Lesbian visibility: time for equality and respect in Vienna!

Lesbian visibility: time for equality and respect in Vienna!

Wien, Österreich - On April 26, 2025, the Lesbian Visibility Day will be celebrated, a day that is supposed to promote the visibility of lesbian women in society. The Austrian politician and activist of the Greens, Tanja Schöll, emphasizes the need to put lesbian women at the center of social debates. She criticizes that lesbian women are often made invisible and their specific needs and realities of life are not given little attention. Many lesbian women are affected by discrimination and violence, both because of their frouse and their sexual orientation, which indicates deeply rooted social prejudices. This problem is reinforced by the initiative of the Greens Andersrum Vienna, which showed Beverley Dittsie's film “Lesbian's Free Everyone” last March to draw attention and promote dialogues.

Visibility of lesbian women is particularly important for young people who deal with their sexual orientation. The lesbian Visibility Day draws attention to multiple discrimination, with which lesbians are faced with because they experience both LGBTIQ hostility and sexism. Schöll demands feminist politics that takes into account the special life situations of lesbian women. "Lesbian visibility is necessary for protection, self -determination and freedom," she explains.

global solidarity and recognition

The importance of lesbian Visibility Day is underlined by the founding of the lesbian Visibility Week in 2020. According to Linda Riley, the founder of this week, the annual lesbian Visibility Day was not sufficient to promote lesbians in the context of LGBTQ+ visibility. It emphasizes that cisgend lesbians are often wrongly equated with transthobia and that the week is intended to celebrate all lesbians and to show solidarity with LGBTQ+ women and non-binaries. Riley calls for participation in these events and the use of the hashtag #LVW22 to further increase visibility.

The lesbian community is not only dependent on local initiatives. An international community is necessary to stand up for their rights in solidarity. The historical recognition of lesbian women at the official UN level at the World Women's Conference in 1995 remains a milestone in the struggle for equality and visibility.

discrimination and violence in everyday life

The challenges with which lesbian and bisexual women are faced with are still considerable. A study by the lesbian and gay association (LSVD) provides information about the extent of discrimination and violence. Among the 140,000 respondents from 30 countries, including more than 16,000 from Germany, 45% of Lesbian women and 43% of bisexual women report discrimination in more than eight areas of life. It is also alarming that 13% of lesbian women have suffered a physical attack in the past five years.

Such experiences are shown at a young age. According to the LGBTI survey, 34% of lesbian women stated that they developed their awareness of their sexual orientation aged 10 to 14, with 40% aged 18 to 24 years. This illustrates the challenges that young lesbian women have to master in an often hostile society.

The struggle for visibility and the rights of lesbian women remains a central concern, not only at national, but also at an international level. Initiatives such as Lesbian Visibility Day and the Lesbian's Visibility Week are essential to promote changes and increase the visibility that is necessary for an inclusive society. The Greens continue to work for consistent protection of discrimination and call for measures from the government that improve the quality of life of lesbian women and couples.