LESBIAN MONEY TALKS

The time has come to take what belongs to us! Over the past several years EL*C has collecting hard evidence that overwhelmingly shows that the lesbian movement is one of the most underfunded movements globally, but especially in Europe and Central Asia. Due to this, many lesbian organizations have either disappeared, transformed into general LGBTIQ organizations or are somehow surviving with no money, no staff and no spaces. It is by now more than obvious that the current funding norms, structures and practices favor those groups/organizations that have more power and are as such further perpetuating and strengthening unfair and unbalanced power distributions, both in the wider society and within the LGBTIQ or women’s movements. For a very long time, the donors have been preferring the general over the particular, stronger and more established organizations over the smaller and less capacitated, mainstream and traditional approaches to social change rather than creative and revolutionary approaches and bottom-up approaches, which has left organizations with no funds or with very limited funds. This trend needs to be reversed, and it should be reversed fast. During this workshop EL*C, its member organizations and lesbian organizations from other world regions will be presenting the funding needs and demands of the lesbian movement, as well as our ways of working for the future, that came out of our collective and strategic planning that took place ahead of the Conference.