Stone Butch Blues

Jess meets Millie through her friend, Edwin. Jess describes it as love at first sight, with Millie, an attractive femme, walking over to Jess and climbing on the back of her motorcycle without even a word. Before long, their relationship becomes intense and committed. Jess takes a job at a plastic pipe factory and helps Millie get a position in a bindery. They move in together and life is routine and pleasant until Millie loses her temporary factory position and decides to go back to dancing at a club. Jess is upset with this plan because she feels Millie will be likely mistreated, harassed, and perhaps even raped. They fight about this and Millie is angry with Jess and calls her controlling. Just when it seems that they might come to terms with their differing opinions, Jess makes the serious blunder of going to the sleazy dive where Millie dances and watching her perform naked for a crowd of men. Millie is furious with Jess for showing up there and the two separate not long after.

Jess, along with friends, attends the funeral of Butch Ro, a woman who was revered as an elder. Jess is told by others that she is supposed to wear a dress but doesn’t do so. When she arrives at the funeral she is shocked to see so many butch women dressed in frilly dresses that fit them poorly, all so they can be allowed into the funeral. When the family notices Jess dressed in a suit and tie they kick all the women out. The family also forbids Butch Ro’s friends from going with them to the cemetery for the burial.

Jess takes a job at a cannery, where she and Jan both endure harassment when they try to use the women’s bathroom. A highlight of the job is meeting Theresa, who also works there, until she is sexually harassed by a supervisor. Jess doesn’t expect to ever see Theresa again, after Theresa leaves the cannery, but is pleased to run into her at the only gay bar in Buffalo at the time. Before long, the two are a couple. Jess states: “I grew up in leaps and bounds” (123). Theresa gets Jess to pay bills on time, eat vegetables, and learn how to apologize when needed. Soon, Theresa gets a job on a college campus. She begins to tell Jess all that she hears about the war in Vietnam and the student protests against it. Jess is not sure what to think but Theresa becomes increasingly politically involved. She starts attending women’s liberation groups and discussing civil rights and race relations with Jess. Just before their two-year anniversary, Jess and Theresa are out together when they are harassed by the cops. Inspired by the student protests, Theresa decides that instead of running, they should fight back. The cops are shocked and retreat. Jess is stunned and impressed by Theresa’s courage. Shortly thereafter, she proposes to Theresa and Theresa accepts.

After the start of gay pride, Jess feels that the cops step up their harassment. She is again targeted and beaten so badly she loses teeth and is unable to work for a while. She is laid off for her absence from the job. Theresa comforts her, saying that something else will come along. When Theresa then loses her job, things begin to look very bleak. Some of their friends suggest that Jess and other butch lesbians “dress up” in make-up and wigs in order to get work. Jess refuses to do this and instead talks with her friend Ed about hormone therapy. Ed feels that this is the only way to survive and Jess thinks Ed may be right.

Jess talks about this with Theresa, who is aghast and angry. She wants Jess to acknowledge that she is a woman, a lesbian and be part of women’s liberation. Jess tries to convince her that this is the only way, that she is sick of fighting everyday just to be able to go out in public and not be harassed. She asks Theresa to try and accept the idea, but Theresa cannot. Theresa ends their relationship, telling Jess to write her a letter someday, even if she doesn’t know where to send it. She then asks Jess to leave.