Rosalie Davies, 70, activist for lesbian rights in nation
Rosalie Davies, 70, formerly of Narberth, a lawyer who was an advocate for lesbian rights, died Tuesday at Roxborough Memorial Hospital of a stroke. For the last two years Ms. Davies was a resident of Simpson House, a retirement residence in Philadelphia.
Rosalie Davies, 70, formerly of Narberth, a lawyer who was an advocate for lesbian rights, died Tuesday at Roxborough Memorial Hospital of a stroke. For the last two years Ms. Davies was a resident of Simpson House, a retirement residence in Philadelphia.
A native of London, Ms. Davies immigrated to Montreal with her husband, Kevin Buck, in the 1950s. In the late 1960s, they moved to the Philadelphia area, and she became active in the anti-Vietnam War and feminist movements. When she and her husband divorced, they shared custody of their son and daughter.
In the early 1970s, Buck remarried and wanted to take the children to Canada with his new wife. "Suddenly my lesbianism was a lever he could use," Ms. Davies told a reporter in 1984. Montgomery County Court stripped her of all but the briefest visitation rights, she said. "I felt like my sexuality was on trial, it was like an ancient witchcraft trial," she said.
Ms. Davies left the courtroom without her children, and vowed to become a lawyer because of the experience, she said. Within a year of the custody battle, she was reunited with her children, who asked to return to Philadelphia to live with her.
While earning a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Davies ran a telephone help line for lesbians. In 1979, she earned a law degree from Temple University, and for many years she headed Custody Action for Lesbian Mothers, a legal aid organization in Narberth that she founded.
Ms. Davies was an active participant at National Women's Studies Association conferences.
In 1979, she wrote a discussion guide for the film In the Best Interests of the Children, about lesbian mothers and their children. With Minna "Mickey" Weinstein, a college professor, she wrote a chapter, "Confronting the Courts," for the book Politics of the Heart: A Lesbian Parenting Anthology, published in 1987. She and Weinstein, who died last year, were partners for more than 30 years and adopted a daughter.
Ms. Davies had an intense interest in politics and world news, said Madaline Muir, a longtime friend.
She is survived by a son, Adrian Buck; daughters Caroline Hodson and Althea Weinstein; four grandchildren; and her former husband.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. today at Haverford Friends Meeting, 855 Buck Lane, Haverford.
