The Eurocentralasian Lesbian* Community – EL*C is a lesbian feminist and intersectional network. The EL*C started out of a self-organised space three years ago, recognizing the multitude of needs surrounding the rights, the visibility and the well-being of lesbians throughout Europe and Central Asia. Our conferences are our lighthouses – shaping connections, sharing knowledge, finding common languages and understandings of our diversities, building bridges that reach and impact far beyond the time and space at which they take place.
About the term “lesbian”
Our aim is to hold an inclusive European lesbian conference. We insist on calling it a lesbian conference although we recognize that, as with any category or label, it may be contested and insufficient to describe the diversity of our communities. We are aware that many previous lesbian gatherings have struggled with issues about who should or should not be included at the conference. However, using the word “lesbian” is part of the political struggle for visibility, empowerment and representation. We therefore use “lesbian*” in our name with an asterisk, so as to include anyone who identifies as lesbian, feminist, bi or queer, and all those who feel connected to lesbian activism.
EL*C OPENS AN ONLINE SPACE FOR LESBIANS TO EXCHANGE DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
Every day from 12-1pm Vienna time (1-2pm Moscow time) and 7-8pm Vienna time (8-9pm Moscow time)
Many of us lesbians* might be especially affected by self-isolation measures. To help our community stick together, despite the lockdown and across borders, we have decided to open an online space, where you can join to listen, and exchange with us and other lesbians, anonymously or not.
Starting this Saturday, April 4th, and every day (7days per week) for the coming weeks, we will be available to hear from you, your situations, your difficulties, or stories that lifted you up during these times.
EL*C team members come from all corners of Europe and Central Asia, including countries already severely impacted by COVID-19 exceptional measures. From Italy to Ukraine, from Spain to Serbia, from France to Kyrgyzstan, each of us know or have heard of lesbian friends, activists, colleagues, relatives who are specifically suffering from the lockdown because they are lesbians. We have heard of Italian lesbians in their twenties obliged to stay among hostile families they had decided to leave. We have heard of over 65-year-old lesbians in Serbia forbidden to go out and with no one to bring them food, except younger lesbians who got organised for this. We know how the situation of lesbian migrants is specifically terrible during those times. We know what it takes for some of you to be separated from your lover(s) and friends.
The online space can also be the opportunity to collect new testimonies to share on Lesbian Visibility Day (26 April), illustrating how the Covid-19 crisis is affecting lesbians, but also how our close-knit community finds ways to overcome the challenges. When joining, let us know if you agree for your story to be shared.
✔ Everyday from 12pm to 1pm, and from 7pm to 8pm (European Time)