European Lesbian* Conference

The European Lesbian* Conference (EL*C) is an international lesbian-focused seminar and one of the largest to take place. The first event was held in October 2017 at the Brotfabrik in Vienna, Austria.

EL*C Press Conference in chicklit, feminist bookstore
Some board members of the European Lesbian Conference (EL*C) during a meeting in Vienna in January 2018
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah at the first European lesbian conference in Vienna October 2017
Silvia Casalino at the European Lesbian* Conference
Faika El-Nagashi at the European Lesbian Confenrence in Vienne October 2017
European Lesbian Conference Vienna 5–8 October 2017 01
European lesbian conference in Vienna October 2017 15

European Lesbian* Conference
AbbreviationEL*C
Formation2 February 2017 (2017-02-02)
TypeNGO
PurposeLesbian rights
HeadquartersVienna, Austria
Location
Region served
Europe
Official language
English
Co presidents
Joëlle Sambi Nzeba and Eva Perez Nanclares
WebsiteEuropean Lesbian* Conference

History

The first international lesbian conference was organized by the International Lesbian Information Service (ILIS)[1][2] within ILGA in 1980 in Barcelona. In 1998 ILIS stopped its activity altogether, issuing a final newsletter.[3] Shelley Anderson wrote a 58-page report named "Lesbian rights are human rights" to stress one of the main focuses of ILIS.[4][5]

In 2016 during the annual ILGA European Conference in Cyprus, 70 European lesbians activists organized and participated in a workshop. The workshop participants concluded there was an urgent need to empower and increase the visibility of lesbian issues, to develop networks and to work on lesbian needs and oppressions.[6]

Consequently, in 2017 the first European lesbian conference was organized independently from ILGA.[7][8][9][10][11] Silvia Casalino, Anastasia Danilova, Mariella Müller, Alice Coffin, Olena Shevchenko and Maria von Känel were among the co-founders.[12] On 2 February 2017, Ewa Dziedzic, Mariella Muller and Michaela Tulipan officially registered the NGO located in Vienna and chaired by Silvia Casalino and Mariella Müller.[6][13]

Karima Zahi represented the EL*C during the Lesbian Visibility Day at the European Parliament on 26 April 2018.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] On this occasion they spoke about lesbophobia in European countries, lesbian activism in the Balkans and Turkey, visibility of lesbians in education and the problems encountered by lesbian asylum seekers. Kika Fumero and Martha Fernándes Herráiz from Spain were also representatives from the NGO Lesworking.[22]

2017 conference in Vienna

Over 400 women from 44 European, Latin America and central Asian countries were invited to the conference according to Maria von Känel.[23] Although Belgrade was considered as a possible location of the conference at first, Vienna was chosen for logistic reasons and the fact that there is an active and visible lesbian community in Vienna.[24]

The main goal of the conference was to make lesbians visible,[25] combat lesbophobia[26] and to promote solidarity networks. Alice Coffin stressed the fact that when a cause is not visible, it does not exist. For lesbians, this is demonstrated by an analysis of the budget allotted to lesbian issues. According to Coffin, out of 424 million dollars allocated to LGBT projects, only 2% are distributed for lesbians. Furthermore, participating to ILGA conferences remains something expensive. The EL*C has enabled 100 persons to participate free of cost and has kept a very low registration fee, to insure the diversity among the participants and to respond to this criticism addressed to ILGA since the 1980s.

The first opening statement was made by Ulrike Lunacek, then candidate of the Austrian Green Party to the legislative elections in Vienna.[27][28] In her opening speech, the Austrian green politician, who is also an outed lesbian, stressed that if the work on visibility was crucial, some progress also has to be made legally to ensure equal rights for lesbians. Other following opening statements were made by Faika El-Nagashi, Ewa Dziedzic and Phyll Opoku-Gyimah and Linda Riley, the publisher of Diva magazine,[29] who gave a keynote introduction to the conference.[30]

Two African women, among whom Chukwuike Obioma were not able to make to the conference because they were denied a visa for Austria.[30]

The European Lesbian* Conference was held from 5 October to 8 October 2017.[31] A demonstration was held in the streets of Vienna on 7 October, the day before the closing of the conference.[32][31] The general motto of the first EL*C gathering was "CONNECT, REFLECT, ACT, TRANSFORM".

Mains themes of the conference

Main themes were announced by Alice Coffin[33] among others in September 2017:

  • Lesbian activism
  • Lesbian research
  • Lesbian politics
  • Lesbian networking and organization

Elizabeth Holzleithner, professor of legal philosophy and gender studies gave an opening conference on legal aspects entitled "Legally lesbian".[34] She talked about the legal history of the criminalisation of same sex sexual acts between women.

A special place was given to talks concerning the history of the lesbian movement in Europe.[35] Evien Tjabbes evoked the emergence of ILIS in the 1980s, as a wish to start evoking lesbian issues separately from ILGA, because it was felt that problems lesbians faced were different although there are overlaps with LGBTIQ issues.

Alice Coffin, Hengameh Yaghoobifarah ,and Linda Riley talked about the place that lesbians are given in media.[36]

2019 conference

In 2018, a press release announced that the 2019 EL*C conference would take place in Kyiv, Ukraine, from 12 to 14 April.[37]

Organisation

Mariella Müller and Silvia Casalino were elected chairs at the founding of the EL*C in 2017. Other 2017 board members included Biljana Ginova (secretary), Maria von Känel (secretary), Luise Luksch (treasurer) and Leila Lohman, Michaela Tulipan, Ewa Dziedzic, Olena Shevchenko, Aurora Baba, Alice Coffin, Ilaria Todde, Anastasia Danilova, Pia Stevenson.[6] Dragana Todoriv joined the board after the conference in Vienna.

See also

References
  1. "ILIS (International Lesbian Information Service) [in possession of IHLIA, the Netherlands] | Open Up! lgbt history coming out of the closet". www.openup-lgbtcollections.org. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  2. Budry, Maryelle; Ollagnier, Edmée (1999). Mais qu'est-ce qu'elles voulaient ?: histoires de vie du MLF à Genève (in French). Editions d'en bas. ISBN 9782829002427.
  3. "clit007 – Concentré Lesbien Irrésistiblement Toxique". www.clit007.ch (in French). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  4. "ILIS Information". www.sappho.net. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  5. Murray, Patricia; Showalter, Angela (May 1996). "Lit Notes". Fellowship. 62 (5–6): 18. ProQuest 1962251378.
  6. "About EL*C « European Lesbian* Conference 6. – 8. October 2017". europeanlesbianconference.org. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  7. ""Lesbienne ce n'est pas un gros mot." TÊTU·E était à la première Conférence européenne lesbienne*". TÊTU (in French). 26 October 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  8. "L'organisation suisse des lesbiennes (LOS) a une nouvelle secrétaire générale". Association 360 (in French). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  9. Weiss, Alexia. "Im Oktober findet in Wien die erste Europäische Lesben Konferenz statt". Stadtpolitik - Wiener Zeitung Online (in German). Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  10. "Resultado Estudio sobre Mujeres lesbianas - España y Latinoamérica - Kika Fumero". Kika Fumero (in European Spanish). 9 October 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  11. "Lesbianas independientes, responsables y trabajadoras". El Huffington Post (in European Spanish). 13 October 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  12. "400 lesbiennes et alliées à L'European Lesbian*Conference — LIG". LIG (in French). 30 September 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  13. "European Lesbian* Conference – was, wann und weshalb". lesbian chic (in German). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  14. ABC. "Colectivos lésbicos reclaman una mayor visibilidad en el Parlamento Europeo - ABC.es - Noticias Agencias". ABC (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  15. "Lesbian visibility day in European Parliament on April 26". mailchi.mp. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  16. "Voilà pourquoi la journée de la visibilité lesbienne est si importante". KOMITID (in French). 26 April 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  17. "HomoMicro 13.32 – Marcelo Caetano / Corpo Elétrico / Journée de la visibilité lesbienne / Cousinade / Montgomery Clift | HomoMicro". www.homomicro.net (in French). Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  18. "Colectivos lésbicos reclaman una mayor visibilidad en el Parlamento Europeo". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  19. Fernández, Belén; Martínez, Carlos; Casado, Paula (27 April 2018). "26 mujeres dan la cara". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  20. Arainfo (26 April 2018). "El Día de la Visibilidad Lésbica o la búsqueda de una genealogía propia - AraInfo | Diario Libre d'Aragón". AraInfo | Diario Libre d'Aragón (in European Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  21. "El 63% de las lesbianas reconoce que su orientación sexual ha tenido un impacto negativo en su vida | Tribuna Feminista". Tribuna Feminista (in European Spanish). 26 April 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  22. "InOutRadio, la radio lésbica » Kika Fumero y Marta Fernández Herráiz participan en la primera sesión parlamentaria sobre la mujer lesbiana que se celebra en la Unión Europea". inoutradio.com (in European Spanish). 24 April 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  23. ""Vorurteile über Lesben sind tief verwurzelt" - derStandard.at". DER STANDARD. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  24. "European Lesbian Conference : vers un réseau lesbien européen". Yagg (in French). 1 November 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  25. "La primera conferencia europea de lesbianas reclama en Viena más visibilidad". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  26. "Das Ziel ist, Lesbenfeindlichkeit zu bekämpfen". tagesspiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  27. "400 Frauen aus über 40 Ländern bei erster europäischen Lesbenkonferenz in Wien". vienna.at (in German). Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  28. "Législatives autrichiennes : Ulrike Lunacek, 60 ans, lesbienne, conduira la liste des écologistes". Le Monde.fr (in French). 3 October 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  29. staff, DIVA. "DIVA publisher Linda Riley and columnist Phyll Opoku-Gyimah to speak at European lesbian conference". Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  30. "Not / In The Room". Cultural Broadcasting Archive (in German). Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  31. Luyssen, Johanna (9 October 2017). "A Vienne, un congrès pour toutes les voies lesbiennes". Libération.fr (in French). Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  32. Junes, Timothy (9 October 2017). "European Lesbian* Conference ijvert voor zichtbaarheid lesbiennes". ZIZO (in Dutch). Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  33. European Lesbian* Conference - Studiodiskussion, Queer Watch (in German), retrieved 30 May 2018
  34. European Lesbian* Conference - Ingnition Talk, Queer Watch (in German), retrieved 30 May 2018
  35. European Lesbian Conference 2017 - History of Lesbian Movement in Europe, Queer Watch (in German), retrieved 30 May 2018
  36. European Lesbian* Conference 2017 - KEYNOTE Transform: Plenary Lesbians* and Media, Queer Watch (in German), retrieved 30 May 2018
  37. "HUNDREDS OF LESBIANS WILL MEET IN UKRAINE FOR EL*C 2019 « European Lesbian* Conference". europeanlesbianconference.org. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
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