Honey Lee Cottrell in Memoriam
January 16, 1946 — September 21, 2015
When I think of Honey Lee, I always see that scene from Casablanca in my mind:
“This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
This story requires my most personal disclaimers:
I lived with Honey Lee for six years, and produced lesbian photography with her for almost every day of that period. When I had my first child in 1990, she became my daughter’s godmother. I don’t believe in God, but I have to admit I believe in Honey Lee, mythically as well as personally.
Honey Lee was my second butch girlfriend, but she was my first famous love, my first older woman lover. At the end of our first date, she dropped me off on the curb and said, “Bye — You’re a nice kid.” I was put out by that, but I was dutifully intimidated. Honey Lee had already been partners with a string of women who were like the Who’s Who of Lesbian History. I looked up to all of them, from Melinda Gebbie, the virtuoso artist of the underground comix scene…