UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
			ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

		OLSON, ALIX and life partner, POPP, MARTHA

OLSON, ALIX (1947-)
Police Officer, Detective (29 years 4 months spent on police force)
At UW: Not applicable (At Madison: 1980-2011)

POPP, MARTHA (1946-)
Willy St. Co-O, Pp sales, speech pathologist, Middleton High School
At UW:  approx. 1980

Interviewed:  May 4, 2011
Interviewer:  Pat Calchina
Index by Pat Calchina
Length:  2 hrs., 45 min. approx

	Abstract:  In their 2011 interview with Pat Calchina Olson and Popp talk about
	their 35 years together and the two children they raised.  They spoke about falling 		in love and moving to Madison, their careers, Popp as a speech pathologist and 	Olson as a police officer and detective.  Additionally, they discussed key events in 	the Madison Gay and Lesbian community between 1980 and 2010.

	Key Words:  Madison (Wi.), Lysistrata, lesbian rights, lawsuit against YWCA, 
	Grace Harbor Lesbian Collective, Willy St. Co-Op, Madison Police 	Department, Popp and Olson on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Gay Straight Alliance 	at Middleton High School, national premier of “It’s Elementary,” women’s fast 	pitch softball In Madison, Alabama league, Bovine Babes soccer team competing 	at Gay Games in NY City, Hotel Washington fire, Olson running for Madison 	School Board

Interview Session (2011) Digital File #1
	
Time	Keywords
00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:07  	Question to Alix and Martha:  What brought you to Madison and when did you come? Martha moved to Lake Mills in 1976, she was then married to a man and had one  child, Timothy, born in 1973.  She reports that she was “madly in love with Alix at the time.”Alix moved to Madison early in 1980 to be with Martha, in what Martha calls the “crying summer.”  They met in 1974 In Hanover, N.H., both worked at a women’s center where women were “discovering who they were.”

00:18:29	In 1980 Alix moved into the Grace Harbor Lesbian Collective.  Other members were Shelly Gaylord, Mary Bennett, Nancy Dungan and Sheri Maples.

00:19:28	Alix is bartending at Lysistrata for one year and also worked at Body Works, a work out gym.

00:21:01	Martha discusses her marriage and divorce (1989).  In 1982 Alix and Martha bought a house together on Jenifer St.  Husband was a gay man.

00:25:15	Question to Alix:  What was bartending at Lysistrata like?
“We met the whole community there.”  “It left a huge void when in burned down.”  “The whole spectrum of lesbianism was in there.”  Names mentioned: Jean Barlow, manager of Lysistrata, who moved to Seattle,  Penny Molio, bar manager, Donna Winter, Carla Trujhio, a body builder, Gene (Eugene) Parks, “I’d always serve Gene gin because that was his drink,”  Ed Durken (Fire Chief).

00:29:00   	Discussion of butch/femme at Lysistrata.  Martha noted and Alix agreed, that there was some disapproval of feminine women, that femmes were “not really lesbians.” Re. the fire that burned down Lysistrata, “It was a heartbreaker.”

00:32:00 	Question to Alix:  How did you make the decision to work with the Police Department? Saw a newspaper ad, talked to Chief Cooper, when she was hired in 1981, there were less than a dozen women on the department.  Donna Winter had been the first out lesbian hired.  The first woman was hired in 1977.  Discussion of 	struggles within the department, especially between the new hires by Chief Cooper (the B team) and those who had been on the force for a while (the A team).  Discussion of discrimination on the force and the subculture of homophobia that existed and how Alix coped with it. Martha talked about the difficulty of Alix being gone so much, that she didn’t fear for her, because she knew she was smart and strong and able to take care of herself.  Martha says of Alix:  “Alix was fulfilling her dream from childhood,” and Alix responds, “I would not have had the same success without Martha in my life.”

00:42:45	Question to Martha:  Tell me about your work. Martha discusses her work at Middleton High School as a speech pathologist. (More later about creation of GSA and harassment.)

00:46:00	Martha talks about working at the Willy St. Co-Op for 6 years.  “Those were the days when you did everything.” 

0:49:00 	Discussion of Alix and Martha’s appearance on the Oprah Show, “Lesbians raising children.” Gloria Allered (sp), lesbian attorney also on show.

1:04:00 	 Also taped a segment about their lives as lesbians raising children on Wisconsin Public TV, at about the same time. (Donna Winter has a copy of the tape.)  The filmmakers wanted to film Martha at Middleton High School, which necessitated her coming out to an assistant principal, discussion of Martha’s struggles and 	allies at the school.  Talks about meeting Vickie Schaeffer, another out lesbian teacher at Middleton High School, “It was a great day for both of us.”  Discussion of starting a Gay Straight Alliance at Middleton High School and organizing the first celebration where GLBT students were honored with scholarships.  Also discussed the national  premier of “It’s Elementary” at the Barrymore Theatre. 

Interview Session #2

00:00:00	Discussion begins with Martha and Alix suing the Madison YMCA because they refused the Popp-Olson family a family membership.  They were told, “You’re not a real family.”  Press conferences were called, ultimately influenced the Madison Domestic Partnership Ordinance and forced the Shorewood Hills Pool to accept gay and lesbian families.  To this day, people come up to Alix and Martha and thank them.

00:16:54	Continuing discussion of Middleton High School and Martha’s struggle with homophobic parents and the student’s support of gay and lesbian teachers.  Discussion of the strategy used by Martha and her supporters to attempt to deal with angry parents.  Principal was Tom Vandervest. 
At about this time Martha was named Outreach’s Woman of the Year and also the UW Alumni person of the year.  Alix describes Martha’s speech to the alumni as an “incredible speech …. strong and courageous.” 

00:24:40 	Alix discusses her experiences with sports in Madison. “Good competition, good times, good people.” Alix played fast pitch soft ball on the Alabama league, which was the highest of the leagues, “pretty much” composed of lesbians, also played city league basketball and soccer.  Discussion of Bovine Babes soccer team going to the Gay Games in New York City in 1994. Martha also competed in swimming, the only entrant from Wisconsin. (Martha was on the first women’s 	swim team at Bowling Green University.) Bovine Babes won silver. Discussion of the amazing experience of being in NY City at this time, competing in the games, it was also the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. Says Alix: “It was unbelievable!”  They attended with Vickie Schaeffer and Denise Markham, her partner, who competed in body building.

00:33:26	Discussion of the Hotel Washington and it burning down.  After the fire, 		someone hung a big rainbow flag over the burned remains.  Alix and 
Martha felt that it needed to be memorialized somehow.  They took a photo and made 1,000 copies, most distributed through A Room of One’s Own Feminist Bookstore.  Their goal was to raise money to start a meeting place for gay and lesbian teens.

00:38:42	In 2002 Alix ran unsuccessfully for the Madison School Board as an out lesbian.  She discusses why she ran and what the experience was like.  When asked why she did it, she said “Ego!”  “I was asked to do it.”  She adds at the end that she was “really relieved when I didn’t win.”  She learned a lot, met some wonderful people and got to share the stage with a slam poet who shares her same name and quite remarkably, signature as well!

00:46:26  	 Remainder of interview touches on Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (didn’t go because they would not admit boy children); the Lesbian Variety Show (“We went to a bunch of them”) and on one occasion Alix performed with a group of lesbian cops; Apple Island (“That was a lot of fun”), names mentioned, Lois Stauber ,Wendy Hutton and Mary Waitrovich; the Kathryn Rouse suicide/murder, Alix worked the case with Mary Otterson.

00:56:13 	 Interviewer expresses the loss to all of us in Madison that Alix and Martha are moving to New Hampshire.  Alix responds:  “You’re losing us because we can’t be married in Wisconsin.”  Alix and Martha have had 3 domestic partnerships, a civil union in Vermont in 2000 and were legally married in 2010 in New Hampshire.

00:58:50  	Interview ends