The EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community will present today the first ever research focusing on lesbian lives and realities in Europe, titled: The State of Lesbian Organizing and the Lived Realities of Lesbians in the EU and the Accession Countries.

This research comes at a time in which the awareness around the exclusion and invisibility of lesbians is growing, and as an increasing number of stakeholders express willingness to engage in a more meaningful way on advancing human rights and visibility of lesbians.

Yet, even though societies and movements in the EU, and to some extent the accession countries, have come a long way in advancing the rights of LGBTI persons and women’s rights, lesbians still face strong discrimination, violence and stigma. Lesbians are one of the most marginalized, vulnerable and invisible social groups, affected by patriarchal gender norms, misogyny, sexism and lesbophobia, which is still widespread throughout the EU and the accession countries.

The lack of capacities, strategic and sustained mobilization of the lesbian movement is hindering effective impact on national authorities, policy reform and decision-making, which is further exacerbated by lack of awareness, data, impact assessment and in some contexts, the political will of decision makers, which in turn results in lesbian-specific issues being unrecognized and absent from policy-making.

The work has been conducted from October 2019 to January 2020. Since the start of the research, the Coronavirus pandemic has re-shuffled the global list of priorities and exacerbating the already existing oppressions and violence experienced by minority groups, like people of color, women, people with disabilities, LGBTI and queer persons. The global crisis has affected lesbians as everyone else, but also in so many specific and intersectional ways.

This research is the starting point to fill the gaps. You will find in it an analysis of three main areas: the history of the European lesbian movements, existing data on lesbians, and the state of affairs of lesbian organizing.

The EL*C, would like to use this opportunity to acknowledge the amazing contribution of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, one of the main actors in Europe working to counter lesbian invisibility. The study that we were able to conduct during almost half a year was made possible thanks to its willingness, visionary political objectives and support.

Find the Short Version here after. A Full Version of this report will be available very soon:

[embeddoc url=”https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-State-of-Lesbian-Organising-1.pdf” download=”all” text=”Lesbian Organising and the Lived Realities”]

The EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community will present today the first ever research focusing on lesbian lives and realities in Europe, titled: The State of Lesbian Organizing and the Lived Realities of Lesbians in the EU and the Accession Countries.

This research comes at a time in which the awareness around the exclusion and invisibility of lesbians is growing, and as an increasing number of stakeholders express willingness to engage in a more meaningful way on advancing human rights and visibility of lesbians.

Yet, even though societies and movements in the EU, and to some extent the accession countries, have come a long way in advancing the rights of LGBTI persons and women’s rights, lesbians still face strong discrimination, violence and stigma. Lesbians are one of the most marginalized, vulnerable and invisible social groups, affected by patriarchal gender norms, misogyny, sexism and lesbophobia, which is still widespread throughout the EU and the accession countries.

The lack of capacities, strategic and sustained mobilization of the lesbian movement is hindering effective impact on national authorities, policy reform and decision-making, which is further exacerbated by lack of awareness, data, impact assessment and in some contexts, the political will of decision makers, which in turn results in lesbian-specific issues being unrecognized and absent from policy-making.

The work has been conducted from October 2019 to January 2020. Since the start of the research, the Coronavirus pandemic has re-shuffled the global list of priorities and exacerbating the already existing oppressions and violence experienced by minority groups, like people of color, women, people with disabilities, LGBTI and queer persons. The global crisis has affected lesbians as everyone else, but also in so many specific and intersectional ways.

This research is the starting point to fill the gaps. You will find in it an analysis of three main areas: the history of the European lesbian movements, existing data on lesbians, and the state of affairs of lesbian organizing.

The EL*C, would like to use this opportunity to acknowledge the amazing contribution of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, one of the main actors in Europe working to counter lesbian invisibility. The study that we were able to conduct during almost half a year was made possible thanks to its willingness, visionary political objectives and support.

Find the Short Version here after. A Full Version of this report will be available very soon:

[embeddoc url=”https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-State-of-Lesbian-Organising-1.pdf” download=”all” text=”Lesbian Organising and the Lived Realities”]

The European Union takes a major step for the rights of lesbians and LGBTIQ people with its first LGBTIQ Strategy

Today is an historical moment for the rights of LGBTIQ persons in Europe, and beyond. For the very first time, the European Union launches an LGBTIQ Strategy for 2020-2025. And, the very good news is: lesbians were not overlooked.

This LGBTIQ Strategy sets out a series of targeted actions across four pillars: Tackling discrimination against LGBTIQ people; Ensuring LGBTIQ people’s safety; Building LGBTIQ inclusive societies; and Leading the call for LGBTIQ equality around the world.

In Europe, 57% of lesbians have been harassed in the past five years (according to the 2019 European Fundamental Rights Agency Survey). For years, EL*C has been asking national and international institutions to act. For the first time, this new LGBTIQ Strategy is calling for specific actions to tackle simultaneously gender-based discrimination and violence, as well as the prejudice and violence experienced by LBTI women on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity. We thus commend the recognition of the intersectionality and the multiple oppressions faced by lesbians, and the need for specific actions towards socio-economic empowerment, access to health services and funding opportunities for lesbians.

In general, in Europe, 43% of LGBT people declared that they felt discriminated against in 2019, compared to 37% in 2012 .

The murder of a 28 year old lesbian in Italy (Elisa Pomarelli killed in 2019), the lesbian couple attacked in Amsterdam (August 2019), the lesbophobic attack at the hearth of Brussels’ European neighbourhood (in September this year ), but also the police violence committed by Polish authorities against LBTI women as well as the massive wave of lesbophobia on the French social media in the past weeks following the publication of a book on lesbians, are as many examples of the level of hate speech and hate crimes targetting lesbians, that need to be adressed far more actively by the institutions. Outside of the EU, the attacks against the EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Conference held in Ukraine in April 2019 and the recent arrest of a lesbian activist in Belarus (Vika Bran) call for concerted efforts among international institutions working on human rights and the rule of the law, and require a strong and unequivocal political stance to counter these alarming trends.

We welcome the EU LGBTIQ Strategy 2020-2025 as a milestone, opening new avenues of cooperation between civil society and the European institutions, and we will ensure that the promises of the strategy do not remain vain, but are materialized into concrete measures for lesbians.

Contact: info@lesbiangenius.net
www.europeanlesbianconference.org
EL*C, the EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community, is the European and Central Asian lesbian NGO Network

Download the full LGBTI 2020-2025 Strategy