'Old Lesbians' documentary highlights the importance of recording 'herstory'

The new film shines light on the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project, which has been preserving the legacy of women who love women for a quarter-century.

“Two, four, six, eight! How do you know your grandma’s straight?” These words rang through our nation’s capital on April 25, 1993, during the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Equal Rights and Liberation. Now, three decades later, if you pose this question to filmmaker Meghan McDonough, she’ll say, “You don’t necessarily!”

McDonough, 30, has spent the last year working on her documentary short “Old Lesbians,” which delves into the archives of the Old Lesbian Oral Herstory Project (OLOHP) and honors the project’s late founder, Arden Eversmeyer, who died last November at 91.