Diane "Dee" Mosbacher (born 1949) is an American filmmaker, lesbian feminist activist, and practicing psychiatrist. In 1993, she founded Woman Vision, a nonprofit organization.[1]
Dee Mosbacher | |
|---|---|
 Mosbacher in 2013 | |
| Born | Diane Mosbacher 1949 (age 74–75) |
| Education | Bachelors, Pitzer College; Ph.D, Union Graduate School; M.D., Baylor College of Medicine |
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, activist, psychiatrist |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Notable work | Straight From the Heart |
| Spouse | |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Robert Mosbacher Jr. (brother) |
Early life and education
editBorn in Houston, Texas, Mosbacher is the daughter of the late Jane Pennybacker Mosbacher and Robert Mosbacher (1927–2010),[2] who served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1992. She has two sisters and a brother.[2]
Mosbacher and her father had a close relationship despite the Republican Party's largely anti-gay position. In 1992, on a day when the two were both giving commencement speeches, she told a reporter for The Washington Post that she began her speech: "Dad and I had breakfast this morning. We looked at each other's speeches. He would have used mine but he's not a lesbian. I would have used his, but I'm not a Republican."[3] Mosbacher spoke out against the gay-bashing and anti-woman focus of the Republican Party's 1992 campaign.[4][5]
Mosbacher earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Pitzer College in Claremont, California, a doctorate in social psychology from Union Graduate School, and a medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine.[6][7]
Career
editMosbacher was a medical intern at Cambridge Hospital through Harvard Medical School from 1983 to 1984 and was a psychiatry resident in the same hospital from 1984 to 1987.[7]
She became a women's health activist in college and began directing documentary films as a student at Baylor College and as a resident at Harvard Medical School. Her films focused on discrimination against lesbian and gay physicians and patients, and she wrote many articles about gay and lesbian patients for the academic and medical community.[7]
Woman Vision
editIn 1992, Dee Mosbacher founded the non-profit production company Woman Vision to counteract the media campaign on LGBT issues conducted by the Republican Party, which was the focus of the 1992 Republican National Convention.[7]
As of 2009, Mosbacher has directed or produced nine documentary films through Woman Vision, each having to do with LGBTQ or women's rights issues. In 1994, she directed and produced Straight From the Heart, which was nominated for an Academy Award.[8]
Oscar nomination for Straight from the Heart
editIn 1995, Mosbacher co-directed and co-produced (with Frances Reid) Straight From the Heart, a documentary that explored relationships between heterosexual parents and their adult lesbian and gay children. The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Documentary (Short Subject) category.[9]
Training Rules
editIn 2009, Mosbacher co-directed and co-produced with Fawn Yacker the documentary film Training Rules, an hour-long movie about Rene Portland, a women's basketball coach from Penn State University. Portland allegedly banned lesbians from playing on her team. The film contains interviews with former athletes and faculty members at Penn State who say that Portland actively pursued and harassed members of her team whom she suspected were gay.
Affiliations
editFrom 1994 to 2002, Mosbacher served on the Pitzer College Board of Trustees. In 2011, she established the Mosbacher Fund for Media Studies and the Mosbacher/Gartrell Center for Media Experimentation and Activism at Pitzer College.[10]
The Last Closet
editIn 2012, Woman Vision launched The Last Closet, a web-based campaign and video project to end homophobia in men's professional sports.[11]
Awards
edit- 1992: Creating Change Award, from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
- 1995: Jerry E. Berg Leadership Award, from the Human Rights Campaign Fund
- 1997: Liberty Award, from Lambda Legal Defense[12]
- 2009: Barbara Gittings Memorial Award, from Equality Forum[13]
- 2014: Mathew O. Tobriner Public Service Award, from the Legal Aid Society (San Francisco), Employment Law Center[14]
In 1991, Dee Mosbacher was the first Pitzer College graduate to deliver a commencement address at her alma mater. In 2010, she established the Mosbacher/Gartrell Center for Media Experimentation and Activism at Pitzer College.[7]
Personal life
editMosbacher is married to Nanette Gartrell,[6] a researcher, psychiatrist, and author.[15]
Filmography
edit- 1985: Closets are Health Hazards: Gay and Lesbian Physicians Come Out - Director/Producer
- 1991: Lesbians on Practice, Patients, and Power - Director/Producer
- 1994: Straight From the Heart - Director/Producer (with Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffman)
- 1995: Out for a Change: Addressing Homophobia in Women's Sports - Director/Producer
- 1996: All God's Children - Director/Producer (with Sylvia Rhue and Frances Reid)
- 2001: De Colores - Executive Producer
- 2002: Radical Harmonies - Director/Producer (with Boden Sandstrom and June Millington)[16]
- 2006: No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon - Producer (with Joan E. Biren)
- 2009: Training Rules - Director/Producer (with Fawn Yacker)[1]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Woman Vision: Social Change Through Media". www.womanvision.org. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ a b Hershey Jr., Robert D. (January 24, 2010). "Robert A. Mosbacher, 82, Ex-Commerce Chief, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ THE LESBIAN IN THE G.O.P. FAMILY, by Laura Blumenfeld, Washington Post Staff Writer, 1992
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle, "A Word on Lesbian in GOP Family," by Liz Smith. September 7, 1992, page E1.
- ^ The New Yorker, "Malice Toward Some," Comment. October 26, 1992, pages 4-6.
- ^ a b "Dee Mosbacher, Nanette Gartrell". The New York Times. January 16, 2005. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "Collection: Dee Mosbacher papers and Woman Vision records | Smith College Finding Aids". findingaids.smith.edu. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 3.0 license.
- ^ "Straight from the Heart (1994)". IMDb.com. 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
- ^ "The 67th Academy Awards - 1995". www.oscars.org. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ "The Participant - Fall 2013". Issuu.com. December 16, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ Zeigler, Cyd (September 18, 2012). "The Last Closet launches, aims to open closet doors for gay pro athletes". Outsports. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ "Mayor Riordan To Help Honor Esteemed Federal Judge With Lambda Liberty Award". Lambda Legal. October 15, 1997. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ Rothaus, Steve (July 17, 2009). "Equality Forum & QFest present first Barbara Gittings Award to filmmaker Dee Mosbacher". The Miami Herald. Miami, FL. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
- ^ "2014 Mathew O. Tobriner Public Service Award". The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. June 25, 2014. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ Gartrell, Nanette (2008). My Answer Is NO... If That's Okay With You (1st Free Press hardcover ed.). New York, NY: Free Press. ISBN 9781416546931. OCLC 124036193.
- ^ "Radical Harmonies (2002)". IMDb.com. 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
Further reading
edit- Tyrkus, Michael J (1997). Gay & lesbian biography. St. James Press. p. 333. ISBN 9781558622371.
External links
edit- Dee Mosbacher at IMDb
- Woman Vision - official website
- Training Rules - official website
- Dee Mosbacher papers and Woman Vision records at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College Special Collections