The idea of lesbianism and womanhood, how the two interconnect, has always fascinated me. I always felt that my experience of womanhood was completely altered by my attraction to women. Due to the heteronormative society we live in, I had to deconstruct and rewrite my own definition of womanhood before I felt like I truly belonged in my own identity.
Gender and sexuality have long since existed in the same world, and have provided us with an endless map of research into human psychology. We are only scraping the surface of what identity truly means. However, I am sure of this – women and queerness have at least one thing in common. Both are extremely powerful. To be queer, and to be a woman, is the source of my empowerment.
Women have always played an integral part of LGBTQ+ history in Brighton, whether it be marching at the front of Brighton’s effort against Section 28, or leading the debate from second wave feminists. It is easy to lose women between the lines of our history books – our voices have, for a millenia, been deemed too emotional or unimportant to be given a platform. Our accomplishments have been credited to our male peers. Our legacies have been lost to an age of patriarchal conditioning. Despite this, it has been rather hard to erase us from LGBTQ+ activism, especially in Brighton. It would be difficult to miss the scent of female rage that rises from the riots.
You can find women fighting for queer liberation when rifling through any part of Brighton’s history. But, for the purpose of this article – I focused on how lesbians led the struggle against Section 28. In February 1988, Brighton Lesbian Action held a public meeting addressing the release of Section 28 – the prohibition of teaching LGBTQ+ content in school. What started off as a small group of lesbians opening the table for a discussion on this new government policy turned into a much larger gathering – with about 300 people attending the meeting. The power in this meeting gave birth to Brighton Area Action Against Section 28.
Women were, undoubtedly, leading the forefront of Brighton Area Action Against Section 28 – their meetings were even led by women to counteract the male dominance of campaign culture. Their protest tactics varied, they went from organising marches from Hove Town Hall to Brighton Town Hall at the end of May each year to more thrilling actions of rebellion. In 1990 at the Brighton Centre, the International Congress for the Family held an evangelical Christian right wing conference. It was an inherently misogynistic and homophobic organisation, and many of the goers had been avid supporters of Section 28. Attraction was brought to the event as the opening speech was given by Princess Diana. Four women and one man from the Brighton Area Action Against Section 28 bought tickets and smuggled in placards stating “Lesbian Mothers Aren’t Pretending”. The “lesbian protest” made national news.
Brighton Area Action Against 28 didn’t just storm the speeches of Princess Diana or march down the streets. They turned the spotlight on to the needs of all queer people in Brighton – and cultivated a culture of protest and a desire for change. As a result of the group, the Brighton Ourstory Project was set up – a lesbian and gay history group. They produced multimedia art forms educating people about the richness of LGBTQ+ history, and enabling a platform to be given to voices that had been historically silenced.
Lesbians brought the rage and the riots to Brighton. They called action and reaction, striving for constant change and improvement. They knew what would catch the public’s eye, and they weren’t afraid to do what was bold and daring to achieve true liberation.
In 1991, the group rebranded their protests as a celebration instead of an act of rebellion – and this would soon grow into the first Brighton Pride March since 1973. Lesbians really did bring Pride to Brighton.
Women’s efforts cannot be contained just to the struggle against Section 28. In the late 1980s and 1990s, second wave feminism hit the world like a match to a gas tank. Reproductive rights, economic equality, violence against women, and queer liberation had all been introduced into the feminist conversation. Second wave feminism thrived in Brighton – with the universities being used as an academic space for conversation and debate on issues impacting women, to the vibrant art scene allowing feminists a space to proclaim their political identity through multimedia.
It was radical lesbians who marched at the forefront of Brighton’s second wave of feminism. They set up the Brighton Lesbian Line in the late 1980s, which offered support to any woman struggling with her sexual identity. The Brighton Lesbian Activists Network was set up in the 1990s which organised campaigns to bring visibility and shine a light on discrimination. Lesbians set up collective households as female only spaces to educate both queer and heterosexual women in a safe environment. Lesbian punk bands were set up that played exclusively to women, such as the Bright Girls.
In an age where the space that women hold in the world was under constant attack, it was the lesbians who built them a stage.
I think it is necessary to diversify the history that we have learned. Female leaders have always been dismissed and devalued. We are only just starting to discover now how much space is taken up by women in history – a space that has never been credited to them. Women didn’t just suddenly become three dimensional as soon as the 21st century hit. From the dawn of time we have been inventing things, creating cultures, impacting politics, cultivating art, campaigning for liberation, revolutionising industries. Yet, we are the notes that didn’t quite make the editors cut in the history books.
It is time we give women a voice. Women were a significant part of queer liberation, just like we have existed through all other walks of life. Say what you want about us lesbians, but hey – we get things done.
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