Billye Talmadge has been writing most of her adult life. Her interest in mystery stories led her to write for many mystery magazines. Unfortunately, many of her writings have been lost with time. Her true genius was in the classes and seminars she taught. Her many students in public schools and private arenas lives are better because she was their teacher. Her compassion and ability to see each student as an individual helped release their potential as a human being
About the Author: Billye Talmadge, H.W., M., born on December 7, 1929 in Missouri, and raised by her mother in Oklahoma. The black sheep of the Talmadge family she is the niece of former Georgia Senator and Governor Herman E Talmadge. In September 1955 she joined a group of other women in Rose Bamberger's living room for a gathering that would lay the foundation for the Daughters of Bilitis, (DOB) the first lesbian civil rights group in America. By 1958 DOB had formed a network of local chapters across the country and between 1960-1970 DOB sponsored public conventions on gay and lesbian issues. Billye acted as educator to the women that came as well as in interviews and literature, presenting the DOB and GLBT issues in a non-threatening manner to the general public. She was involved with the Gab 'n Java sessions, The Ladder magazine, and in the formation and development of the Council on Religion and Homosexuals. She was an early supporter of Troy Perry and the formation of the MCC church. From the very beginning she was heavily involved in education and peer-to-peer counseling, which often was as-simple-as reassuring Lesbians they were not ill or depraved. DOB became more and more involved with civil rights, instead of speaking in terms of gay and lesbian DOB often used the term variant, as in alternate sexual preference. Members were assured that their identity would be kept secret as it was a time when many would have lost their jobs or been expelled from school if their sexual and gender preferences were known. Early on Billye became interested in human sexuality and the variations it represented. She has always identified as female, but taught and showed that the androgynous nature we all have, allows us to identify as any gender. She was instrumental in providing the philosophy for Del Martin and Phyl Lyons activities on human sexuality in San Francisco. Billye has dedicated her life to education and inclusion of all women. Her memories are full of DOB and the early days and the individual stories of the women who came to DOB seeking both shelter and companionship from their well of loneliness in a world who rejected them. Billye has written for mystery magazines as well as professional journals.