In the 1980’s, a group calling itself First Friday sprung fully formed from the imaginations of a group of lesbians living in the small city of Roanoke, Virginia. Some of the women were locals and some moved to the Roanoke Valley for employment. It was the Reagan era and homosexuals were vilified, especially in the Bible Belt. Spurred on by the pure serendipity of finding each other, the group created safe space, threw fantastic events and grew a community of lasting friendships, all in the shadow of the Moral Majority.

First Friday started with monthly house parties and went on to produce Lesbian comedians, theatre productions and concerts. Each Autumn they organized the Roanoke Valley Womenʼs Retreat, a highly successful weekend campout. In the Spring they hosted the Fabulous Feb- ruary Fling, a fancy dress ball. Women from the mountains, the valleys, and surrounding states, all eager to leave the isolation of the closet and meet other lesbians, took advantage of First Friday events and the opportunity to be themselves without fear of repercussions.

The Unlikely Story of the Lesbians of First Friday is a nugget of lesbian history mined from the peaks and valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains and told through the voices and anecdotes of women who were there.