CSBR Coordinator, Rima Athar, was one of the Content Committee Working Group members that organized the first ever Global Feminist Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer (LBQ) Women*’s Conference, which took place from 6-9 July 2019, in Cape Town, South Africa.
The historic conference brought together more than 500 LBQ women and non-binary people, from 111 countries and 11 global regions. Under the themes of Leading, Healing and Transforming, the forum hosted over 50 workshops, panels and other creative sessions, including writing, films, arts, and dance.
Topics explored by participants covered an expansive range, including sexual pleasure and desire, climate justice, indigenous queer identities, feminist technology and the internet, anti-fascist and anti-racist organizing, experiences of LBQ trans and non-binary peoples, disability rights, sexual and reproductive justice, safe spaces for queer youth, intersex experiences, and much much more.
CSBR held two parallel sessions at the forum. The first was a conversation on “Unpacking Religious Rights: Queer Feminist Resistance to the Politicization of Religion, Sexuality and the Body”, with our networkers from Malaysia, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia sharing their experiences and strategies with an audience of about 60 conference goers.
The second was an interactive workshop on “Queer Inclusionary Magical Feminists”, which facilitated a conversation and exploration about the tensions we experience within and across movements for rights and justice, and how feminist responses could strengthen solidarity in our strategies and organizing.
As one participant summed up in a reflective piece, “The Global Feminist LBQ Women’s* Conference was a precious opportunity to build bridges, coalesce, express solidarity, strategise and to celebrate the beauty in our diversity.”
Read some more reflections on the forum here, Claiming Space for Lesbian, Bisexual and Queer feminists, and here, Have You the Courage to Hear My Story?.
