Lesbian Visibility Week is a celebration of lesbians as well as a way to demonstrate support with other LGBTQI women and nonbinary persons in the community. It is critical that Lesbian Visibility Week serves as a rallying point for all women, particularly those from marginalized communities.
International Lesbian Visibility Day has been celebrated on April 26 since 2008. When people talk about LGBTQ rights, they often talk about „gay rights,” „gay marriage,” „gay adoption”. It is still the case that non-heterosexual women are erased from discussions about the rights of our community.
In a survey conducted by DIVA Media Group and Kantar, almost 4/5 of Polish lesbians indicated that they feel less visible in public spaces than gay men. Forty percent said that even LGBTQ events are dominated by homosexual men.
The research shows that 86% of non-heterosexual women openly discuss their sexuality with their close friends. Most of them revealed their orientation at the age of 18. Despite this, only 55 percent of respondents feel they can show affection to their same-sex partner in public places. The women surveyed have encountered physical or verbal violence because of their sexual orientation mainly in bars or nightclubs (37 percent) and other public places (also 37 percent). As many as 23 percent encountered this type of violence on public transport, and 20 percent at school or university.
Why do we need to celebrate Lesbian Visibility?
International Lesbian Visibility Day is therefore needed first and foremost for lesbians themselves, bInternational Lesbian Visibility Day is particularly important for lesbians themselves, who have been raised in a world where they have to find their own role models. Those provided to heterosexual women have proven to be inadequate, and pop culture and the environment have not given them alternative guidance. Confronting other lesbians and their experiences and knowing that they are not alone is cleansing and soothing.
But celebration is also needed for heterosexuals who „don’t understand” lesbian love. Photos posted on Instagram under the hashtag #lesbianvisibilityday will help understand. Because it is a love like any other, which is proven every day not only by Jodie Foster, Linda Perry, Cynthia Nixon, Katarzyna Skorupa or Samantha Fox, but also by thousands of ordinary girls.