Tag Archives: lesbian resistance

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged Assault, Black lesbians, corrective rape, Cristian Rubén Espósito, Eva Analía De Jesús, Higui, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Argentina, lesbians of colour, Lesbophobia, male violence against women, Police Failures, self defense, sexual assault, violence against lesbians, violence against women.

ILD: The Incredible Story of Del and Phyllis

Posted on 09/10/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

In 2008, after 55 years together, Del Martin, age 87, and Phyllis Lyon, age 84, were finally wed in San Francisco, but it was for the second time. Four years earlier, before same-sex marriage was legalized in the state of California, during a large ceremony honoring their long-standing contributions to LGBTQ activism, they were the first of 90 gay couples to be married illegally by the city’s then-mayor Gavin Newsom.

When Martin and Phyllis made their initial vows as San Francisco’s first same-sex couple, the ceremony was conducted so that their union could potentially be included in a lawsuit to champion marriage equality in the United States. The director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Kate Kendell, invited them with this promise: “This will hopefully be the last thing the movement will ever ask you to do, but do you wanna get married?”

As lesbian history was unfolding in the 1950s, it was Del and Phyllis who gathered in the home of their friend Rose Bamberger and her partner Rosemary Sliepen and founded the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first lesbian organization in the country. Martin and Lyon would soon become co-editors of the Ladder, DOB’s publication, and grow the readership even amid an era of pervasive homophobia. The pair was also the first lesbian couple to join the National Organization for Women, as feminist causes also spurred their organizing work.

Over the next five decades, Martin and Lyon never stopped organizing, and gradually, thanks in no small part to their efforts, LGBTQ visibility shifted from secrecy to “out and proud” activism.

Continue reading: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/incredible-story-lesbian-activists-del-martin-and-phyllis-lyon-180978309/ (source)

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: 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: 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

Remembering Berkeley’s Marcia Freedman, first out lesbian in Israel’s legislature

Posted on 04/10/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

There’s a limit to what any one person can accomplish in her time on earth. Marcia Freedman managed to blow right past the limit and just kept going.

Pioneering feminist, LGBTQ activist, Knesset member, author and co-founder of an esteemed Middle East peace organization, Marcia Freedman died Sept. 21 in Berkeley. She was 83.

“She was quiet and wise,” said Janis Plotkin, who decades ago recruited Freedman to serve on the board of the S.F. Jewish Film Festival. “She was a little woman but a giant in terms of intellect, kindness, thoughtfulness and her strategic approach to problem-solving.”

Freedman’s social and political activism took many forms. Much of her work centered on Israeli politics and seeking to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. She argued for a two-state solution long before it became a stated policy objective. As a young olah (immigrant) and member of Knesset, the state of Israel’s legislature, she also fostered groundbreaking women’s rights legislation, going toe to toe with her misogynist male colleagues.

Continue reading: https://www.berkeleyside.org/2021/10/01/marcia-freedman-obituary (source)

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged activism, Feminism, In memoriam, Jewish lesbians, Lesbian Feminist, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Israel, Marcia Freedman

Australia: Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Denies Single Sex Lesbian Event

Posted on 23/07/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

by Claire Heuchan

AfterEllen.com

A new ruling in Tasmania decrees that lesbians will be breaking the law if they host single-sex spaces. Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Sarah Bolt banned LGB Alliance Australia from hosting lesbian events that exclude transwomen, on the grounds that such gatherings carry a “significant risk” of breaching existing equalities legislation.

This ruling has far-reaching implications that extend beyond Tasmania, as it sets a legal precedent with the power to shape the outcomes of future cases. As Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Bolt advises the Minister of Justice on matters relating to discrimination and prohibited conduct. She also promotes the recognition and approval of acceptable attitudes, acts and practices. As her ruling indicates, Bolt does not believe that lesbians creating spaces by and for ourselves is an acceptable act or practice.

What Bolt fails to recognize is that lesbians are oppressed at least twice over, on the basis of our sex and sexuality. We are females who love desire and build our lives around other females – which has been treated as suspicious for the duration of patriarchy. Around the world, lesbians continue to be at risk of discrimination and violence – from losing custody of our children to suffering ‘corrective’ rape.

Continue Reading: https://afterellen.com/tasmania-rules-against-women-only-spaces/ (source)

Editor’s note: Jessica Hoyle is not a member or representative of LGB Alliance Australia, and the application was not made on behalf of LGB Alliance.

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged AfterEllen, Claire Heuchan, Discrimination, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Australia, Lesbophobia, LGB Alliance, LGB Alliance Australia, Sarah Bolt, sex based rights, sexism

In Memoriam: Lesbian Activist and Author Sally Miller Gearhart (1931 – 2021)

Posted on 15/07/2021 by ListeningAri | Leave a comment

Sally Miller Gearhart, the first out lesbian to receive a tenure-track position at San Francisco State University and a beloved LGBTQ rights advocate, died July 14, according to Jean Crosby, who sent out an email to friends. She was 90.

Ms. Gearhart had been in poor health for several years. She had lived for many years in Willits, California but had moved recently to a care home in Ukiah.

The GLBT Historical Society posted on Facebook about Ms. Gearhart’s passing, of which they were informed by her good friend, Ruth Mahaney.

“Losing Sally is like a huge tree falling. She was very tall, and she was so important in the world,” stated Mahaney. “She had been saying she wanted out of here, to be ‘up in the sky.’ She was ready to go.”

In 1973, Ms. Gearhart received the tenure-track position at SF State. She established one of the first women’s and gender studies programs in the country while at the university, and was a leading LGBTQ activist throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Continue reading: https://www.ebar.com/news/latest_news//306938 (source)

Sally Miller Gearhart’s website can be found here: https://sallymillergearhart.net

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged Lesbian activist, Lesbian author, Lesbian Feminist, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in the U.S., Sally Gearhart, Sally Miller Gearhart

Update: criminalisation of Russian lesbian feminist Yulia Tsvetkova continues

Posted on 11/07/2021 by Liz | 1 comment

Yulia Tsvetkova is a young Russian artist and activist from Komsomolsk on the Amur (a city in the extreme east of Russia), who has suffered a homophobic and sexist campaign since March 2019, for defending the rights of women and LGBTI people.

She is accused of committing a crime of “production and dissemination of pornographic material” as a result of drawings of real women which she posted on social media as part of her activism. The criminal trial began on April 12 and she faces up to six years in prison. Given the desperate situation in which she finds herself, Yulia announced that she was on hunger strike on May 1, demanding that the process be sped up, the appointment of a public defender and the opening up of the trial, the hearings of which are held behind closed doors with all media excluded.

Unfortunately, since the process began, Yulia has been the target of homophobic attacks from various people, and of harassment and threats over the phone, on social media and by mail. In addition, she suffered harassment by the Russian police for more than a year, including arbitrary detention, searches at her home and workplace, an enforced psychiatric examination, and almost 4 months of house arrest during which time she could not get necessary medical care.

Previously, in December 2019, she was found guilty of committing an administrative offense, for “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations between minors”, and was fined 50,000 rubles (780 US dollars) for being the administrator of two LGBTI communities online in the Russian social network VKontakte.

In January 2020 a new administrative action was initiated against her for publishing his drawing on social networks “Family is where love is. Support LGBTI Families”, which represents two same-sex couples with sons and daughters. For this, Yulia was found guilty in July 2020, and was fined again. In parallel, that same month, administrative proceedings for the same type of offense were initiated for the third time.
(Translated)

Yulia Tsvetkova es una joven artista y activista rusa de Komsomolsk del Amur (ciudad del extremo oriental de Rusia), que desde marzo de 2019 sufre una campaña homófoba y machista por defender los derechos de las mujeres y las personas LGBTI.
Está acusada de cometer un delito de “producción y difusión de material pornográfico” a raíz de unos dibujos de mujeres reales que publicó en las redes sociales como parte de su activismo. El juicio penal comenzó el pasado 12 de abril y se enfrenta a hasta seis años de cárcel. Ante la desesperada situación en la que se encuentra, Yulia anunció el 1 de mayo una huelga de hambre, exigiendo celeridad en su proceso, la personación de un defensor público y la apertura del juicio, ya que actualmente las vistas se celebran a puerta cerrada (tampoco hay prensa).

Lamentablemente, desde que se inició el proceso Yulia ha sido objeto de ataques homófobos de distintas personas, y de acoso y amenazas por teléfono, en redes sociales y por correo. Además, sufrió acoso por parte de la policía rusa durante más de un año, incluyendo una detención arbitraria, registros en su domicilio y su lugar de trabajo, sometimiento a un examen psiquiátrico, y un arresto domiciliario de casi cuatro meses durante el que no pudo recibir la atención médica que necesitaba.

Con anterioridad, en diciembre de 2019 fue declarada culpable de cometer una infracción administrativa, por “propaganda de relaciones sexuales no tradicionales entre menores”, y fue multada con 50.000 rublos (780 dólares estadounidenses) por ser administradora de dos comunidades LGBTI en línea en la red social rusa VKontakte.

Y en enero de 2020 se inició una nueva actuación administrativa en su contra por publicar en las redes sociales su dibujo “La familia es donde está el amor. Apoye a las familias LGBTI”, que representa a dos parejas del mismo sexo con hijos e hijas. Por este hecho, Yulia fue declarada culpable en julio de 2020, siendo de nuevo multada. En paralelo, ese mismo mes, se iniciaron por tercera vez actuaciones administrativas por el mismo tipo de infracción.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.es.amnesty.org/en-que-estamos/blog/historia/articulo/yulia-tsvetkova-a-la-carcel-por-dibujar/ (Source)

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged activism, Feminism, harassment, homophobia, Julia Tsvetkova, Lesbian Feminist, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Russia, Lesbophobia, persecution, Yulja Tsvetkova

In Memoriam: Pioneering Lesbian Musician and Activist Alix Dobkin (1940–2021)

Posted on 26/06/2021 by Liz | Leave a comment

Lesbian activist and music legend Alix Dobkin died at her home in Woodstock, New York, after suffering a brain aneurism and stroke. She was 80 years old.

Dobkin, with fellow lesbian activist and musician Kay Gardner (1940–2002), recorded in 1973 what was arguably the first full-length album by, for, and about lesbians: Lavender Jane Loves Women. The songs, with titles such as “Talking Lesbian” and “Fantasy Girl,” were as bold and direct as the album’s title. As reviewer Liza Cowan wrote in DYKE A Quarterly, No. 2, in 1976: ” … I think Lavender Jane Loves Women is a far out, brilliant album. It is so blatant and specific, you never have to guess what Alix is singing about in a song … It’s our history and I want to know all about it.”

Cowan continued, “One thing that I feel is so fantastic about Alix’s music is that she sings so explicitly about Dyke experiences. I love and dearly appreciate that everything she writes about comes directly from her own experiences, and is written about as such.”

Continue reading at: http://sfbaytimes.com/in-memoriam-pioneering-lesbian-musician-and-activist-alix-dobkin-1940-2021/ (Source)

Posted in lesbian resistance, News

Tagged Alix Dobkin, Lesbian Feminist, Lesbian Musician, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in the U.S.

Brazil: Angela Ro Ro talks about coming out as a lesbian: “I was beaten four times by the police”

Posted on 11/01/2021 by Liz | 1 comment

In an interview, Angela Ro Ro shared the experience of being one of the pioneers of the LGBTQ + movement in Brazil.

She said: “Coming out as a lesbian cost me the blindness in one eye and half in the other and a half of my hearing. I was beaten four times by the Military Police and once by the Civil Police. I suffered physical aggression in 1981, 1983, two episodes in 1984 and in 1990 by brass knuckles, iron bars and baton. It was during a dictatorship, but I think that has no direct connection.”

The singer also compared reactions from that time to the present day: “Don’t you see how many children are killed today by stray bullet in Rio? At the time, I also suffered many homophobic attacks in other ways and I was even raped. I am proud to have been a pioneer, I was the first artist to call myself a lesbian in Brazil.”
(Translated)

Angela Ro Ro contou em entrevista como foi a experiencia de ser uma das pioneiras do movimento LGBTQ+ no Brasil.

Ela disse: “Me assumir lésbica me custou a cegueira de um olho e meio e metade da audição. Fui espancada quatro vezes pela Polícia Militar e uma pela Polícia Civil. Sofri agressões físicas em 1981, 1983, dois episódios em 1984 e em 1990 por soco inglês, barras de ferro e cacetete. Era ditadura, mas acho que não tem ligação direta”.

A cantora ainda comparou reações da época aos dias atuais: “Você não vê quantas crianças são mortas hoje em dia por bala perdida no Rio? Na época, também sofri muitos ataques homofóbicos de outras formas e cheguei a ser estuprada. Me orgulho de ter sido pioneira, fui a primeira artista a se dizer lésbica no Brasil”.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://observatoriodemusica.uol.com.br/noticia/angela-ro-ro-fala-sobre-se-assumir-lesbica-fui-espancada-quatro-vezes-pela-policia-era-ditadura (Source)

Posted in News

Tagged Angela Ro Ro, homophobia, Lesbian Herstory, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Brazil, Lesbophobia, male violence against women, persecution, Police brutality, State Discrimination, violence against lesbians, violence against women

ILD: The world’s oldest black lesbian, And you have probably never heard of her

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

Ruth Ellis

Ruth Ellis was born in 1899 in Springfield, Illinois. Her father, Charles Ellis, was the first Black mail carrier in the entire state of Illinois. Her mother died when she was a tween, leaving her with her father and brothers. At the age of 16, after realizing that she had feelings for her white gym teacher, Ellis read Radclyffe Hall’s book The Well of Loneliness. After reading the book, she looked up the term “homosexual” in an psychology book. And that’s how she realized she was a lesbian. Being out isn’t easy at any point in history, but in 1915? It’s not like she had much for frame of reference. Despite that, however, Ellis always lived her life as an out lesbian.
…
While still living in Springfield, Ruth Ellis met Ceciline “Babe” Franklin, who was 10 years younger than her. There wasn’t much opportunity for a Black lesbian woman in Springfield back in the 1930s, so Ellis’s brother told her about Detroit. She went first, finding a job caring for a young boy for $7 a week. Franklin joined her in Detroit about a year later. Ellis, who had previously worked for a Black-owned print shop back in Springfield, decided to open her own print shop in Detroit.

“I was working for a printer, and I said to myself if I can do this for him, how come I can’t do it for myself?” she said.

With the formation of Ellis & Franklin Printing Co, which they ran out of their home, Ruth Ellis became the first woman in Michigan to own her own printing company. And that’s not the only thing that ran out of the Ellis/Franklin home.

Back in the 1940s, there weren’t many places for LGBTQ people to gather. In a pre-Stonewall world, being queer was life-threatening, so many people had to meet in private. And there was even less space in the community for Black queer people, so Ellis and Franklin opened up their home as a spot for them as a safe space. Their home was known as “The Giving Spot,” and was open for any members of the LGBTQ community, especially youth and Black folks.

“In those days everything was hush hush,” she explained. “If you just knew somebody that had a home would accept you that is where you went. So after we bought our home, we opened it up to the gay people. That is where everyone wanted to come on the weekend.”
…
Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, Ellis made a steady stream of appearances and did lots of interviews. Everyone knows that lesbians have always existed, but to see a woman who had been living as an out lesbian since before World War 1? That’s unbelievable. Especially because that woman was Black. And not only was she an out lesbian, she was a business owner and mentor to the community. She became a permanent fixture at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival as a result.

Ellis’s status as the oldest living out Black lesbian was immortalized in a documentary about her life, Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100. Of course, this only brought her more attention and notoriety. On her 100th birthday in 1999, Ruth Ellis was the leader of San Francisco’s Dyke March, with the entire crowd singing “Happy Birthday” to her. The same year, she lent her name and her legacy to the Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit.

Continue reading at: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/woman-world-oldest-black-lesbian-050012963.html (Source)

Tagged Black lesbians, Black Lives Matter, lesbian community, lesbian resistance, LGBTI community, listening2lesbians, Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Ruth Ellis

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

UK: couple fight back against lesbophobic racist abuse

Posted on 23/06/2020 by Liz | Leave a comment

Nicola Adams and Ella Baig

Retired boxer Nicola Adams and her girlfriend, beauty blogger Ella Baig, have hit back at trolls criticising their relationship.

The pair, who have been dating since 2018, appeared in a video on Nicola’s TikTok page posted on Monday (June 1), in which the pair appear alongside the hurtful comments they have to endure online since getting together.

Adams appeared next to comments such as “you’re too manly” and “you’re too black”, while Baig appeared next to criticisms saying, among other things, “you wear to much makeup” and “slut”.

When shown hugging each other, criticisms of the pair that appear on screen in the video include “don’t you want a family?” and “you don’t look gay”.

Other comments include ones attacking them for being a biracial couple.

Continue reading at: https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/nicola-adams-takes-racist-homophobic-18354711 (Source)

The lesbophobia hate crime map

Posted in News

Tagged compulsory femininity, Ella Baig, homophobia, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in the U.K., Lesbophobia, Nicola Adams, racism, TikTok

Lesbian creates Argentinian hate crime map of lesbophobia

Posted on 27/10/2019 by Liz | 1 comment

Every March 7, Lesbian Visibility Day is celebrated in Argentina. The date was chosen in memory of 27 year old Natalia “La Pepa” Gaitán, who was killed by her girlfriend’s stepfather on March 7 2010.

The story of “La Pepa” is a standard for Argentine lesbian activism because it showed how far hate can go. Today, her smiling face is stamped on flags and t-shirts.

Paula E. (as she is identified online) is a Social Work student who has been working in the systems area of a company for 10 years. Lesbian and an activist, last year she noticed that many cases of violence against her community went unnoticed in the media and were somewhat forgotten by activism as well.

“I also saw that among heterosexual people there is a perception that lesbians do not suffer violence, that they do not violate us and that because of the Argentinian laws, we have no more problems,” she explains.
…
But changes in laws are not enough to end the violence.

Paula knows it well: all the time, stories come from other lesbians who are assaulted, discriminated against or verbally abused.

“That’s why I came up with the idea of the map, to keep track and help make the cases visible,” she tells us.
(Translated)

Cada 7 de marzo, se celebra en Argentina el Día de la Visibilidad Lésbica. La fecha fue elegida en recuerdo de Natalia “La Pepa” Gaitán, quien a los 27 años fue asesinada por el padrastro de su novia, el 7 de marzo de 2010.

La historia de “La Pepa” es estandarte para la militancia lesbiana argentina porque desnudó cuán lejos puede llegar el odio. Hoy, su cara sonriente está estampada en banderas y camisetas.

Paula E. (así se identifica ella en sus redes) es estudiante de Trabajo Social y hace 10 años que trabaja en el área de sistemas de una empresa. Lesbiana y activista, el año pasado notó que muchos casos de violencia hacia su comunidad pasaban desapercibidos en los medios y quedaban algo olvidados por la militancia.

“También veía que entre las personas heterosexuales hay una percepción de que las lesbianas no sufrimos violencia, que no nos violentan y que con las leyes que hay acá en Argentina no tenemos más problemas”, explica.
…
Pero los cambios en las leyes no alcanzan para terminar con la violencia.

Paula lo sabe bien: todo el tiempo, le llegan historias de otras lesbianas que son agredidas, discriminadas o insultadas.

“Por eso se me ocurrió la idea del mapa, para llevar un registro y ayudar a visibilizar los casos”, nos cuenta.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.playgroundmag.net/comunidad/mapa-crimenes-odio-lesbianas-argentina_48632290.html (Source)

Posted in News

Tagged Discrimination, harassment, Hate Crime Map, Hate crimes, La Pepa, Lesbian Murder Victims, lesbian resistance, Lesbians in Argentina, murder of lesbian, Natalia "La Pepa" Gaitán, Natalia Gaitán, Paula E, violence against lesbians

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)