Celebrate Pride by looking back at Kyle Long’s 2021 conversation with LGBTQ+ activist Mary Byrne. A key figure in Indiana’s gay rights movement, Byrne also played an important but lesser-known role in the state’s music history as a promoter and curator of women’s music, a cultural movement that emerged from 1970s feminism.
From 1978 to 1984, Byrne owned and operated Labyris, a feminist and lesbian bar near downtown Indianapolis that became a vital gathering place for music and community. The venue featured performances by leading artists from the women’s music scene, including Holly Near, Toshi Reagon, and June and Jean Millington.
Byrne also served as director of the National Women’s Music Festival during the 1980s and ’90s, helping bring major performers such as Odetta, Tracy Chapman, and Ani DiFranco to audiences in Indiana.
