View article

When EL* C decided to produce research on the situation of older lesbians in the EU, it was clear that such work could be a complicated endeavour. There were limitations, in terms of available time and money, and challenges since the underrepresentation and invisibility of older lesbians, including within our community, makes data collection particularly difficult.

In the face of the very limited data available on lesbians, EL* C had to take action. EL* C is not a research institute and yet over the past 2 years we have collected and analysed data on many aspects of lesbian lives and realities in Europe on topics such as discrimination in healthcare, lesbophobia, the impact of COVID, LBTI women in sports and the state of lesbian organising in Europe. Research is a fundamental part of our advocacy and community building strategies because for many years, and largely still today, lesbian lived realities have been erased and the patriarch has taken upon itself to eliminate every trace of our existence. We want to invert this process by shedding light on the many lesbian realities out there and use that information to produce change.