She was an American writer and activist, not afraid to upset Americans with her views on the Vietnam war, the 9/11 attacks, or the colonialism of white civilisation.
She was bisexual and out about that, particularly later on in life. She used the b-word about herself in New Yorker magazine in 1995. An interview in the Guardian in 2000 quoted her as saying she has been in love seven times in her life…
'No, hang on,' she says. 'Actually, it's nine. Five women, four men.'
She died aged 71 in 2004.
The obituary in the New York Times didn't mention her last long relationship, with the photographer Annie Leibovitz. Neither did the LA Times, though both carried her death on their front pages and inside the newspaper.
So someone wrote an article for the LA Times about the erasure. Great! Except…
It seems that editors at what are, arguably, the nation’s most respected (and liberal) newspapers believe that one personal detail cannot be mentioned in even the most complete biographies — being a lesbian.
In a 1995 New Yorker profile, Sontag outed herself as bisexual, familiar code for "gay."
Highlighting mine, but that's one small reason why there's a Bi Visibility Day.
Be serious, be passionate, wake up! – Susan Sontag
