic high school. She belonged to strong gay and lesbian communities in Buffalo, and when the Gay Center opened up, Bobbi worked on the board.

Her activism began in the late 1950s, and she was way ahead of her time when it came to gay activism. The 1960s were a hard time to be queer in Buffalo, because the police relentlessly raided and shut down every gay bar in Buffalo within a few weeks of their founding. And as early as 1963–long before Stonewall was even a twinkle in anybody’s eye—Bobbi argued that gays had a right to gather in public, and tried (though did not succeed) to organize Buffalo’s gay community against raids and police harassment.
Later in the decade, after the Stonewall riots, when Buffalo was trying to put together its first gay liberation organization, the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier, Bobbi became the first person to sign the Mattachine’s membership roll. She was sitting at an early meeting, where the membership list was being passed around, and everybody was scared to sign the list. Realizing that someone had to be brave enough to become the first official member, she signed her full legal name to the list, giving others the bravery to register. She ultimately became the Mattachine’s first vice president, and then spent many years as the organization’s member-at-large, because she liked being responsible for conveying the general membership’s concerns to the leadership.
Along with this, Bobbi was a steel worker at Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna- one of the very few woman at this job but prominently involved in labor organizing.
 
She is survived by her wife, Liz Kennedy, the co-author of *Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold,” and one of the founders of Women’s Studies in the US.

Bobbi had many jobs throughout her life including working at a corner store, department stores, a steel plant, and zoos. She also worked as an elevator operator, a maker of conveyor belts, a book mender and a cab driver.

Bobbi met her partner Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy in the 70s and stayed with her ever since. In 1998, the two moved to Tucson, AZ when Liz got a job as a professor at the University of Arizona. In Tucson, Bobbi has found lesbian and activist communities through her partner’s connections at the university.

This is not her actual birthdate as I have not been able to find it. If you have information regarding her actual date of birth and death, please let me know at whtcranejournal@aol.com Thanks.