Shatzi Weisberger

Shatzi Weisberger was born on June 17, 1930.[1] Her mother was a lesbian; she grew up in a small apartment with her mother and her mother's female partner,[2] though she was not aware of their relationship at the time.[2][3] Weisberger did not have a close relationship with either of her parents.[3]

Weisberger was married to a man for 18 years, and they had children; she left him after reading The Feminine Mystique. She later realized she was a lesbian.[3]

Weisberger's activism began with advocacy against redlining in suburban Long Island. She was part of a group that encouraged families of color to visit real estate agents and ask about specific homes; after the families were told that a deposit had already been made on the home they inquired about, Weisberger would expose the discrimination by making the same inquiry and being invited to make an offer for purchase.[2] She was also active in the civil rights movement.[6]

Weisberger was a political lesbian for a period of time,[4] was a member of ACT UP,[3] and was part of the public opposition to nuclear technology[4] as a member of Dykes Opposed to Nuclear Technology.[2] One of her earliest acts of activism took place at a die-in in New York City, where she cried because she felt that she was "in the right place doing the right things with the right people".[4]

Weisberger has been present at numerous protests and demonstrations in New York, leading The Advocate to describe her as "a fixture". She has been active in protests against police brutality in the United States,[4] supports abolition of the police and of prisons,[6] and is associated with anti-Zionism. At one Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020, which occurred on her 90th birthday, she was dubbed "the people's bubbie" (a Yiddish term for a grandmother).[1] She broke curfew to attend another Black Lives Matter protest.[2][6]

In 2021, Weisberger cited her age as a positive contributor to her activism, explaining that her presence "brings attention to the issues that matter" and expressing an intent to participate in "as many demonstrations as I possibly can".[1]

Weisberger is disabled, with macular degeneration.[1] She uses a walker.[2] She sings as part of the Brooklyn Women's Chorus.[3][4] Asked about her "secret to longevity" in an interview for Glorious Broads, she cited dietary supplements, always being passionately engaged in a project, avoiding stress, drinking green tea, and smoking marijuana every night.[3]

In 2018, Weisberger held a "FUN-eral" for herself in the common room of an Upper West Side apartment building. Guests decorated a cardboard coffin, ate and sang, and Weisberger spoke about death and dying.[5] She told John Leland of The New York Times that she had worried she might die before hosting the funeral.[7]

Weisberger experienced symptoms of a heart attack in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown in New York. Rather than going to a hospital and increasing her risk of contracting COVID-19, she tried to relax and quickly recovered.[8]

Weisberger has stated that she hopes to "have time to experience my dying process" in her own home; items in her house are tagged with the name of the person she wants to bequeath them to. According to Weisberger, she wants people to "come, say their goodbyes, pick up their bequeath items" before she dies, and does not wish to be drugged. She plans to be buried in a forest in Upstate New York.[4]