Shirley A. Fitzpatrick

(Shirley Fitzpatrick was the subject of an interview by the Milwaukee LGBT History Project early in 2003, and was featured in a display first appearing at PrideFest 2003.) Fitzpatrick created, and relied on, LGBT community in Milwaukee by playing softball. She doesn't think of herself as a political person. She was never particularly out at work. She would have told anyone who asked, but the subject never seemed to come up.

She calls herself a "gay woman" rather than a "lesbian" because she thinks the word "gay" captures it all - and any term we use, according to Fitzpatrick, should include everyone.