Birthdays
Profiles of LGBT people, from the past and today – and celebrating their birthdays! All Birthdays →
Sharon Owens
Sharon Owens was born to African Americans parents in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, on December 12, 1947. Owens attended Shippensburg State College from 1965 to 1969. She worked as a case worker for the Philadelphia Welfare Department and an English teacher for the Peace Corps from 1969 to 1973. Owens then attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania from 1973 to 1976; while there, she became involved with the Women’s Center and had her first coming-out experience. In the late 1970s, Owens was a member of several lesbian organizations, including Custody Action for Lesbian Mothers and Dyketactics. In 1975 Owens participated in a Dyketactics protest at City Hall in support of Bill 1275, a local LGBTQ civil rights bill. She subsequently was involved in a lawsuit that challenged the use of undue force by the Philadelphia police at the protest, but she lost the case in federal court in 1976. Owens was part of Dyketactics protests at Fairmount Park during the Bicentennial celebration and around the same time helped to organize a protest against the exploitation film Snuff. In 1977, Owens was involved in organizing the gay pride march in Philadelphia. Owens worked as a lawyer from 1976 to 1983 and as a librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia in the early 1990s. As of 2024, Owens lives in New Jersey. For more on Sharon Owens, see Philadelphia LGBT History Project, 1940-1980, by Marc Stein.