Today we celebrate – what else? – all things lesbian: the strides we have made to ensure our legal rights and personal freedoms; our collective ability to live as our authentic selves; our greater visibility in the media; and our general fabulousness, just for being ourselves.
First started in 2008 by Linda Riley, publisher of the UK’s DIVA magazine, to promote awareness of lesbians and lesbian rights, Lesbian Day of Visibility was extended in 2019 into Lesbian Visibility Week – because one day just isn’t enough to contain our fabulousness.
This year, DIVA, the organizer behind Lesbian Visibility Week, teamed up with LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall and Kantar, one of the world’s largest inclusion and diversity-minded data companies, to survey the current state of LGBTQIA+ women and nonbinary people.
More than 2,900 LGBTQIA women and nonbinary people from the UK and the US participated in the survey, and of those respondents, 35% identify as lesbian, 6% as gay, 41% as bisexual, and 9% as asexual, while 77% are cisgender, 12% are nonbinary or gender-fluid, 5% are trans women, and 1% are intersex. Here are some highlights from the survey:
- Gen Z is the most fluid generation with 49% identifying as bisexual and 24% identifying as nonbinary.
- 81% of people feel they are able to be open with their sexuality with their close friends.
- 23% of participants identify as non-binary, genderfluid, trans, or intersex.
- 59% of participants are in a relationship of some kind.
- 21% of respondents from the UK would like to have children in the future, while only 12% of US respondents want children in the future. (However, only 16% of UK respondents already have children from a previous heterosexual marriage compared to 39% of US respondents with children.)
- Only 2 out of 10 people who are trans, nonbinary, or intersex, and 4 out of 10 cis women feel comfortable traveling.
- 25% of respondents have been made uncomfortable at work because of their sexual identity and 19% because of their gender identity.
The results of this survey indicate forward movement in the progress toward equality, especially with Gen Z’s fluidity and acceptance. However, it also highlights that work still needs to be done. At home, trans kids and adults are under legislative attack, and far-right conservatives are hoping to reverse marriage equality. Across the world, lesbians are still fighting for their right to work and live openly with the person they love.
This year, we have much to celebrate, but we also have much to fight for, still. So stay out and be proud. Speak out. Be your fabulous and visible queer self!
