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!

Hundreds of lesbian activists, artists, politicians, academics, from 40 countries meet in Kyiv from April 11 to 14, to change the world one month before the European elections.

EL*C (European and Central Asian Lesbian Conference) is the biggest network of lesbian activists in Europe and Central Asia. Its board of 25 members include all the major representives of lesbian leaders in this area. It was launched in 2017 and held its first conference in Vienna, in October 2017.

For its second conference, EL*C chose Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, as a location and scheduled those three days of gathering one month before the European elections. Our message to the world is clear: lesbians act everywhere where peace in endangered and when ultra-right movements hostile to women, lesbians and all minorities threaten to take power.

The well-being of lesbians in many European and Central Asian countries is under threat due to a lack of protection from political and institutional bodies. Lesbians have become targets of the so-called ‘anti-gender movements’ throughout the region and the rise of lesbophobia is evident in numerous political debates, such as the discussion on the legalisation of medically assisted procreation for lesbians.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE co-organised by EL*C and INSIGHT, main Ukrainian LGBT organization

– The conference opened by Monica Benicio, coming specially for the occasion from Brazil. She is the partner of the LBGT activist Marielle Franco who was murdered in the streets of Rio in March 2018.  Monica Benicio is a major actor in the fight against Jair Bolsonaro.
– The program include dozens of sessions with high profile discussions and speakers on politics, safety, lesbian lives, media coverage of lesbian issues, resources, art and sexuality. The detailed program is available here : https://europeanlesbianconference.org/program-new/
– An exclusive survey  on the situation of lesbians in Europe and Central Asia will reveal statistics about experiences of lesbians* on different aspects, such as health, discrimination, decision-making & political participation, visibility and family
–  A public action to put visibility and to vocalize lesbian* agenda. Lesbian allies will show solidarity in uniting our voice.(Please ask directly for specifics since we cannot give too much information because of provocations and counter demonstrations)
– Official launch of the biggest network of advocacy and visibility for lesbians in the world

More information about European Lesbian* Conference

Web: Europeanlesbianconference.org

Twitter: @eurolesbiancon

Facebook: European Lesbian Conference

What is EL*C?

The first European Lesbian* Conference (EL*C) took place in October 2017, in Vienna (Austria). Five hundred lesbian politicians, artists, journalists, academics gathered from all over Europe and Central Asia for a very successful, historical and mediatized event. “This first conference made it clear that there was a huge need for all European and Central Asian countries to pay more attention to the situation of lesbians, says Silvia Casalino, Chair of EL*C. And we heard the message from thousands of lesbians in Europe and Central Asia: they wanted a network and another conference to happen”.

The first EL*C launched a series of very positive steps for lesbians in Europe and Central Asia such as the first celebration of Lesbian Visibility Day in the European Parliament on 26th of April 2018, the representation of French lesbians at a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron on November 23 2018, the public expression of the anger of lesbians from Serbia on their terrible situation on January 2019.

Why in Ukraine?

The results of many European countries’ elections have, in the last few months, brought to power individuals and movements deeply dangerous for LGBT persons and women, which means specifically hostile to lesbians. To counter this trend and present another face of Europe, one month before the EU elections of 2019, the second European Lesbian* Conference will be held in Kyiv, Ukraine. “Ukraine, explains Olena Shevchenko, Ukrainian member of the EL*C board and CEO of Insight, is the best place to hold a conference in terms of geopolitical situation– it will give us a possibility to bring together West and East and to have a dialogue.”.

“Lesbians in Ukraine are invisible and the most vulnerable community, which suffers from stigma, sexual, domestic and reproductive violence and discrimination, adds Olena Shevchenko. The word “lesbian” is stigmatized and is a dirty word, so usually lesbians use the word “gay” which also invisibilizes the lesbian community and especially hinders lesbian needs. In such situation we think European lesbian conference will be a huge step forward in terms of visibility, vocalized needs of lesbians and community building in Ukraine”

The latest report including links to the dozens of media publications on EL*C: https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ELC-2017_Narrative_Report-1.pdf

————–

Hundreds of lesbian activists, artists, politicians, academics, from 40 countries meet in Kyiv from April 11 to 14, to change the world one month before the European elections.

EL*C (European and Central Asian Lesbian Conference) is the biggest network of lesbian activists in Europe and Central Asia. Its board of 25 members include all the major representives of lesbian leaders in this area. It was launched in 2017 and held its first conference in Vienna, in October 2017.

For its second conference, EL*C chose Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine, as a location and scheduled those three days of gathering one month before the European elections. Our message to the world is clear: lesbians act everywhere where peace in endangered and when ultra-right movements hostile to women, lesbians and all minorities threaten to take power.

The well-being of lesbians in many European and Central Asian countries is under threat due to a lack of protection from political and institutional bodies. Lesbians have become targets of the so-called ‘anti-gender movements’ throughout the region and the rise of lesbophobia is evident in numerous political debates, such as the discussion on the legalisation of medically assisted procreation for lesbians.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE co-organised by EL*C and INSIGHT, main Ukrainian LGBT organization

– The conference opened by Monica Benicio, coming specially for the occasion from Brazil. She is the partner of the LBGT activist Marielle Franco who was murdered in the streets of Rio in March 2018.  Monica Benicio is a major actor in the fight against Jair Bolsonaro.
– The program include dozens of sessions with high profile discussions and speakers on politics, safety, lesbian lives, media coverage of lesbian issues, resources, art and sexuality. The detailed program is available here : https://europeanlesbianconference.org/program-new/
– An exclusive survey  on the situation of lesbians in Europe and Central Asia will reveal statistics about experiences of lesbians* on different aspects, such as health, discrimination, decision-making & political participation, visibility and family
–  A public action to put visibility and to vocalize lesbian* agenda. Lesbian allies will show solidarity in uniting our voice.(Please ask directly for specifics since we cannot give too much information because of provocations and counter demonstrations)
– Official launch of the biggest network of advocacy and visibility for lesbians in the world

More information about European Lesbian* Conference

Web: Europeanlesbianconference.org

Twitter: @eurolesbiancon

Facebook: European Lesbian Conference

What is EL*C?

The first European Lesbian* Conference (EL*C) took place in October 2017, in Vienna (Austria). Five hundred lesbian politicians, artists, journalists, academics gathered from all over Europe and Central Asia for a very successful, historical and mediatized event. “This first conference made it clear that there was a huge need for all European and Central Asian countries to pay more attention to the situation of lesbians, says Silvia Casalino, Chair of EL*C. And we heard the message from thousands of lesbians in Europe and Central Asia: they wanted a network and another conference to happen”.

The first EL*C launched a series of very positive steps for lesbians in Europe and Central Asia such as the first celebration of Lesbian Visibility Day in the European Parliament on 26th of April 2018, the representation of French lesbians at a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron on November 23 2018, the public expression of the anger of lesbians from Serbia on their terrible situation on January 2019.

Why in Ukraine?

The results of many European countries’ elections have, in the last few months, brought to power individuals and movements deeply dangerous for LGBT persons and women, which means specifically hostile to lesbians. To counter this trend and present another face of Europe, one month before the EU elections of 2019, the second European Lesbian* Conference will be held in Kyiv, Ukraine. “Ukraine, explains Olena Shevchenko, Ukrainian member of the EL*C board and CEO of Insight, is the best place to hold a conference in terms of geopolitical situation– it will give us a possibility to bring together West and East and to have a dialogue.”.

“Lesbians in Ukraine are invisible and the most vulnerable community, which suffers from stigma, sexual, domestic and reproductive violence and discrimination, adds Olena Shevchenko. The word “lesbian” is stigmatized and is a dirty word, so usually lesbians use the word “gay” which also invisibilizes the lesbian community and especially hinders lesbian needs. In such situation we think European lesbian conference will be a huge step forward in terms of visibility, vocalized needs of lesbians and community building in Ukraine”

The latest report including links to the dozens of media publications on EL*C: https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ELC-2017_Narrative_Report-1.pdf

————–

EL*C has been following closely the lesbian Serbian news lately. As the lesbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and her partner were expecting a child, our Strategy Dykerector Dragana Todorovic gave several interviews to the media to explain how very peculiar this situation was.

The child is now born and this birth led to the burst of lesbophobic comments. One of the opposition leaders even said «The children are hungry in this country and the son of the Prime ministre can feed on four boobs». Lepa Mladjenovic, a legend of lesbian activism, sent us a text to react to this news. Her words on the situation of lesbian mothers and the lesbophobia in Serbia are very powerful. We thank her very much for sharing this with all of you, and wish you all a great reading.

«Every lesbian kiss is a revolution»
Some days ago one morning I woke up to the news on all the front pages – the Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia announces birth of a healthy baby boy of the (woman) partner of the Prime Minister Ana Brnabić. Brief two lines, no comments. Great, I thought, what a mess!I have heard rumors about pregnancy few months ago, but it could have passed as a Balkan joke. Now it’s a historical fact, nothing of a joke. Lets see what followed this extraordinary news.

The partner of the Prime Minister, herself a medical doctor employed in the Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade became pregnant through artificial insemination, we were told, for which there is not yet legal right to obtain in Serbia. Further, not only that there is no legal way the Prime Minister of Serbia can be connected to the baby of her partner but there is not even the decision to put a draft of the same-sex partnership law on the government agenda, even though the activists of the Lesbian non-governmental organization Labris have drafted a law in 2010 and lobbied the parliament in 2014 with a campaign Love is a law. We must also understand the political context: the totalitarian leader, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić has chosen Ana Brnabić on this post himself, she is not elected nor voted for, and all she has to do is to repeat and participate in the leading nationalist, corrupted party program – which we feminists and most of lesbians oppose. So, Ana Brnabić put herself in a contradictory position in which she cannot lobby for the lesbian, gay and trans rights unless she gets permission from a ‘dictator‘ – the permission she did not get. In this context of power impasse the Prime Minister did the courageous act of her partner having a baby. What followed is that most of the LGBT community has immediately taken her accountable for the legal situation she cannot help herself, nor us, nor the newborn. Therefore, most of the feminists and LGBT community is angry at her for not using her political power to promote the basic legal rights for the same sex partnership and the right to parenthood. More so some of them are extra angry that she has a class privilege to have a baby in a legal vacuum, which many lesbians cannot, mostly because it is very expensive and because they fear for their children’s future in intense lesbophobic society.

This totally new situation lesbian mothers with a baby & the Serbian government made opposition leaders angry, so their anger on the government for the permanent corruption and politics of deceiving, for the total control of media and of all state institutions, for the poverty in the country, for nationalism, authoritarianism, and many other issues – they express through lesbophobic and mysoginic accusation on the Prime Minister herself and her lesbian family, calling her different names, like satanic creature, asking is she a daddy, humiliating her through jokes about stork delivered baby, about who’s going to do her work while she is on the inexistent parental leave, and many others like: In this country the children are hungry and the baby of Ana Brnabić is on four boobs! Social media is full of polemics.

To picture the chaos at the moment we have to say that the leading party of Serbia, which we feminists oppose, is therefore the only official voice which must not accuse the Prime Minister’s baby nor her partnership, by default. But, of course most of the politicians are lesbophobic and now is the moment for some of them to spit out their hatred. So, position & opposition politicians are accusing her, far right and religious organizations hate her, feminists and lesbians are angry on her, syndicates are angry on her and nevertheless the lesbian family of the Prime Minister is not in connection to these issues – the mysoginic and lesbophobic accusations and hate language come from all sides.

But legal issue is only part of the story of the difficult lesbian everyday lives. What is important is that some discussions are happening in the public about the same sex parenthood for the first time and the average people in the country are hearing facts of life they never imagined existed: Lesbian mothers! It is like a hammer in the head from which they have to defend themselves with intense hatred, or total silence. But, some people are talking… and in these few days we’ve heard what people think about the baby of the Prime Minister, and the answers are absolutely different, we cannot predict who will say baby is a baby we love all children… or who will start the brutal comment which cannot be digested. More so, apart from us few lesbian activists, nobody is using the term ‘lesbian’, it is almost the most hated word in our language (Serbo-Croat-Bosnian-Montenegrin language), not pronounced even by the enemies. The Prime Minister uses the term ‘gay’.

On the other hand, most of those who like to say that sexual orientation is a private issue, I don’t care who is she in bed with, are caught in the cul-de-sac. The child has to go to the kindergarten, to schools, health centers, and other institutions that have strict regulations of the parental rights. And not only this child, but many other children already living in lesbian families in this country. Nothing private there, but thousand obstacles for the other mother. All of what we knew when fifty years ago we feminists said private is political. The lesbian families already in our community are trying hard to invent creative answers how to overcome endless same questions about two moms, or invent impossible acts how to resolve the legal barriers in taking care of their children. We hope that the mere fact of the existence of the privileged lesbian mother in government will help increase positive attitude of the two moms social phenomenon at all. Some of us activists are using this momentum to talk.

On the other side are lesbians who live in dark silence, in poor communities, in small towns, in Roma settlements, isolated and alone and have all the lesbophobia around and inside themselves to fight every day – some of them are hiddenly smiling in their own privacy searching the internet news on ‘gay premier’, and thinking, At least someone has done it. Others feel cheated for the same reason, that Only privileged some can do it.

To summarize, in this particular situation the fact that Prime Minister is a lesbian and a lesbian mother is fused with the fact that she represents nationalist, corrupted, authoritarian politics. For some of us this means we decide to take in consideration the multiplities of political messages that one political personality represents at the same time. It is not the first time we have discussions among feminists about women in right-wing politics, when the researches showed: the conservative women politicians are still targets of sexual harassment and misogyny. This is exactly what we see now, lesbophobic accusations from left and right politics. We are witnessing again and again that ‘Lesbians are weak subjects’, with very little or no public support. It is precisely why some of us lesbian feminists say out loud that we are glad we have a lesbian mom in the government while we oppose the politics of that government.

TO GO FURTHER
To know more about Lepa Mladjenovic

EL*C has been following closely the lesbian Serbian news lately. As the lesbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and her partner were expecting a child, our Strategy Dykerector Dragana Todorovic gave several interviews to the media to explain how very peculiar this situation was.

The child is now born and this birth led to the burst of lesbophobic comments. One of the opposition leaders even said «The children are hungry in this country and the son of the Prime ministre can feed on four boobs». Lepa Mladjenovic, a legend of lesbian activism, sent us a text to react to this news. Her words on the situation of lesbian mothers and the lesbophobia in Serbia are very powerful. We thank her very much for sharing this with all of you, and wish you all a great reading.

«Every lesbian kiss is a revolution»
Some days ago one morning I woke up to the news on all the front pages – the Office of the Prime Minister of Serbia announces birth of a healthy baby boy of the (woman) partner of the Prime Minister Ana Brnabić. Brief two lines, no comments. Great, I thought, what a mess!I have heard rumors about pregnancy few months ago, but it could have passed as a Balkan joke. Now it’s a historical fact, nothing of a joke. Lets see what followed this extraordinary news.

The partner of the Prime Minister, herself a medical doctor employed in the Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade became pregnant through artificial insemination, we were told, for which there is not yet legal right to obtain in Serbia. Further, not only that there is no legal way the Prime Minister of Serbia can be connected to the baby of her partner but there is not even the decision to put a draft of the same-sex partnership law on the government agenda, even though the activists of the Lesbian non-governmental organization Labris have drafted a law in 2010 and lobbied the parliament in 2014 with a campaign Love is a law. We must also understand the political context: the totalitarian leader, the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić has chosen Ana Brnabić on this post himself, she is not elected nor voted for, and all she has to do is to repeat and participate in the leading nationalist, corrupted party program – which we feminists and most of lesbians oppose. So, Ana Brnabić put herself in a contradictory position in which she cannot lobby for the lesbian, gay and trans rights unless she gets permission from a ‘dictator‘ – the permission she did not get. In this context of power impasse the Prime Minister did the courageous act of her partner having a baby. What followed is that most of the LGBT community has immediately taken her accountable for the legal situation she cannot help herself, nor us, nor the newborn. Therefore, most of the feminists and LGBT community is angry at her for not using her political power to promote the basic legal rights for the same sex partnership and the right to parenthood. More so some of them are extra angry that she has a class privilege to have a baby in a legal vacuum, which many lesbians cannot, mostly because it is very expensive and because they fear for their children’s future in intense lesbophobic society.

This totally new situation lesbian mothers with a baby & the Serbian government made opposition leaders angry, so their anger on the government for the permanent corruption and politics of deceiving, for the total control of media and of all state institutions, for the poverty in the country, for nationalism, authoritarianism, and many other issues – they express through lesbophobic and mysoginic accusation on the Prime Minister herself and her lesbian family, calling her different names, like satanic creature, asking is she a daddy, humiliating her through jokes about stork delivered baby, about who’s going to do her work while she is on the inexistent parental leave, and many others like: In this country the children are hungry and the baby of Ana Brnabić is on four boobs! Social media is full of polemics.

To picture the chaos at the moment we have to say that the leading party of Serbia, which we feminists oppose, is therefore the only official voice which must not accuse the Prime Minister’s baby nor her partnership, by default. But, of course most of the politicians are lesbophobic and now is the moment for some of them to spit out their hatred. So, position & opposition politicians are accusing her, far right and religious organizations hate her, feminists and lesbians are angry on her, syndicates are angry on her and nevertheless the lesbian family of the Prime Minister is not in connection to these issues – the mysoginic and lesbophobic accusations and hate language come from all sides.

But legal issue is only part of the story of the difficult lesbian everyday lives. What is important is that some discussions are happening in the public about the same sex parenthood for the first time and the average people in the country are hearing facts of life they never imagined existed: Lesbian mothers! It is like a hammer in the head from which they have to defend themselves with intense hatred, or total silence. But, some people are talking… and in these few days we’ve heard what people think about the baby of the Prime Minister, and the answers are absolutely different, we cannot predict who will say baby is a baby we love all children… or who will start the brutal comment which cannot be digested. More so, apart from us few lesbian activists, nobody is using the term ‘lesbian’, it is almost the most hated word in our language (Serbo-Croat-Bosnian-Montenegrin language), not pronounced even by the enemies. The Prime Minister uses the term ‘gay’.

On the other hand, most of those who like to say that sexual orientation is a private issue, I don’t care who is she in bed with, are caught in the cul-de-sac. The child has to go to the kindergarten, to schools, health centers, and other institutions that have strict regulations of the parental rights. And not only this child, but many other children already living in lesbian families in this country. Nothing private there, but thousand obstacles for the other mother. All of what we knew when fifty years ago we feminists said private is political. The lesbian families already in our community are trying hard to invent creative answers how to overcome endless same questions about two moms, or invent impossible acts how to resolve the legal barriers in taking care of their children. We hope that the mere fact of the existence of the privileged lesbian mother in government will help increase positive attitude of the two moms social phenomenon at all. Some of us activists are using this momentum to talk.

On the other side are lesbians who live in dark silence, in poor communities, in small towns, in Roma settlements, isolated and alone and have all the lesbophobia around and inside themselves to fight every day – some of them are hiddenly smiling in their own privacy searching the internet news on ‘gay premier’, and thinking, At least someone has done it. Others feel cheated for the same reason, that Only privileged some can do it.

To summarize, in this particular situation the fact that Prime Minister is a lesbian and a lesbian mother is fused with the fact that she represents nationalist, corrupted, authoritarian politics. For some of us this means we decide to take in consideration the multiplities of political messages that one political personality represents at the same time. It is not the first time we have discussions among feminists about women in right-wing politics, when the researches showed: the conservative women politicians are still targets of sexual harassment and misogyny. This is exactly what we see now, lesbophobic accusations from left and right politics. We are witnessing again and again that ‘Lesbians are weak subjects’, with very little or no public support. It is precisely why some of us lesbian feminists say out loud that we are glad we have a lesbian mom in the government while we oppose the politics of that government.

TO GO FURTHER
To know more about Lepa Mladjenovic

Almost one year ago, Marielle Franco was brutally murdered in Brazil. Sociologist, feminist, politician and human rights activist, Marielle prioritised the rights of black women in her country. She is forever in our hearts. Since her murder, Monica Benicio, her partner, has been fighting to ask justice for Marielle. Monica Benicio will be the opening speaker of the European Lesbian* Conference in Kyiv, on April 12.

Почти год назад Мариэль Франку была убита в Бразилии. Она навсегда останется в наших сердцах. С момента убийства партнерка Мариэль, Моника Бенисиу, борется за то, чтобы добиться правосудия. Моника откроет Европейскую лесбийскую* конференцию 12 апреля в Киеве.

Almost one year ago, Marielle Franco was brutally murdered in Brazil. Sociologist, feminist, politician and human rights activist, Marielle prioritised the rights of black women in her country. She is forever in our hearts. Since her murder, Monica Benicio, her partner, has been fighting to ask justice for Marielle. Monica Benicio will be the opening speaker of the European Lesbian* Conference in Kyiv, on April 12.

Почти год назад Мариэль Франку была убита в Бразилии. Она навсегда останется в наших сердцах. С момента убийства партнерка Мариэль, Моника Бенисиу, борется за то, чтобы добиться правосудия. Моника откроет Европейскую лесбийскую* конференцию 12 апреля в Киеве.