Tag Archives: International Lesbian Day

Posted in lesbian resistance

Tagged activism, Daughters of Bilitis, Del Martin, homophobia, International Lesbian Day, Ladder, lesbian activism, Lesbian activist, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in the U.S., Lesbophobia, Phyllis Lyon, Same-sex Marriage

ILD: Julie Bindel: “Martina remains a role model for all lesbians. She set a standard, and she made a difference, by breaking barriers and being brave.”

Posted on 08/10/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

By Julie Bindel

I will never forget watching Martina Navratilova play at Wimbledon the year after she came out as a lesbian. It was the 1982 tournament and the backlash against her had been brutal.

Very deeply courageous and principled, Martina once estimated that she lost around US$10 million in endorsement deals as corporate executives rushed to distance themselves from her at a time when anti-gay bigotry was sky high within the context of the AIDS crisis.

Martina was the very first lesbian role model of my generation. I was 20 years old during that tournament, and I heard from lesbians of all ages about the pride they felt at being able to tell those friends and family members that were not comfortable about lesbianism that Martina was one of them. The only other lesbians I had seen on TV were the characters in The Killing of Sister George, portrayed as twisted and damaged individuals, so having a sports superstar on our team was amazing.

Clearly not everyone felt the same. The Australian retired tennis player Margaret Court, who had won at Wimbledon three times, said in 1990 that although Navratilova is a “great player” she would like to see somebody win, “to whom the younger players can look up to”. Court, a born again Christian, said that as far as she was concerned, “it is very sad for children to be exposed to homosexuality.”

Continue reading: https://lesbianandgaynews.com/2021/07/julie-bindel-martina-remains-a-role-model-for-all-lesbians-she-set-a-standard-and-she-made-a-difference-by-breaking-barriers-and-being-brave/ (source)

Posted in lesbian resistance

Tagged homophobia, International Lesbian Day, Julie Bindel, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in sports, Lesbophobia, Martina Navratilova, Women in sports

ILD: Javiera Mena on lesbian representation in Latin American music

Posted on 08/10/2021 by Liz | Leave a comment

The name of Javiera Mena is a beacon for the Latin American LGBTQ community, even more so among in the musical community.

Since the beginning, Mena has sung about lesbian love, while fighting to defeat the stigma around that. Her battle for the visibility of the LGBTQ community, of which she is a part, has led her to be considered an icon.

The Chilean singer-songwriter presented her Extended Play “Entusiasmo” a month ago, hinting at the album she plans to release in 2022.

The production includes the singles “Diva” with Chico Blanco, a song to pay tribute to the LGBTQ community, and “Dos”, a ballad that tells the story of a woman in love with two other women.

Towards the normalization of lesbian love in music

But is it easy to write and sing love songs between women?

“There are few songs which are a lesbian woman singing to another woman. There are very few of these in the mainstream although there must be more now. I’m sure I am missing some and that there will be more and more.” Mena told Zona Pop CNN.

“In pop music we always have had gay men. We have great gay performers – Freddie Mercury, George Michael, Elton John. Even in Latin America, we had Juan Gabriel – although what was obvious didn’t need to be asked about [his iconic response to being asked if he was gay]. But we don’t have many references for lesbian women in Latin America, or in the rest of the world,” adds the singer-songwriter.
(Translated)

El nombre de Javiera Mena es un referente para la comunidad LGBTQ en Latinoamérica. Más aún la musical.

Desde sus inicios, Mena le ha cantado al amor lésbico, al mismo tiempo que ha luchado para derrotar el estigma alrededor de esa palabra. Su batalla por la visibilización de la comunidad LGBTQ, de la cual es parte, la ha llevado a ser considerada un ícono.

La cantautora chilena presentó hace un mes su Extended Play “Entusiasmo”, un abrebocas del que será el disco que prevé lanzar en 2022.

De la producción se desprenden los sencillos “Diva” junto a Chico Blanco, un tema para rendirle tributo a la comunidad LGBTQ, y “Dos”, una balada que cuenta la historia de una mujer enamorada de otras dos mujeres.

Hacia la normalización del amor lésbico en la música

Pero, ¿es fácil escribir y cantar canciones al amor entre mujeres?

“Hay pocas canciones de una mujer lesbiana hablándole a otra mujer. Hay muy pocas igual en el mainstream, o ahora deben haber más, seguramente yo no me estoy enterando y cada vez habrá más”, dijo Mena a Zona Pop CNN.

“En la música pop siempre existió el hombre gay. Tenemos grandes referentes, Freddie Mercury, George Michael, Elton John, incluso en Latinoamérica, Juan Gabriel, que aunque lo que se ve no se pregunta, ¡lo que se ve no se pregunta! Pero de mujeres lesbianas no tenemos muchos referentes en Latinoamérica y en el mundo tampoco”, agrega la cantautora.

Continue reading at: https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2021/06/30/javiera-mena-lesbianismo-entusiasmo-zona-pop-orix/ (Source)

Tagged ILD2021, International Lesbian Day, Javiera Mena, Lesbian Musician, Lesbians in Chile, representation

ILD: Lesbian Olympian rocks the basketball court

Posted on 08/10/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

July 16 2021: TUCSON, Az. – The global audience of the It Gets Better Project received a glimpse into the lives of LGBTQ+ athletes who won’t let setbacks keep them from achieving their dreams in its new series “Passion. Power. Performance,” which streamed last month.

The docu-series shares inspirational stories behind proud LGBTQ+ athletes who are out and training for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, which episode one featured Arizona-based paralympic basketball player for Team USA, Courtney Ryan.

“I want to be an inspiration because you see me on the court doing some crazy tricks, tilting in a chair, doing all of this stuff that you wouldn’t expect,” Ryan said. “That’s what I love about wheelchair basketball — we get the opportunity to change perceptions and change ideas of what disability should look like. We aren’t fragile. We are competitors, and we’re ready to prove that,” she added.

Out and Training for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: Sports have always been part of Ryan’s life – and that didn’t change after she became paraplegic. Watch how with the support of her sister, she came out, and is changing perceptions of disability.

Continue reading and watch Courtney’s account: https://www.washingtonblade.com/2021/07/16/lesbian-olympian-rocks-the-basketball-court-while-doing-wheelies/ (source)

Posted in Interviews, Listening 2 Lesbians

Tagged Courtney Ryan, International Lesbian Day, Lesbians in sports, Lesbians in the U.S., Lesbians with disabilities, Women in sports

ILD: Lesbian Couple Talk About Being Out and Same-Sex Parents in Russia

Posted on 08/10/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

After a Russian grocery chain apologized for featuring gay parents in an ad, two lesbian parents told Meduza what it’s like to live in a country where their very portrayal qualifies as offensive.

In late June, the Russian grocery store chain VkusVill put out an advertisement featuring a lesbian couple as part of its “Recipes for Family Happiness” campaign. The ad set off an avalanche of homophobic comments and threats against the company, and VkusVill soon announced it would delete the ad, calling it “a mistake that occurred as a result of some individual employees’ unprofessionalism.” This sparked another wave of criticism on social media, as people accused the chain of cowardice and hypocrisy. Throughout the debate, however, there’s been almost no mention of the difficulties same-sex couples in Russia actually face. To learn more about what life is like for same-sex parented families in Russia, Meduza spoke to Yana and Yaroslava, two women in a loving relationship who are now raising a child together.

Continue Reading: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/07/17/third-class-citizens (Source)

Read about the VkusVill advert here: https://listening2lesbians.com/2021/07/09/russia-lesbian-family-in-removed-ad-faces-death-threats-as-supermarket-apologises-for-including-them/

Posted in Interviews, lesbian resistance, Listening 2 Lesbians

Tagged Children of lesbian parents, homophobia, International Lesbian Day, Lesbians in Russia, Lesbophobia

ILD: Lillian Faderman, The ‘Mother of Lesbian History’ Looks Back — and Forward

Posted on 08/10/2021 by ListeningAri | 1 comment

July 16, 2021: Lillian Faderman is a mother and grandmother, but these aren’t the only titles that make her proud: The La Jolla resident is known, depending on who you talk to, as the “mother of lesbian history” or the “foremother of gay and lesbian studies.”

Over the past four decades, Faderman’s books have revealed the hidden history of female same-sex romance and uncovered how American lesbians pioneered social movements that transformed our society. She’s also written landmark books about gay rights, pioneering politician Harvey Milk and more. Three of her works have been named Notable Books by The New York Times, a remarkable accomplishment for any author.

Faderman, who turns 81 on Saturday at the tail end of San Diego’s Pride Week, isn’t done. She recently curated an exhibit about local LGBTQ+ history at the San Diego History Center, and she’s now finishing her work on an upcoming book. In an interview, she talked about her awakening as a Southern California teenager, the influential roles of lesbians in America’s past and San Diego’s surprising history as a vanguard of LGBT activism.

Continue Reading: https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/the-mother-of-lesbian-history-looks-back-and-forward/ (source)

Posted in Interviews, lesbian resistance

Tagged International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in the U.S., Lillian Faderman

ILD: Meet Portia Modise, Africa’s highest goalscorer and lesbian icon

Posted on 08/10/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

Former South Africa striker Portia Modise doesn’t care if the football community loves her. She doesn’t care if you like her outspoken manner, or the way she dresses, or that she loves women.

She’s the only African footballer to score 100 international goals, and represented her country for 15 years from the age of 16. But if you don’t want to give her respect for that, or her countless achievements on the field, she’s not too fussed about that either.

One of the first openly gay [sic] players in the global game, Modise says she only cares about furthering women’s football in South Africa, protecting female players from harassment, and being a voice for the LGBTQ+ community in her country.

Today, 21 years after her debut in 2000, the out footballers in Africa can be counted on one hand, but interestingly include her captaincy successor for Banyana Banyana, Janine van Wyk.

Despite hard-earned legal freedoms and constitutional rights won since apartheid [same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since 2006], much of the LGBTQ+ community in South Africa lives in perpetual fear of violence.

Murder and ‘corrective rape’, during which women are violated to ‘fix’ their queerness [sic], are still an epidemic for Black women in particular. There have been over 20 recorded LGBTQ+ hate crime murders locally since February 2021.

For Modise, the especially brutal rape and murder of national teammate and fellow activist Eudy Simelane in 2008, who was stabbed 25 times, further spurred her on in her fight for fair treatment, and was a factor in her exit from the team for four years.

Continue reading: https://www.espn.co.uk/football/south-africa-rsaw/story/4417448/meet-portia-modiseafricas-highest-goalscorer-and-defiant-gay-icon (source)

Posted in lesbian resistance

Tagged corrective rape, Eudy Simelane, Hate crimes, homophobia, International Lesbian Day, Lesbian Murder Victims, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Africa, Lesbians in South Africa, Lesbians in sports, Lesbophobia, murder of lesbian, Portia Modise, violence against lesbians, violence against women, Women in sports

ILD: Bridget Coll: Catholic nun was lesbian, militant and a history maker

Posted on 08/10/2021 by ListeningAri | 1 comment

Catholic nun, gay and militant. Bridget Coll, Irish born but a proud Canadian, was a trailblazer.

She and her partner, Chris Morrissey, made history when they challenged Canadian immigration law which had only recognised heterosexual married partners.

As nuns in the 1980s, they stood with the oppressed in Chile against dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime.

Hers is an inspirational journey. She travelled thousands of miles in just one lifetime.

Now, her story features in a new exhibition in Dublin telling the stories of Ireland’s LGBTQ+ diaspora.

Bridget died in 2016. Her life partner, activist and former nun, Chris, survives her.

Historian Dr Maurice Casey, who curated the exhibition, came upon their story by chance. He had set out to celebrate an LGBTQ+ history of the Irish emigration story.

He was researching the Canadian LGBTQ+ community and was inspired by a series of tapes held by Simon Fraser University recorded in 2009, through which the women tell their story.

There is wit and wisdom, a generosity and a humility about Bridget Coll that shines through on the tape recordings from 12 years ago.

She talks about how she was born in Donegal in 1934, one of 12 children from a Catholic family who grew up near Fanad lighthouse. She never questioned her sexuality.

At 14, she wanted to be a nun and at 16, joined an order in England.

From there, she went to America to work for the Franciscan Missionaries of St Joseph.

That was where the first seeds of dissent were sown.

“There was an encyclical on birth control from the Pope. The priest gave a whole sermon from the pulpit about how it was a real bad thing to do,” she said in the recording.

“I had a lot of contact with mothers of kids that I taught. They would come and tell me their stories about birth control. I listened to the women’s stories and their hardships.

“For the first time in my life, I began to doubt the teachings of the Church.”

She was drawn to read more about social justice and liberation theology – a radical movement that grew up in South America as a response to the poverty and ill-treatment of ordinary people.

The Liberationists said the Church should act to bring about social change and should ally itself with the working class.

It was at that time that Bridget became close to Chris, a Canadian nun in the same order.

When Bridget’s parents died within weeks of each other in 1977, Chris was the one person who truly helped.

“She said she was a lesbian and asked: ‘Do you know what that is?’ I said: ‘No’.

“She said: ‘I think you’re a lesbian’. I didn’t know the word – that was the first time I knew.

“It was 1977, I was 43, that’s the first time I ever heard it and the first time I fell in love with a woman.”

Continue reading: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57555518 (source)

Posted in lesbian resistance

Tagged Bridget Coll, Catholicism, Chris Morrissey, International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Canada, Lesbians in Ireland, Lesbians in the U.K.

ILD: Rediscovering Eve Adams; the Radical Lesbian Activist

Posted on 08/10/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

In 1925, Eve Adams, a Polish-Jewish émigré who had spent the past four years travelling across the United States selling leftist radical literature, opened a tearoom in Greenwich Village. Eve’s Hangout, as it was sometimes known, was situated in the basement of 129 MacDougal Street. The small, sparingly lit cellar quickly became a destination among the city’s bohemian contingents—artists, poets, activists, gay men, and lesbians. According to the Daily News, it was rumored that “men kept to one room, the women in another.” The Quill, a downtown periodical, summed it up, mockingly, as a place “where ladies prefer each other.”

One evening in June, 1926, a woman named Margaret Leonard walked into Eve’s Hangout wearing a tweed suit and carrying a briefcase. Adams took to Leonard, and, the next day, they met at Adams’s apartment and rode a taxi to Times Square to see a play. Later, Leonard would report that, in the car, Adams kissed her “profusely,” slid her hand under Leonard’s coat, and touched Leonard’s breasts. At dinner, they waltzed. That night, Adams told Leonard that she wanted to give her a copy of the book she had published the previous year, called “Lesbian Love,” a collection of biographical snapshots of lesbians Adams had known. They returned to her apartment, where Adams gave Leonard a copy and autographed it.

A few days after their outing, Leonard returned to Eve’s Hangout and revealed herself to be an undercover policewoman. Together with four other officers, she arrested Adams for “disorderly conduct”—a broad charge that referred, in this case, to Adams’s alleged sexual advances—and for having written an “obscene” book. After trials for each charge, Adams was sentenced to a year and a half in jail. When she completed her sentence, immigration authorities began deportation proceedings against her. (Although she had begun applying for naturalization in 1923, Adams was not yet an American citizen.) During the hearings, she pleaded to be allowed to stay, but, in 1927, she was sent back to Poland. Her days there were hard. In a letter to a friend, she described her “everyday worry” being “for a piece of bread.” “I cannot steal and I am a stranger-Jew here,” she wrote. She sustained herself on a Ten Cent Classics edition of Tennyson’s poetry, and she eventually managed to move to Paris. Adams’s passport listed her profession as “writer—woman of letters,” but, to support herself, she sold novels to American tourists on the street. After the Nazis occupied France, she tirelessly worked to find a way out of the country, but in late 1943 she was captured and sent to Auschwitz, where she was murdered.

“Lesbian Love,” though long since largely forgotten, might be the first ethnography of lesbians in America. Structured as a series of vignettes, the book—which Adams described as a “scientific literary contribution”—captures scores of women who flirted, courted, or were in love with one another, and some who played with the presentations of their gender. In the opening chapter, “Glimpses,” Adams writes of “a little rendezvous tearoom, late after dinner hour, where six or seven girls had gathered. One lone man sat silent in a corner. Whispers and love sonatas could be heard among the group of girls—occasionally laughter.” The group included women called Ann, Sara (who seemed to be Ann’s lover), and “May, the proprietress, known as Jim.”

Continue reading: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/rediscovering-eve-adams-the-radical-lesbian-activist (source)

Posted in lesbian resistance

Tagged Discrimination, Eve Adams, Eve’s Hangout, homophobia, International Lesbian Day, Lesbian Love, Lesbian Murder Victims, Lesbophobia, murder of lesbian

ILD: the isolation of Israel’s ‘First Lesbians’

Posted on 08/10/2021 by Liz | Leave a comment

For a long time Hana Klein thought she was the only lesbian in Israel, and maybe in the whole world. She was born in 1951, grew up in Tel Aviv and at 11 realized that her feelings were a bit different from those of her girlfriends. But she didn’t know why. Klein says that in the Israel of the 1950s and ‘60s, “there were no words for it.”

The first hint that she wasn’t alone was at a kiosk selling porn magazines and newspapers; one journal caught her eye. “The cover photo was of two bare-breasted women touching each other, with the caption “Contemporary lesbians.” For the first time she realized that there was a word for what she was.

“People can’t imagine the feeling of something missing in conservative Israel at the time. The atmosphere was that there was nothing. For years I walked around in a desert …. Even when I learned what it was called, there was a feeling that nobody else was like me,” Klein says.

“Those were times without a computer, so you couldn’t Google things, there were no community organizations, there was no place to meet. I tried to bring up the subject with friends and see their reactions, and from them I realized that it wasn’t acceptable.”

Klein was one of the first activists in LGBTQ and feminist organizations in Israel. She started the country’s first organization for lesbians, Alef – an acronym for lesbian-feminist organization. She has often been called “Tel Aviv’s first lesbian.”

Continue reading at: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-first-lesbians-it-s-hurts-when-you-re-all-alone-in-the-world-1.9938401 (Source)

Tagged Alef, Feminism, Hana Klein, Haya Shalom, International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, lesbian visibility, Lesbians in Israel, Nurit Shein

ILD: Sheroes and the lesbian Stonewall

Posted on 08/10/2020 by Liz | 2 comments

By Karla Jay

Armed with garbage bags, brooms and big mouths, we resisted the goons’ oppressive authority — our incredible moxie mirroring the rebellion at Stonewall. We had been beaten, risked serious injury and death for the privilege and joy of an all-women’s dance.

No mainstream media outlet reported on this assault, not even the Village Voice, which had covered the Stonewall Rebellion. The only story about our defiance that night was written by me in Rat Subterranean News.

The courage of the discarded, disrespected, and sometimes homeless street people who fought back at the Stonewall Inn must be honored. But a half century later, some acknowledgment and appreciation must be given to the GLF women who risked our lives to create an alternative to the Stonewalls and Kooky’s that had dominated our social lives.

It seems so matter of fact today to want to dance with whoever you want to — and surely, we will party again when we defeat this pandemic. But we GLF lesbians risked prison and payback to dance together 50 years ago, proving that sisterhood is powerful.

Continue reading at: https://www.losangelesblade.com/2020/05/15/sheroes-the-lesbian-stonewall/ (Source)

2 Comments

Tagged Gay Liberation Front, GLF, homophobia, International Lesbian Day, Karla Jay, lesbian community, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in the U.S., Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Police Failures

ILD: Pia Beck the lesbian pianist who was a warrior for LGTBI rights under Franco

Posted on 08/10/2020 by Liz | Leave a comment

Marga Samsonowski and Pia Beck

Her son argues that the story of his two mothers is, above all, a love story: “Pia told me: ‘It took me just an instant to fall in love with your mother'”. A love story postponed by the passage of time and political laziness, but which brings together all the ingredients of the great passions that end up taking over books and screens. Pia Beck , considered by many to be the best jazz pianist of the 20th century, and Marga Samsonowski , lived their romance without hiding in the times of grayer Spain and turned their exclusive club, The Blue Note, into a haven of freedom and respect for diversity on the Costa del Sol.
…
The story of the two women who, without intending to, became icons of the LGBT community, is today little more than a footnote in the Malaga town. Gino acknowledges that “it hurts and saddens him” to see how her legacy has not resulted in the recognition she deserved as a star who in each of the thousands of interviews she gave throughout her life prooted the charms of the Costa del Sol: “They are two icons and what they did is enormous. If this were the United States they would have already made a movie about them. ”

Recent graffiti in homage to Pia is the only trace there exists of them. Jorge Pérez, president of the Pasaje Begoña Association , which tries to return part of the lost splendor to the location and recall its past as the cradle of LGTB rights, demands justice: “We do not want to die without her being recognised in Torremolinos: a street, a statue, something… ”. This neglect may be about to change, since Pérez confirms that a production company (WinWin) is preparing a story about the alley that gave colour to the darkest times. “And we have already asked that Pia Beck be one of the protagonists,” he reveals.

The pianist shared the archetypal dream of any self-respecting jazz musician: opening her own club. The Blue Note opened its doors in 1965 and very soon became a meeting place for the most exclusive national and international clientele, attracted by the fame of its owner. “At that time I was a child and they only let me stay for a few hours. I remember, for example, that Arthur Rubinstein was one of the regulars and that he was encouraged, on many occasions, to give small improvised recitals ” , evokes Gino. Names like Fred Astaire, Nat King Cole, Shirley MacLaine or Ginger Rogers appear on his family photo album. “Pia is the artist, I am not,” argued Marga, who bet on being in the background and avoiding media appearances to protect her family.

Although they never faced any episode of hatred from neighbours, until 1978 homosexuality was criminalised in Spain. Why did the Franco regime allow two lesbians to live as a couple with total normality and be the visible face of one of the most famous places in the country? “Pia was a great ambassador, she promoted the Costa del Sol a lot and attracted thousands of tourists. Furthermore, she was Dutch and he wanted to avoid a diplomatic confrontation, ”Juan Carlos Parrilla, vice president of the Association Pasaje Begoña, explains to this magazine that if they had been Spanish the situation would have been radically different.

The normality with which their relationship was seen meant that, without being a gay bar, the gays and lesbians of the time found in The Blue Note a place where they could enjoy the night with total freedom. “They, without knowing it, were an icon for the lesbian women’s community at a time when women were invisible and repressed in a patriarchal society,” added Parrilla. Despite the fact that her son assures that his mothers were never aware of the importance that their common life had for the group and that they did not have labels, Pia starred in the seventies in a famous episode in defence of the rights of homosexuals. The pianist faced the famous ultra-conservative activist Anita Bryant and she promoted a concert to defray the cost of an advertisement on the pages of The New York Times against Bryant’s anti-homosexual speech.

(Translated)

Su hijo defiende que la de sus dos madres es, ante todo, una historia de amor: “Pia me decía: ‘Tardé solo un instante en enamorarme de tu madre’”. Una historia de amor postergada por el paso del tiempo y la desidia política, pero que reúne todos los ingredientes de las grandes pasiones que acaban copando libros y pantallas. Pia Beck, considerada por muchos como la mejor pianista de jazz del siglo XX, y Marga Samsonowski, vivieron su romance sin ocultarse en los tiempos de la España más gris y convirtieron su exclusivo club, The Blue Note, en un reducto de libertad y respeto a la diversidad en la Costa del Sol.
…
La historia de las dos mujeres que, sin pretenderlo, se erigieron en iconos de la comunidad LGTB, es hoy poco más que una nota a pie de página en la localidad malagueña. Gino reconoce que “le duele y entristece” ver cómo su legado no ha obtenido el reconocimiento merecido por una estrella que en cada una de las miles de entrevistas que concedió a lo largo de su vida divulgó los encantos de la Costa del Sol: “Son dos iconos y es enorme lo que consiguieron. Si esto fuera Estados Unidos ya les habrían hecho una película”.

Un reciente grafitti en homenaje a Pia es el único rastro que hay de ellas. Jorge Pérez, presidente de la Asociación Pasaje Begoña, que trata de devolver parte del esplendor perdido a la localización y rememorar su pasado como cuna de los derechos LGTB+, reclama justicia: “No nos queremos morir sin que ella tenga algún reconocimiento en Torremolinos: una calle, una estatua, algo…”. Una postergación que quizá esté a punto de cambiar, ya que Pérez confirma que una productora (WinWin) está preparando una ficción sobre el callejón que dotó de color los tiempos más oscuros. “Y ya hemos pedido que Pia Beck sea una de las protagonistas”, revela.

La pianista compartía el sueño arquetípico de cualquier músico de jazz que se precie: inaugurar su propio club. The Blue Note abrió sus puertas en 1965 y muy pronto se convirtió en lugar de encuentro de la clientela nacional e internacional más exclusiva, atraída por la fama de su dueña. “Por aquel entonces yo era un niño y solo me dejaban estar durante unas horas. Recuerdo, por ejemplo, que Arthur Rubinstein era uno de los clientes habituales y que se animaba, en muchas ocasiones, a dar pequeños recitales improvisados”, evoca Gino. En su álbum fotográfico familiar aparecen nombres como los de Fred Astaire, Nat King Cole, Shirley MacLaine o Ginger Rogers. “Pia es la artista, yo no”, argumentaba Marga, que apostó por quedar en un segundo plano y evitar apariciones en los medios para proteger a su familia.

Aunque jamás se enfrentaron a ningún episodio de odio por parte de los vecinos, hasta 1978 la homosexualidad fue tipificada como delito en España. ¿Por qué el régimen franquista permitió entonces que dos lesbianas hicieran vida en pareja con total normalidad y fueran la cara visible de uno de los locales más célebres del país? “Pia era una gran embajadora, hizo mucha promoción de la Costa del Sol y atrajo a miles de turistas. Además, era holandesa y se quería evitar un enfrentamiento de carácter diplomático”, explica a esta revista el vicepresidente de la Asociación Pasaje Begoña, Juan Carlos Parrilla, que considera que si hubieran sido españolas la situación habría sido radicalmente diferente.

La normalidad con la que se veía su relación provocó que, sin ser un bar de ambiente, los gays y lesbianas de la época encontraran en The Blue Note un rincón en el que podían disfrutar de la noche con total libertad. “Ellas, sin saberlo, fueron un referente para el colectivo de mujeres lesbianas en una época en la que la mujer era un ser invisible y reprimido en una sociedad patriarcal”, añade Parrilla. A pesar de que su hijo asegura que sus madres jamás fueron conscientes de la importancia que su vida en común tuvo para el colectivo y que prescindían de etiquetas, Pia protagonizó en la década de los setenta un sonado episodio en defensa de los derechos de los homosexuales. La pianista se enfrentó a la célebre activista ultraconservadora Anita Bryant y promovió un concierto con el que sufragar los gastos de un anuncio en las páginas de The New York Times contra el discurso antihomosexual de Bryant.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://smoda.elpais.com/moda/actualidad/historia-amor-lesbico-pia-beck-marga-blue-note-pasaje-begona-torremolinos/ (Source)

Posted in News

Tagged Anita Bryant, Blue Note, Costa Del Sol, Franco, Gino Felleman, International Lesbian Day, Lesbians in Spain, Marga Samsonowski, Pia Beck

International Lesbian Day: A lesbian athlete wore rainbow sneakers while competing in a country where being homosexual is illegal

Posted on 09/10/2019 by ListeningAri | 2 comments

While competing in Qatar at the IAAF World Athletics Championships, U.S. competitor Erica Bougard made an impression and a subtle statement by wearing Nike shoes with rainbow flaps over their laces.

Bougard, who is an out athlete competing in the heptathlon — an event made up of seven track-and-field events — says she wasn’t trying to make a statement even though Qatar punishes homosexuality with seven years imprisonment and even death (though no known executions for being gay have ever officially occurred in the country).

Continue reading: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2019
/10/athlete-wore-rainbow-sneakers-competing-anti-lgbtq-country/ (source)

2 Comments

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged Erica Bougard, homophobia, International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Qatar, Lesbians in sports, Lesbophobia

International Lesbian Day: Chocolate Remix – “That a lesbian woman sings reggaeton is already a political fact in itself”

Posted on 09/10/2019 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

The Argentine artist Romina Bernardo calls herself, when she records and when she goes on stage, Chocolate Remix. She is mainly reggaeton, and is a lesbian, so that in her style she has been awarded an obvious label, that of ‘lesbian reggaeton’.

Her musical proposal combines fun, subversion and activism with great originality. Chocolate Remix is a proud fighter who not only seeks to make you dance and pound. “History has always been commanded by heterosexual men, and those of us who have been segregated have to formulate our strategies to empower ourselves and create a more just society ,” she says.

(Translated)

La artista argentina Romina Bernardo se hace llamar, cuando graba y cuando se sube al escenario, Chocolate Remix. Hace principalmente reguetón, y es lesbiana, de manera que a su estilo se le ha adjudicado una etiqueta obvia, la de ‘reguetón lésbico’.

Su propuesta musical une diversión, subversión y activismo con gran originalidad. Chocolate Remix es una luchadora orgullosa que no solo busca hacerte bailar y perrear. “La historia siempre ha estado comandada por varones heterosexuales, y quienes hemos quedado segregados tenemos que formular nuestras estrategias para empoderarnos y crear una sociedad más justa”, afirma.

(Original)

Continue reading: https://shangay.com/2019/07/13/chocolate-remix-mujer-lesbiana-regueton-argentina-entrevista/ (source)

Tagged Chocolate Remix, International Lesbian Day, Lesbian Musician, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Argentina, lesbians in music, Romina Bernardo

International Lesbian Day: “A love in rebellion” recounts the first lesbian movement in Mexico

Posted on 09/10/2019 by ListeningAri | 1 comment

oikabeth

* Art activist and curator Yan María Castro shares her experience as leader of the Oikabeth group

In order to demand respect and recognition from society and the authorities, at the end of the 70s, Oikabeth, an autonomous political group of lesbians, was created.

It was the first feminist lesbian movement in Mexico, commanded by painter, manager and art curator Yan María Yaoyólotl Castro, who tired of abuse, decided to raise her voice, defend her sexual preferences and fight for her rights.

Her story and that of other women was embodied through the documentary short film A love in rebellion, which under the direction of Tania Claudia Castillo, is part of the Continuous Program of the Cuórum Morelia festival. In addition, he won the Silver Camelina in the third Sexual Diversity Program + Morelia.

For 14 minutes, Yan María remembers the beginning of the group, how she organized with other women to demonstrate in the streets of the Mexican capital. It also reveals her transformation from girl to teenager and adult. When she had to recognize herself as a lesbian with her relatives and in return she got a deep rejection.

(Translated)

*La activista y curadora de arte Yan María Castro comparte su experiencia como líder del grupo Oikabeth

Con el propósito de exigir respeto y reconocimiento por parte de la sociedad y las autoridades, a finales de la década de los 70 se creó Oikabeth, un grupo político autónomo de lesbianas.

Fue el primer movimiento lésbico feminista en México, comandado por la pintora, gestora y curadora de arte Yan María Yaoyólotl Castro, quien cansada del maltrato, decidió levantar la voz, defender sus preferencias sexuales y luchar por sus derechos.

Su historia y la de otras mujeres quedó plasmada a través del cortometraje documental Un amor en rebeldía, que bajo la dirección de Tania Claudia Castillo, forma parte del Programa Continuo del festival Cuórum Morelia. Además, ganó la Camelina de plata en el tercer Programa de Diversidad Sexual + Morelia.

Durante 14 minutos, Yan María recuerda el inicio del grupo, de cómo se organizó con otras mujeres para manifestarse en las calles de la capital mexicana. También revela su transformación de niña a adolescente y adulta. De cuando tuvo que reconocerse lesbiana con sus familiares y a cambio obtuvo un rechazo profundo.

(Original)

Continue reading: https://www.20minutos.com.mx/
noticia/839893/0/un-amor-rebeldia-relata-primer-movimiento-lesbico-mexico/ (source)

Tagged A Love in Rebellion, International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Mexico, Oikabeth, Yan María Castro

International Lesbian Day: Stormé DeLarverie – The Lesbian Spark in the Stonewall Uprising

Posted on 09/10/2019 by ListeningAri | 1 comment

July 31, 2018

Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. In the early morning hours, gay men and lesbians fought back against the police raid of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. After that event, which began in the early morning of June 28,1969, Gay Liberation had joined the lexicon of Women’s Liberation, Black Liberation, and Chicano Liberation.

There are phenomenal lives and stories connected to that night that should not be forgotten or erased. One is that of Stormé DeLarverie—who had been fighting back all her life and fought back that night.

Stormé was involved in forming the Stonewall Veterans Association and was later elected vice president. They often had panels of speakers, and over the decades she was always quick to remind later generations what it was like before Stonewall: Lesbians and gay men could receive a $70 fine for “looking at someone with desire.”

You could be arrested for not wearing a certain number of “gender appropriate articles of clothing.” This meant that lesbians who might be wearing a three-piece suit had to be able to show they were also wearing a bra and stockings. If not, they could be thrown in jail.

Stormé’s recollection

Stormé recalled her part in the uprising at a public, videotaped event sponsored by the Stonewall Veterans Association. She started at the beginning: “The cops were parading patrons out of the front door of the Stonewall at about 2 a.m. in the morning. I saw this one boy being taken out by three cops, only one in uniform. Three to one. I told my pals, ‘I know him! That is Williamson, my friend Sonia Jane’s friend.

“Williamson briefly broke loose but they grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him right down on the cement street. One of them did a drop kick on him. Another cop senselessly hit him from the back. Right after that a cop said to me, ‘move faggot,’ thinking I was a gay guy. I said, ‘I will not and don’t you dare touch me.’ With that the cop shoved me, and I instinctively punched him in the face.”

Four officers then attacked her and handcuffed her in response. When she pointed out that she was cuffed too tightly, one officer hit her head with a billy club. As she was bleeding from the head, she turned to the crowd and shouted, “Why don’t you guys do something?” After a long struggle, she was dragged towards a police van, and that was when everything exploded. Many who were there recall her call to arms.

Stormé was always clear: “It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was civil disobedience. It was no damn riot.”

Of course she was correct. Stonewall was not a one-night riot. Thousands of gays and lesbians rose up for six nights. There was organizing during the day and returning to the Stonewall Inn every night for six nights. Out of the uprising grew two activist organizations, the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance, and three gay and lesbian newspapers.

Erasing Black lesbians

Claire Heuchan wrote an article for AfterEllen.com entitled, “We Need to Talk about Misogyny and the LGBT Community’s Erasure of Black Lesbian History.” (See: http://www.afterellen.com/general-news/561237-we-need-to-talk-about-misogyny-and-the-lgbt-communitys-erasure-of-black-lesbian-history )

Heuchan focused in the article on the erasing of Stormé from some of the “official” histories of Stonewall. She was cut from the 1995 and the 2015 “Stonewall” films as well as from many histories of that period—and most recently in a press release by the National Center For Lesbian Rights.

Heuchan pointed out, “Lesbian history is hard to find, Black representation, female representation, and lesbian representation are not always straightforward to find, especially when you are looking for all three at once. Stormé, in all her Black butch magnificence, put herself at extraordinary risk to fight injustice and she deserves to be remembered for it. It was Stormé who led the resistance of homophobic police brutality at the Stonewall Inn.”

Continue reading: https://socialistaction.org/2018/07/31/storme-delarverie-the-lesbian-spark-in-the-stonewall-uprising/ (source)

Tagged Discrimination, homophobia, International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, Lesbophobia, Stonewall Inn, Stonewall Uprising, Stonewall Veterans Association, Stormé DeLarverie, violence against lesbians, violence against women

International Lesbian Day: 5 Lesbian Couples who Joined Football

Posted on 09/10/2019 by ListeningAri | 1 comment

What united football that does not separate man. The saying was like that, right? Well, today we are going to talk about 10 incredible lesbian athletes who met in the field and ended up teaming up together. These are five lesbian couples that joined football.

(Translated)

Lo que unió el fútbol que no lo separe el hombre. ¿El dicho era así no? Pues hoy vamos a hablar de 10 increíbles deportistas lesbianas que se conocieron en el campo y terminaron formando equipo juntas. Estas son cinco parejas lésbicas que unió el fútbol.

(Original)

Continue reading: https://lesbicanarias.es/2019/05/07/5-parejas-lesbicas-que-unio-el-futbol/ (source)

Tagged International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in sports

International Lesbian Day: Nigerian lesbian and Namibian lesbian marry in the Netherlands

Posted on 08/10/2019 by ListeningAri | 1 comment

Mona is from Namibia, while Judith is from Nigeria.

In attendance were prominent lawyers, activists, and persons who flew in from the U.S., EU, UK, and Canada. Family and friends were also present including lots of LGBTIQ+ persons.

The wedding was officiated by renowned Nigerian gay reverend, Rev. Jide Rebirth Macaulay, founder of House of Rainbow, an LGBTIQ+ affirming faith-based organization.

Continue reading: https://nostringsng.com/nigerian-lesbian-couple-marries-netherlands/ (source)

Editor’s note: We have included this article as Lesbian Resistance, because homosexuality is illegal in the countries where both Mona and Judith come from.

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged International Lesbian Day, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Namibia, Lesbians in Nigeria, Lesbians in the Netherlands, Marriage equality

International Lesbian Day: Monica Briones – The woman killed in dictatorship, that inspires the Day of Lesbian Visibility

Posted on 08/10/2019 by ListeningAri | 2 comments

The brutal murder of the 34-year-old painter and sculptor became a mystery to justice. In parallel, for organizations the figure of the artist has become a source of inspiration to boost the fight for lesbian rights. More than three decades after the crime, activism accuses that the hatred and injustices that haunted the death of women remain as present as before. This July 9, the lesbian feminist groups will make a request to the Monuments Council to install a memorial in the place where she was killed.

Bold, talented and bold, they are the adjectives that are most repeated when asked about Monica Briones Puccio. “A woman ahead of her time,” they will say here and there. Owner of an outstanding talent for painting and sculpture, an innate artist who became one of the most relevant figures for the lesbian movement in Chile.

Monica was a proud lesbian, with a masculine gender expression and decided to face her sexual orientation at a very young age, opening the door – possibly – to the greatest violence and oppressions she would live later, even in the family. But the truth is that in 1984, in full dictatorship, at 34, Monica lived life with passion and was the protagonist of intense love relationships that would mark her.

Two days after her birthday, on July 9, while she was retiring from the last of several celebrations, at the exit of the Jaque Mate bar and while waiting for the bus to return home, the painter was beaten to death. His attacker kicked her on the ground until her skull fractured.

The story of Monica Briones has inspired television reports, a chronicle of Pedro Lemebel, plays and even a movie. Thus, more than three decades after his death, the artist’s memory has remained in force in the memory of those who have empathized with the case.

“A creative and different woman,” titled a magazine of the time with a small profile of the artist. There she confessed, probably to an insistent journalist: “I have not married because it would take time from my art.”

In that same article he sentenced that he was not afraid of death, because he knew he would die young.

(Translated)

El brutal homicidio de la pintora y escultora de 34 años se convirtió en un misterio para la justicia. En paralelo, para las organizaciones la figura de la artista se ha transformado en una fuente de inspiración para impulsar la lucha por los derechos de las lesbianas. A más de tres décadas del crimen, el activismo acusa que el odio y las injusticias que rondaron la muerte de la mujer siguen tan presentes como antes. Este 9 de julio, las agrupaciones lesbofeministas harán ingreso de una solicitud al Consejo de Monumentos para instalar un memorial en el lugar donde fue asesinada. Esta es su historia.

Atrevida, talentosa y audaz, son los adjetivos que más se repiten al preguntar por Mónica Briones Puccio. “Una mujer adelantada a su época”, dirán aquí y allá. Dueña de un talento descollante para la pintura y la escultura, una artista innata que se convirtió en una de las figuras más relevantes para el movimiento lésbico en Chile.

Mónica era una lesbiana orgullosa, con expresión de género masculina y decidió enfrentar su orientación sexual a muy corta edad, abriendo la puerta -posiblemente- a las mayores violencias y opresiones que viviría después, incluso en el seno familiar. Pero lo cierto es que en 1984, en plena dictadura, a sus 34 años, Mónica vivía la vida con pasión y era protagonista de intensas relaciones amorosas que la marcarían.

A dos días de su cumpleaños, un 9 de julio, mientras se retiraba de la última de varias celebraciones, a la salida del bar Jaque Mate y mientras esperaba la micro para volver a su casa, la pintora fue golpeada hasta la muerte. Su atacante la pateó en el suelo hasta que su cráneo se fracturó.

La historia de Mónica Briones ha inspirado reportajes televisivos, una crónica de Pedro Lemebel, obras de teatro y hasta una película. Así, a más de tres décadas de su muerte, el recuerdo de la artista se ha mantenido vigente en la memoria de quienes han empatizado con el caso.

“Una mujer creativa y distinta”, tituló una revista de la época con una pequeña semblanza de la artista. Allí ella confesó, probablemente a un insistente periodista: “No me he casado porque quitaría tiempo a mi arte”.

En ese mismo artículo sentenció que no le temía a la muerte, porque sabía que moriría joven.

(Original)

Continue reading: https://www.eldesconcierto.cl/2019/07/09/el-recuerdo-insistente-de-monica-briones-la-mujer-asesinada-en-dictadura-que-inspira-el-dia-de-la-visibilidad-lesbica/ (source)

2 Comments

Tagged International Lesbian Day, Lesbian Murder Victims, lesbian resistance, Monica Briones, murder of lesbian, violence against lesbians, violence against women

International Lesbian Day: Martha Shelley, the Lesbian who Proposed the Protest March of Stonewall

Posted on 08/10/2019 by ListeningAri | 3 comments

Martha Shelley, was the one who proposed the protest march of Stonewall, although everyone remembers Harvey Milk. Well, this lesbian activist not only promoted the protest that night in the Greenwich Village, but has been and is a very struggling feminist.

Who is Martha Shelley?

If you still don’t know our heroine, you should know that Shelley was born in 1943, in Brooklyn. From a young age she participated in movements protesting human rights, so much so that she was watched by the FBI. In fact, her real name is Martha Altman, but she had to choose Shelley’s alias to go unnoticed.

Her participation as a social activist begins with the first protest against the Vietnam War. Subsequently, she joined the association DOB (Daughters of Bilitis), the Daughters of Bilitis. This association was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization, of which Shelley was president.

The women who belonged to the DOB were constantly monitored by the authorities, hence Martha Altman, to be called Martha Shelley. The continuous raids, harassment, and police harassment was a constant while the organization lasted. Founded in San Francisco in 1955, it lasted 14 more years against wind and tide.

But let’s go back to Martha Shelley and her work as an activist for LGTBI rights. This female fighter also joined the Student Homophile League, the first gay student organization, founded in 1966 at Columbia University.

Subsequently, she was one of the four people who founded the [New York] Gay Liberation Front. The first of the GLF was that of New York, which was founded just after Stonewall in 1969. There are different locations in the US, United Kingdom and Canada, but Shelley participated in the foundation of the first organization.

(Translated)

Martha Shelley, fue quien propuso la marcha protesta de Stonewall, aunque todo el mundo recuerda a Harvey Milk. Pues bien, esta activista lesbiana no solo promovió la protesta aquella noche en el Greenwich Village, sino que ha sido y es una feminista muy luchadora.

¿Quién es Martha Shelley?

Si todavía no conoces a nuestra heroína, debes saber que Shelley nació en 1943, en Brooklyn. Desde muy joven participó en movimientos protesta por los derechos humanos, tanto, que estuvo vigilada por el FBI. De hecho, su nombre real es Martha Altman, pero tuvo que escoger el alias de Shelley para pasar desapercibida.

Su participación como activista social, comienza con la primera protesta contra la guerra de Vietnam. Posteriormente, entró a formar parte de la asociación DOB (Daughters of Bilitis), las Hijas de Bilitis. Esta asociación, fue la primera organización lésbica de derechos civiles y políticos, de la cual Shelley fue presidenta.

Las mujeres que pertenecían a la DOB eran vigiladas constantemente por las autoridades, de ahí que Martha Altman, pasara a llamarse Martha Shelley. Las continuas redadas, el hostigamiento, y el acoso policial fue una constante mientras duró la organización. Fundada en San Francisco en 1955, duró 14 años más contra viento y marea.

Pero volvamos a Martha Shelley y su labor como activista por los derechos LGTBI. Esta mujer luchadora se unió también al Student Homophile League, primera organización de estudiantes gais, fundada en 1966 en la Universidad de Columbia.

Posteriormente, fue una de las cuatro personas que fundaron el Frente de Liberación Gay de [New York]. El primero de los GLF fue el de Nueva York, que se fundó justo después de Stonewall en 1969. Hay distintas sedes en EEUU, Reino Unido y Canadá, pero Shelley participó en la fundación de la primera organización.

(Original)

Continue reading: https://www.lesbiana.es/2019/07/06/no-fue-harvey-milk-fue-martha-shelley/ (source)

3 Comments