Wallis Annenberg was a titan in the world of philanthropy. An heir to the Anneneberg family fortune, she served as chairman and president of the Annenberg Foundation since 2009, giving away more than $3 billion in charitable grants to a variety of causes, including the arts, wildlife, seniors, and inner-city youth. But the obituaries celebrating her life and lauding her achievements failed to mention that she was well-known in LA’s LGBTQ+ community as a lesbian, and she had given significant and critical support for LGBTQ+ causes. It was a noteworthy example of queer erasure – the tendency to remove LGBTQ groups or identity from the historical record.
The queer erasure so bothered her former partner Karen Ocamb – a noted chronicler of the LGBT civil rights movement and the HIV/AIDS crisis that she took to Substack to write about – in a column titled “When Lesbian Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg Helped Save The Gays.” The article drew immediate praise from members of LA’s queer community, who were shocked that news outlets failed to mention Annenberg was a lesbian. I interviewed Karen Ocamb about the Wallis she and so many others knew, and about the work Wallis Annenberg did for the LGTBQ+ community.
When Lesbian Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg Helped Save The Gays by Karen Ocamb
LA Times Obituary: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2025-07-28/wallis-annenberg-dead-philanthropist-obituary
New York Times Obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/us/wallis-annenberg-dead.html
LA Times follow-up story: "Inside Wallis Annenberg’s final days: Opioid stupor, abuse claims and a bitter family feud"
The Suppression of Lesbian ^ Gay History by Rictor Norton: https://rictornorton.co.uk/suppress.htm
Hollywood Turns Out for AIDS Benefit (New York Times, 1985): https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/20/us/hollywood-turns-out-for-aids-benefit.html
Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing: https://www.gleh.org/
Project Angel Food: https://www.angelfood.org/
LGBT History: The Briggs Initiative - a Scary Proposition: https://www.glbthistory.org/briggs
LGBT History: Lesbian Solidarity During the AIDS Epidemic: https://www.youthco.org/lesbian_solidarity_during_the_aids_epidemic
LGBT History: The Blood Sisters - the Unsung Heroes of the AIDS Crisis: https://diva-magazine.com/2024/02/08/the-blood-sisters/
LGBT History: Meet Pioneer of Gay Rights Harry Hay: https://progressive.org/magazine/meet-pioneer-gay-rights-harry-hay/
LGBT History: The Lavender Effect: Ivy Bottini: https://thelavendereffect.org/projects/ohp/ivy-bottini/
What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.
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