Her club Sahara was a touchstone of feminist and LGBT history, and we're long overdue for a (re-)visit., Cohen's prose is honest and beautiful and many of us will find ourselves in her words. In The Audacity of a Kiss, Leslie Cohen is telling a neglected story that we all need to hear. The Audacity of a Kiss is a moving and inspiring tale of how love, art, and solidarity can overcome oppression. Foremost among these was her 1976 cofounding of the groundbreaking women's nightclub Sahara, which played host to such luminaries as Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Pat Benatar, Ntozake Shange, Rita Mae Brown, Adrienne Rich, Patti Smith, Bella Abzug, and Jane Fonda. Transporting the reader to the pivotal time when brave gay women and men carved out spaces where they could live and love freely, she recounts both her personal struggles and the accomplishments she achieved as part of New York's gay and feminist communities.

In this evocative memoir, Cohen tells the story of a love that has lasted for over fifty years. The two women are part of George Segal's iconic sculpture 'Gay Liberation,' but these powerful symbols were modeled on real people: Leslie Cohen and her partner (now wife) Beth Suskin. One of the women touches the thigh of her partner as they gaze into each other's eyes.

Rendered in bronze, covered in white lacquer, two women sit together on a park bench in Greenwich Village.

The audacity of a kiss