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ELC Report 2019 (English)
Download [17.40 MB]
ELC Report 2019 (Ukrainian)
Download [18 MB]
ELC Report 2019 (Russian)
Download [18 MB]
ELC Report 2019 (English)
Download [17.40 MB]
ELC Report 2019 (Ukrainian)
Download [18 MB]
ELC Report 2019 (Russian)
Download [18 MB]
Alliances with trans activists
Lesbians have historically been at the forefront of struggles against the policing of bodies and political oppression of self-determination. Leading the fight for sexual and reproductive health and rights – notably abortion rights, alongside straight women, joining in the fight against AIDS with gay men, being part of the black lives matter movement against racism and racially motivated police violence, as well as supporting the fight for trans persons’ rights and ending a system of gender dichotomy. The diverse lesbian and trans communities are strong allies. We know we have common adversaries that threaten and strategically attack our fundamental rights.
EL*C is very concerned about attempts to erase the historical legacy of mutual alliance and support. Our conference, our board and our movement are open to all those who are committed to fighting for the rights, the visibility and the well-being of lesbians, regardless of gender identity.
We are determined not to give in to the unscrupulous and hideous attempts to divide the lesbian movement, and more broadly the LGBTIQ+ movement, through controversies that only serve the interest of our common detractors/opponents, and derail us from our mission. We are proud to welcome everyone at EL*C and remain true to the spirit of our “lesbian pioneers” who have been allies to other emancipatory social and political movements that strive for freedom from oppression.
Our values
#INCLUSION: As already firmly stated in EL*C’s first concept note, our aim is to hold an inclusive European lesbian conference. We insist on calling it a lesbian conference although we recognize that, as with any category or label, it may be contested and insufficient to describe the diversity of our communities. We are aware that many previous lesbian gatherings have struggled with issues about who should or should not be included at the conference. However, using the word “lesbian” is part of the political struggle for visibility, empowerment and representation. We therefore use “lesbian*” with an asterisk, so as to include also those who identify as lesbian, bi, trans, intersex or queer, and others who feel connected and committed to lesbian* activism.
#RESPECT: EL*C recognises the variety of positions, strategies, and struggles that coexist within our movement and among the broad and diverse community that we look to support. Above all, as the movement is being built, we care to create a climate of mutual respect and trust, where constructive conversations can be held and opinions can be allowed to evolve, in a spirit of sisterhood and without judgment. In this light, EL*C supports the right to self-determination of trans women who are part of our unified movement.
#REPRESENTATION: EL*C fights for the rights, the visibility, as well as the safety and well-being of lesbians in Europe and Central Asia. Our movement is diverse in many respects, starting with the fact that it covers a large geographical scope from Western Europe to Central Asia, where lesbians, their organisations and their families, are faced with very different realities, needs and challenges. It is also an intersectional movement, which strives to secure space and representation for lesbians of all ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds, disabled or not, of all ages, nationalities, etc. We also acknowledge the instrumental role that segregated spaces have played historically, and continue to play today, in providing the necessary platforms for LGBTIQ+ and feminist movements to regroup and for diverse voices to emerge. As such, within the broader European lesbian movement, we recognize the need of lesbians and of women to meet and organise based on their defined needs and identities.
TIME TO BE UNITED: Keeping in mind the political context in many European and Central Asian countries faced with the rise and pressure of anti-gender narratives and policies, it is more important than ever that lesbians remain united and that we forge robust relations based on solidarity and mutual respect with other LGBTIQ, feminist and emancipatory networks.
Alliances with trans activists
Lesbians have historically been at the forefront of struggles against the policing of bodies and political oppression of self-determination. Leading the fight for sexual and reproductive health and rights – notably abortion rights, alongside straight women, joining in the fight against AIDS with gay men, being part of the black lives matter movement against racism and racially motivated police violence, as well as supporting the fight for trans persons’ rights and ending a system of gender dichotomy. The diverse lesbian and trans communities are strong allies. We know we have common adversaries that threaten and strategically attack our fundamental rights.
EL*C is very concerned about attempts to erase the historical legacy of mutual alliance and support. Our conference, our board and our movement are open to all those who are committed to fighting for the rights, the visibility and the well-being of lesbians, regardless of gender identity.
We are determined not to give in to the unscrupulous and hideous attempts to divide the lesbian movement, and more broadly the LGBTIQ+ movement, through controversies that only serve the interest of our common detractors/opponents, and derail us from our mission. We are proud to welcome everyone at EL*C and remain true to the spirit of our “lesbian pioneers” who have been allies to other emancipatory social and political movements that strive for freedom from oppression.
Our values
#INCLUSION: As already firmly stated in EL*C’s first concept note, our aim is to hold an inclusive European lesbian conference. We insist on calling it a lesbian conference although we recognize that, as with any category or label, it may be contested and insufficient to describe the diversity of our communities. We are aware that many previous lesbian gatherings have struggled with issues about who should or should not be included at the conference. However, using the word “lesbian” is part of the political struggle for visibility, empowerment and representation. We therefore use “lesbian*” with an asterisk, so as to include also those who identify as lesbian, bi, trans, intersex or queer, and others who feel connected and committed to lesbian* activism.
#RESPECT: EL*C recognises the variety of positions, strategies, and struggles that coexist within our movement and among the broad and diverse community that we look to support. Above all, as the movement is being built, we care to create a climate of mutual respect and trust, where constructive conversations can be held and opinions can be allowed to evolve, in a spirit of sisterhood and without judgment. In this light, EL*C supports the right to self-determination of trans women who are part of our unified movement.
#REPRESENTATION: EL*C fights for the rights, the visibility, as well as the safety and well-being of lesbians in Europe and Central Asia. Our movement is diverse in many respects, starting with the fact that it covers a large geographical scope from Western Europe to Central Asia, where lesbians, their organisations and their families, are faced with very different realities, needs and challenges. It is also an intersectional movement, which strives to secure space and representation for lesbians of all ethnic backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds, disabled or not, of all ages, nationalities, etc. We also acknowledge the instrumental role that segregated spaces have played historically, and continue to play today, in providing the necessary platforms for LGBTIQ+ and feminist movements to regroup and for diverse voices to emerge. As such, within the broader European lesbian movement, we recognize the need of lesbians and of women to meet and organise based on their defined needs and identities.
TIME TO BE UNITED: Keeping in mind the political context in many European and Central Asian countries faced with the rise and pressure of anti-gender narratives and policies, it is more important than ever that lesbians remain united and that we forge robust relations based on solidarity and mutual respect with other LGBTIQ, feminist and emancipatory networks.
Ukrainian Articles: 65 articles in Ukrainian
dw.com: How is the European conference of lesbians going inKyiv?
hromadske.ua: Several people with posters “The Family is a union of men and women” came to a lesbian conference.
humanrights.org.ua: The ultra-right in Kyiv tried to disrupt the European Lesbian Conference.
rubryka.com: In Kyiv, radicals are rallying against the “European Lesbian Conference”
ua.korrespondent.net: Kyiv residents came to protest becauseof lesbian conference.
espreso.tv: In Kyiv participants of the “European Lesbian Conference”have been attacked.
ukrinform.ua: The police guard a lesbian conference in Kiev, which yesterday had been tried to disrupt.
politkrytyka.org: The Lesbian pan-European movement visited Kyiv.
kiev.ua: On the Livoberezhna tried to disrupt the European Lesbian conference.
nv.ua: In Kyiv, radicals with gas attacked participants of the Lesbian conference, ten victims
kyivpost.com: Hundreds of lesbian activists to meet in Kyiv on April 11-14
Ukrainian TV
euronews.com: In Kyiv, they tried to disrupt the congress of lesbians.
TCH Ukraine – YouTube channel: The ultra-right organizations attacked the hotel where the lesbian conference took place.
vikna.stb.ua: https://vikna.stb.ua/ua/issue/vipusk-vid-12-04-2019-22-00/ (Video only available in Ukraine)
Russian Articles
80 articles in Russian. Most of them are translated copies of Ukrainian versions.
lenta.ru: Ukrainian radicals turned against lesbians.
rusnext.ru Kyiv residents went to the Maidan because of the lesbian conference.
ruainform.com: In Kyiv, protested against the lesbian conference.
glavred.info: In Kyiv, the radicals attacked a lesbian conference: there are victims.
Russian TV
ntv.ru: In Kyiv, the radicals attacked the lesbian conference
US, Canada, Ireland & UK Articles
foxnews.com: Ukrainian ultra-right spray tear gas over lesbian gathering
washingtonpost.com: Ultra-right activists hound European lesbian conference
gaycitynews.nyc: Lesbians Overcome Far-Right Protestors at Kiev Conference
openlynews.com: ‘Are you scared?’ – Protests as lesbian conference kicks off in Ukraine
pinknews.co.uk: Lesbian conference in Ukraine targeted by anti-LGBT protesters
New Jersey Herald: Ukrainian ultra-right spray tear gas over lesbian gathering
msn.com: Lesbian conference in Ukraine targeted by anti-LGBT protesters
thestar.com: Ultra-right activists hound European lesbian conference
gcn.ie: Hundreds of Lesbian Activists Meet At International Conference In Ukraine
French Articles
nouvelobs.com: Olena Shevchenko : celle qui voulait que les lesbiennes d’Europe de l’Est ne soient pas oubliées
Gouinement Lundi Radio show
liberation.fr: Ukraine: la conférence lesbienne européenne prise pour cible par des manifestants anti-LGBT
German Articles
bild.de: AFTER ATTACK AT LESBIANS CONFERENCE, Video message from Minister Giffey
dw.com: Far-right protesters target European Lesbian Conference in Ukraine
siegessaeule.de: European Lesbian Conference: Between Hate and Love
l-mag.de: European lesbian conference in Kiev: hatred, love and the lesbian revolution
queer.de: Germany as LGBTI advocate in Europe?
blu.fm: “We are not afraid”: Lesbian conference in Kiev starts despite homophobic protests
euronews.de: Right-wing extremists attack LGBT conference in Kiev
quarteera.de: 2. European Lesbian* Conference in Kiev
Italian Articles
eastjournal.net: UKRAINE: The success of the second European Lesbian * Conference
Spanish Articles
eldiario.es: “Go back to hell, sodomites”: several protesters try to boycott the European lesbian conference in Kiev
player.fm: Kika Fumero talks about the SECOND EUROPEAN LESBIAN * CONFERENCE
Press Agencies
Associated Press: Ultra-right activists hound European lesbian conference
Reuters: ‘Are you scared?’: Protests as lesbian conference kicks off in Ukraine
Taiwan News: Far-right protesters target European Lesbian Conference in Ukraine
Institutions
UN Women: The largest network of lesbian activists in the region call for greater equality and inclusion
HWR Human Rights Watch: Lesbians Held Conference in Kyiv Despite Counter Protests
Thomson Reuters Foundation: ‘Are you scared?’ – Protests as lesbian conference kicks off in Ukraine
Amnesty International: UKRAINE: ATTACKS ON THE EUROPEAN LESBIAN CONFERENCE MUST BE CONDEMNED
Ukrainian Articles: 65 articles in Ukrainian
dw.com: How is the European conference of lesbians going inKyiv?
hromadske.ua: Several people with posters “The Family is a union of men and women” came to a lesbian conference.
humanrights.org.ua: The ultra-right in Kyiv tried to disrupt the European Lesbian Conference.
rubryka.com: In Kyiv, radicals are rallying against the “European Lesbian Conference”
ua.korrespondent.net: Kyiv residents came to protest becauseof lesbian conference.
espreso.tv: In Kyiv participants of the “European Lesbian Conference”have been attacked.
ukrinform.ua: The police guard a lesbian conference in Kiev, which yesterday had been tried to disrupt.
politkrytyka.org: The Lesbian pan-European movement visited Kyiv.
kiev.ua: On the Livoberezhna tried to disrupt the European Lesbian conference.
nv.ua: In Kyiv, radicals with gas attacked participants of the Lesbian conference, ten victims
kyivpost.com: Hundreds of lesbian activists to meet in Kyiv on April 11-14
Ukrainian TV
euronews.com: In Kyiv, they tried to disrupt the congress of lesbians.
TCH Ukraine – YouTube channel: The ultra-right organizations attacked the hotel where the lesbian conference took place.
vikna.stb.ua: https://vikna.stb.ua/ua/issue/vipusk-vid-12-04-2019-22-00/ (Video only available in Ukraine)
Russian Articles
80 articles in Russian. Most of them are translated copies of Ukrainian versions.
lenta.ru: Ukrainian radicals turned against lesbians.
rusnext.ru Kyiv residents went to the Maidan because of the lesbian conference.
ruainform.com: In Kyiv, protested against the lesbian conference.
glavred.info: In Kyiv, the radicals attacked a lesbian conference: there are victims.
Russian TV
ntv.ru: In Kyiv, the radicals attacked the lesbian conference
US, Canada, Ireland & UK Articles
foxnews.com: Ukrainian ultra-right spray tear gas over lesbian gathering
washingtonpost.com: Ultra-right activists hound European lesbian conference
gaycitynews.nyc: Lesbians Overcome Far-Right Protestors at Kiev Conference
openlynews.com: ‘Are you scared?’ – Protests as lesbian conference kicks off in Ukraine
pinknews.co.uk: Lesbian conference in Ukraine targeted by anti-LGBT protesters
New Jersey Herald: Ukrainian ultra-right spray tear gas over lesbian gathering
msn.com: Lesbian conference in Ukraine targeted by anti-LGBT protesters
thestar.com: Ultra-right activists hound European lesbian conference
gcn.ie: Hundreds of Lesbian Activists Meet At International Conference In Ukraine
French Articles
nouvelobs.com: Olena Shevchenko : celle qui voulait que les lesbiennes d’Europe de l’Est ne soient pas oubliées
Gouinement Lundi Radio show
liberation.fr: Ukraine: la conférence lesbienne européenne prise pour cible par des manifestants anti-LGBT
German Articles
bild.de: AFTER ATTACK AT LESBIANS CONFERENCE, Video message from Minister Giffey
dw.com: Far-right protesters target European Lesbian Conference in Ukraine
siegessaeule.de: European Lesbian Conference: Between Hate and Love
l-mag.de: European lesbian conference in Kiev: hatred, love and the lesbian revolution
queer.de: Germany as LGBTI advocate in Europe?
blu.fm: “We are not afraid”: Lesbian conference in Kiev starts despite homophobic protests
euronews.de: Right-wing extremists attack LGBT conference in Kiev
quarteera.de: 2. European Lesbian* Conference in Kiev
Italian Articles
eastjournal.net: UKRAINE: The success of the second European Lesbian * Conference
Spanish Articles
eldiario.es: “Go back to hell, sodomites”: several protesters try to boycott the European lesbian conference in Kiev
player.fm: Kika Fumero talks about the SECOND EUROPEAN LESBIAN * CONFERENCE
Press Agencies
Associated Press: Ultra-right activists hound European lesbian conference
Reuters: ‘Are you scared?’: Protests as lesbian conference kicks off in Ukraine
Taiwan News: Far-right protesters target European Lesbian Conference in Ukraine
Institutions
UN Women: The largest network of lesbian activists in the region call for greater equality and inclusion
HWR Human Rights Watch: Lesbians Held Conference in Kyiv Despite Counter Protests
Thomson Reuters Foundation: ‘Are you scared?’ – Protests as lesbian conference kicks off in Ukraine
Amnesty International: UKRAINE: ATTACKS ON THE EUROPEAN LESBIAN CONFERENCE MUST BE CONDEMNED
I am Monica Benicio, lesbo-feminist, born and raised in one of the biggest favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Maré, I graduated in architecture and am wife of Marielle Franco, a councilor from Rio de Janeiro, murdered in 2018.
It is very important to be at the European Lesbian Conference as a Latin American woman. I say this because we have had our bodies, knowledges and cultures colonized for centuries and we can still say that we are in the process of decolonizing our lives. Brazil, for example, has marks of racism and sexism in its history and present situations that are so noticeable when we come across the data of violence in our country.
Imagine a country that had its soil invaded by European immigrants who raped indigenous women, sexually abducted and raped African enslaved women. Enslavement that lasted for 318 years and Brazil has had its “discovery” 519 years ago. A Brazil that did not notice and did not recognize 21 years of civil-military dictatorship.
We know that Brazil has its distinct placement upon latin american countries, due to its territorial amplitude, high population density, and for having been one of the countries with economic growth of greater impact among the so-called “outsourced” countries for years. And today, as you might have noticed, Brazil is being presided over by a government with strong fascist and denial-of-politics characteristics, which was elected with hate speeches against the black population, women and LGBTIQ.
Bolsonaro represents on the one hand a middle class that, as proclaimed „is worn out” by dividing its privileges, and on the other hand a pseudo-elite of religious fundamentalism. The surveys carried out in Brazil indicate that the majority of their voters are men, white, upper level, with average Brazilian income, concentrated in the south and southeast of Brazil.
Many women in the 2018 election took to the streets with the motto #EleNão (Not Him) against misogynistic arguments, the project of total militarization of everyday life, and against attacks on the rights of the current president and in defense of democracy. The acts were as grandiose as those of 8M.
I have said that there is an ongoing feminist revolution. But we, as lesbo-feminists, need to build this revolution horizontally. I say this by understanding that our feminisms differ and often oppress. I am a woman raised in the favela, but my privilege as a white woman allows me to have access, in which black, or women of color are denied due to racism.
Likewise, my lesbianity makes me one of the main victims of sexual violence, the so-called corrective rapes, for not being in the heteronormative pattern. As well as, transwomen are the main victims of murders.
Think of the body of a woman: black, lesbian and trans, disputing spaces like this to have their characterizations being debated just like ours? We need to rethink our privileges, make a policy based on intersectionality and without hierarchy of oppression.
We have talked so much in recent years about gender equality and international feminism, but in our day-to-day practices we ignore the subaltern work of refugees, sexism & racism against black women, the subalternities of trans-people and even the violence between us lesbians. We need to understand that love among women is revolutionary because it opposes the logic of macho and patriarchal domination – a norm that brings the 240% increase in lesbo-feminicides in Brazil in recent years.
Lesbian women, especially the young women in Brazil, are victims of corrective rape, are disowned and expelled from family homes, school dropouts among teenagers are extremely high, and precarious work is increasingly constant among so-called „non-feminine lesbians“. However, parallel to all this violence, we have had resistance.
Marielle has always embraced LGBTI guidelines.
In one of the most prominent episodes in 2017, she introduced and put to vote the Lesbian Visibility Bill that was rejected by 2 votes in the City Hall. The most important aspect was the process of the meeting, that articulated lesbian groups from different territories and feminisms, promoting alliances in the common guidelines, which inaugurated the Lesbian Front of Rio Janeiro.
Following the rejection of the PL, the man and collectives organized the “Occupy Sapatão”, (occupy dyke) a political, artistic and cultural event in response to the institutional lesbo-phobia of the Parliament that was opened up during the debates on PL 82/2017. Occupy Sapatão is an answer in power, affirming the existence of our bodies that are political, and is continuing to happen annually in front of the City Hall.
As the text of the PL’s justification of lesbian visibility says: “Lesbian erasure is alarming because it is at the same time the result and source of lesbo-phobia.”
The mandate of Marielle provided networks of solidarity and affection between women, intersecting the guidelines with a feminist policy. Marielle expressed with much love and the testimony of her own life, that our families exist and that no one should tell the other whom or how to love. The struggle for love and lesbian identities is not an accessory, nor a diversion of supposedly more important matters, but a constitutive aspect of guaranteeing the dignity and human rights of all people.
Just as the gender perspective thought, that was how Marielle took up the fight. How does this affect access to housing and food security, for example, since many of these people are expelled from their homes of origin? How does this affect vulnerability to sexual violence, access to public health policies, guaranteeing the right to education and entering the labor market? Trying to answer these questions with a sensitive eye to the specific struggles that cross lesbian lives, is that one can think of the appropriate response of the legislature of which Marielle was representative, and of the public power in a more general way.
Somehow, these movements have gained even more momentum and in recent years we have gained more visibility as activists, artists, journalists, parliamentarians … this has been a growing trend with the strengthening of lesbian social movements that we affirm as a “sapatao“ (dyke), understanding and re-signifying the term as a political tool. However, it is important to state that the right to the closet is a survival strategy. This is because many women, mainly black, peripheral and favela, do not have the possibility of assuming their lesbianity for fear of corrective rape, murders, expulsion from schools, universities and the labor market. The lesbo-phobic and misogynist society creates an environment of expulsion of our bodies from the spaces. For example, Leci Brandao, a lesbian parliament member, was the second black woman elected in more than 180 years in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, one of the main capitals of the country. We have urgencies. Emergencies of existence.
We need to deconstruct racism, sexism and machismo to trace new meanings to feminism.
On March 14, 2018, 13 months ago, my wife was brutally executed on her way home. In all this time, I have followed everywhere in the world demanding justice. For me, there is no doubt that Brazil has blood-stained hands from the execution of Marielle, since not even the title of parliamentarian has managed to avoid her murder, being misogynistic and racist. I need to reaffirm what my wife’s body was. Black woman, also raised in the favela of Maré, mother, socialist and LESBIAN. Marielle and I have been together for 14 years in many ways and only in the last few years we were able to live in the same house and constitute our family. We have been hampered by various forms of lesbo-phobia in which many are still present when they deny Marielle’s lesbianity or do not recognize me as her wife.
If I continue the fight for her justice today, it is for the preservation of her memory, for a way of still being with her, and for no other family to feel the pain of the daily absence, of not having the love of their life by their side. Marielle was taken from us in the worst way, and it was not for the banners she represented. Their struggles were for justice and freedom. This shirt, “Who ordered to kill Marielle”, is a fighting tool until the Brazilian State responds to who her real murderer was, in addition to the murderers who were arrested a year after the execution. I leave a message to you that fighting like Marielle is keeping hope! I hope that better days will come for all of us. So we are here together. Let the love between women heal us and guide us through this journey. Thank you!
I am Monica Benicio, lesbo-feminist, born and raised in one of the biggest favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Maré, I graduated in architecture and am wife of Marielle Franco, a councilor from Rio de Janeiro, murdered in 2018.
It is very important to be at the European Lesbian Conference as a Latin American woman. I say this because we have had our bodies, knowledges and cultures colonized for centuries and we can still say that we are in the process of decolonizing our lives. Brazil, for example, has marks of racism and sexism in its history and present situations that are so noticeable when we come across the data of violence in our country.
Imagine a country that had its soil invaded by European immigrants who raped indigenous women, sexually abducted and raped African enslaved women. Enslavement that lasted for 318 years and Brazil has had its “discovery” 519 years ago. A Brazil that did not notice and did not recognize 21 years of civil-military dictatorship.
We know that Brazil has its distinct placement upon latin american countries, due to its territorial amplitude, high population density, and for having been one of the countries with economic growth of greater impact among the so-called “outsourced” countries for years. And today, as you might have noticed, Brazil is being presided over by a government with strong fascist and denial-of-politics characteristics, which was elected with hate speeches against the black population, women and LGBTIQ.
Bolsonaro represents on the one hand a middle class that, as proclaimed „is worn out” by dividing its privileges, and on the other hand a pseudo-elite of religious fundamentalism. The surveys carried out in Brazil indicate that the majority of their voters are men, white, upper level, with average Brazilian income, concentrated in the south and southeast of Brazil.
Many women in the 2018 election took to the streets with the motto #EleNão (Not Him) against misogynistic arguments, the project of total militarization of everyday life, and against attacks on the rights of the current president and in defense of democracy. The acts were as grandiose as those of 8M.
I have said that there is an ongoing feminist revolution. But we, as lesbo-feminists, need to build this revolution horizontally. I say this by understanding that our feminisms differ and often oppress. I am a woman raised in the favela, but my privilege as a white woman allows me to have access, in which black, or women of color are denied due to racism.
Likewise, my lesbianity makes me one of the main victims of sexual violence, the so-called corrective rapes, for not being in the heteronormative pattern. As well as, transwomen are the main victims of murders.
Think of the body of a woman: black, lesbian and trans, disputing spaces like this to have their characterizations being debated just like ours? We need to rethink our privileges, make a policy based on intersectionality and without hierarchy of oppression.
We have talked so much in recent years about gender equality and international feminism, but in our day-to-day practices we ignore the subaltern work of refugees, sexism & racism against black women, the subalternities of trans-people and even the violence between us lesbians. We need to understand that love among women is revolutionary because it opposes the logic of macho and patriarchal domination – a norm that brings the 240% increase in lesbo-feminicides in Brazil in recent years.
Lesbian women, especially the young women in Brazil, are victims of corrective rape, are disowned and expelled from family homes, school dropouts among teenagers are extremely high, and precarious work is increasingly constant among so-called „non-feminine lesbians“. However, parallel to all this violence, we have had resistance.
Marielle has always embraced LGBTI guidelines.
In one of the most prominent episodes in 2017, she introduced and put to vote the Lesbian Visibility Bill that was rejected by 2 votes in the City Hall. The most important aspect was the process of the meeting, that articulated lesbian groups from different territories and feminisms, promoting alliances in the common guidelines, which inaugurated the Lesbian Front of Rio Janeiro.
Following the rejection of the PL, the man and collectives organized the “Occupy Sapatão”, (occupy dyke) a political, artistic and cultural event in response to the institutional lesbo-phobia of the Parliament that was opened up during the debates on PL 82/2017. Occupy Sapatão is an answer in power, affirming the existence of our bodies that are political, and is continuing to happen annually in front of the City Hall.
As the text of the PL’s justification of lesbian visibility says: “Lesbian erasure is alarming because it is at the same time the result and source of lesbo-phobia.”
The mandate of Marielle provided networks of solidarity and affection between women, intersecting the guidelines with a feminist policy. Marielle expressed with much love and the testimony of her own life, that our families exist and that no one should tell the other whom or how to love. The struggle for love and lesbian identities is not an accessory, nor a diversion of supposedly more important matters, but a constitutive aspect of guaranteeing the dignity and human rights of all people.
Just as the gender perspective thought, that was how Marielle took up the fight. How does this affect access to housing and food security, for example, since many of these people are expelled from their homes of origin? How does this affect vulnerability to sexual violence, access to public health policies, guaranteeing the right to education and entering the labor market? Trying to answer these questions with a sensitive eye to the specific struggles that cross lesbian lives, is that one can think of the appropriate response of the legislature of which Marielle was representative, and of the public power in a more general way.
Somehow, these movements have gained even more momentum and in recent years we have gained more visibility as activists, artists, journalists, parliamentarians … this has been a growing trend with the strengthening of lesbian social movements that we affirm as a “sapatao“ (dyke), understanding and re-signifying the term as a political tool. However, it is important to state that the right to the closet is a survival strategy. This is because many women, mainly black, peripheral and favela, do not have the possibility of assuming their lesbianity for fear of corrective rape, murders, expulsion from schools, universities and the labor market. The lesbo-phobic and misogynist society creates an environment of expulsion of our bodies from the spaces. For example, Leci Brandao, a lesbian parliament member, was the second black woman elected in more than 180 years in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo, one of the main capitals of the country. We have urgencies. Emergencies of existence.
We need to deconstruct racism, sexism and machismo to trace new meanings to feminism.
On March 14, 2018, 13 months ago, my wife was brutally executed on her way home. In all this time, I have followed everywhere in the world demanding justice. For me, there is no doubt that Brazil has blood-stained hands from the execution of Marielle, since not even the title of parliamentarian has managed to avoid her murder, being misogynistic and racist. I need to reaffirm what my wife’s body was. Black woman, also raised in the favela of Maré, mother, socialist and LESBIAN. Marielle and I have been together for 14 years in many ways and only in the last few years we were able to live in the same house and constitute our family. We have been hampered by various forms of lesbo-phobia in which many are still present when they deny Marielle’s lesbianity or do not recognize me as her wife.
If I continue the fight for her justice today, it is for the preservation of her memory, for a way of still being with her, and for no other family to feel the pain of the daily absence, of not having the love of their life by their side. Marielle was taken from us in the worst way, and it was not for the banners she represented. Their struggles were for justice and freedom. This shirt, “Who ordered to kill Marielle”, is a fighting tool until the Brazilian State responds to who her real murderer was, in addition to the murderers who were arrested a year after the execution. I leave a message to you that fighting like Marielle is keeping hope! I hope that better days will come for all of us. So we are here together. Let the love between women heal us and guide us through this journey. Thank you!