The rich lesbian history of the island of Lesbos dates to ancient times, when the famous lesbian poet Sappho was born in Eresos. Her presence still lingers in the air, the sea, and the statues that watch over the Aegean Sea in Skala. In the first half of the 20th century, Italian lesbian poet, writer and feminist Lina Poletti sailed

Monday, Georgia’s authoritarian parliamentary majority proposed a new legislative package titled “On Family Values and Protection of Minors” in an unprecedented attack on LGBTIQ persons. Concretely, if adopted, this legislative arsenal would ban the so-called “promotion” of LGBTIQ existence in the media, education at all levels, and public gatherings. This would not only mean that public gatherings centering LGBTIQ issues

The recent EU election have revealed a troubling shift in the political landscape, with the far-right making significant advances. This development poses a serious threat to the core values of European democracy: equality, freedom, and justice. This is not a time for despair. Lesbians, we must take this as a call to action. Our unique perspectives, resilience, and unyielding spirit,

The Strategy includes a clearly intersectional approach that explicitly includes discriminations based on sex and gender and SOGIESC grounds, especially LBTI women. It also contains a commitment to leave no one behind and to achieve a gender-equal Europe for everyone. Crucially, the Strategy specifically identifies anti-gender and so-called “gender-critical” narratives as being used as tools to promote a broader agenda

The L-Health project is an initiative aimed at addressing the long-standing health inequities faced by lesbians in Europe. This ambitious project not only seeks to generate novel knowledge on the health needs and status of lesbians, but also aims to improve clinical practice through targeted training of healthcare professionals.   L-Health is a collaborative effort to improve lesbian wellbeing and

It is with anger, sadness, and great disappointment that we must share with you the decision to cancel the upcoming EL*C Conference, initially scheduled on 7-11 October 2024 in Kazakhstan. Together with our partners and local hosts of the conference – Feminita, the EL*C has concluded that an international event of the scale and visibility of our biennial conference would be counterproductive,

Gulzada Serzhan, co-chair of the board at EL*C, has been fined by Kazakh Police for allegedly organizing an unauthorized protest. Serzhan, along with two other activists, was detained the day after participating in an impromptu public action held in response to the murder trial of former Kazakh Minister of Economy, Kuandyk Bishimbayev. The protest aimed to call for harsher punishment

In a recent turn of events, Georgia’s government adopted the draconian “Law on the Transparency of Foreign Influences” this week, despite vocal protests from the people. This authoritarian decision has fueled the existing wave of demonstrations throughout the country, met with harsh repression by the authorities, including the use of police violence against demonstrators.  Lesbians and queer persons are at

It was a lesbicide – Justice for Pamela, Mercedes, Andrea, and Sofia  On the 5th of May 2024, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, three lesbians were murdered and one was severely injured in a lesbophobic attack by their neighbor. The man threw a homemade flammable liquid into the room the four of them were sharing, resulting in an explosion and fire.

Today, the Council of the EU officially adopted the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. We applaud the fact that the Directive recognizes several forms of violence, require Member States to do more in preventing rape and support women survivors of violence, as well as accessing to this essential medical care for women survivors of sexual violence. We

As advocates for the rights and freedoms of lesbian and feminist communities across Europe and Central Asia, the EL*C stands in firm solidarity with the people of Georgia, voicing our collective opposition against the recent legislative actions that threaten democracy and human rights in the country.  On May 1, 2024, the Georgian Parliament further advanced the draconian “On the Transparency