Madeline Davis

Madeline Davis
Born	July 7, 1940 Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Died	April 28, 2021(2021-04-28) (aged 80) Amherst, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	University at Buffalo
Organizations	Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier Stonewall Democrats
Notable work	Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community
Spouse	Wendy Smiley ​ (m. 1995)​

Madeline Davis (July 7, 1940 – April 28, 2021) was an American LGBT activist and historian.^[1] In 1970 she was a founding member of the Mattachine Society of the Niagara Frontier, the first gay rights organization in Western New York.^[2] Davis became the first openly lesbian delegate at a major party national convention, speaking at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. The same year, she taught with Margaret Small the first course on lesbianism in the United States, titled "Lesbianism 101" at the University at Buffalo.

In 1993, she co-authored Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community, a history of gay women in Buffalo, New York, that won awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Anthropological Association and the Lambda Literary Foundation. She also participated in the founding of the HAG Theatre Company, the first all-lesbian theater company in the U.S., in 1994.