Lesbian Strength
Lesbian Strength was formed by a group of lesbian feminists in 2019. Lesbians have long been marginalised within the ‘LGBT community’ but there has been increasing hostility towards lesbians, lesbian identity and the fundamental idea that lesbians are women who are exclusively same-sex attracted.
We believe that separate organising is the only way to build a strong, supportive community for lesbians. Our aims as a group are:
- To oppose lesbian erasure
- To amplify the voices of lesbians
- To build community amongst lesbians
We organised our first event in Leeds in 2019. Lesbian Strength marches were held in the UK, the first in 1981 and then throughout the 1980s. They were women-only events and it was important to us to build on this herstory and restart this tradition. Leeds is a city with a proud feminist tradition, the first Reclaim the Night march was held in Leeds in 1977 and it is strongly associated with Revolutionary Feminism.
Please check this website or our social media pages for details of future events.
A message from Martina:
Lesbian strength statement (14/09/2022)
The above is harassment of lesbians on the basis of sexuality. If a group like Westborough Baptist Church was openly organising like this and protesting against lesbians the authorities would see this for what is, lesbophobia. We are being targeted because we are women and because we are exclusively same sex attracted. They have framed our sexuality as transphobia which begs the question, does this mean transgender ideology is inherently homophobic? Recently lesbians who carried signs saying ‘lesbians don’t like penises’ were removed from a Pride March in Wales, and told that such statements erased the existence of trans people. It therefore seems ironic that when a group of lesbians try to form their own communities they are threatened and harassed in this manner. Trans activists targeted our first Lesbian Strength March in 2019, following us through the streets of Leeds, accusing us of hate whilst demanding we include men in our lesbianism. The political climate has heated up considerably since then with violence erupting at Speakers Corner events in the UK and the USA. But they couldn’t stop us meeting then and they won’t stop us meeting now. A lesbian gathering is joyful and powerful and something a man can never understand.
