EL*C - EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community
EL*C
From 2016, the EL*C - EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community set out to be a network aimed at making lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex women and non-binary persons (hereinafter LBTI women and non-binary persons) visible, strengthening their participation in decision making spheres, and increasing their access to human rights, social justice, economic justice and wellbeing, while influencing relevant policies on the national, European and international level, from the perspective of needs and interests of LBTIQ women and non-binary persons. As such, EL*C strives to be a representative, powerful and visible voice of movements of LBTIQ women and non-binary persons in Europe and Central Asia, and has implemented numerous activities in the areas of movement building, networking, advocacy and policy, visibility and public campaigning, research and grant-making.
ID: 523642244314-94
Lobbying Activity
19 Nov 2025
The EL*C - Eurocentralasian Lesbian* Community welcomes the European Commissions proposal for the AgoraEU Regulation as an important step towards strengthening civil society in the EU and advancing gender equality and LGBTIQ rights in Europe. We welcome in particular the overall amount proposed for the CERV+ strand. Together with a coalition of feminist organisations, we have developed a more detailed set of recommendations on how to improve the proposal. Civic space is shrinking across the EU, and civil society organisations face increasing hostility and concerted actions within the EU institutions and beyond to undermine their legitimacy and hinder their work. In this context, the AgoraEU Regulation must be designed and implemented in a genuinely inclusive way, ensuring that a fair and appropriate share of the budget is dedicated to gender equality and LGBTIQ rights. The new CERV+ strand should safeguard and expand core, flexible, and multi-annual funding for civil society organisations, preserve and strengthen re-granting mechanisms that reach grassroots actors, and maintain a strong component of direct management. The full feedback is available in the joint document attached.
Read full responseResponse to EU Civil Society Strategy
5 Sept 2025
The policy paper attached provides data and recommendation from EL*C on the next EU Civil Society Strategy that constitues an unique opportunity to respond to current CSOs challenges in world that is more polarised and ever more leaning toward authoritariasm. It is also a chance to increase protection for NGOs that serve the interests of marginalised communities, grassroots organisations, and those working on intersectional issues and addressing multiple forms of discrimination. Lesbian organisations (working on and lead by LBQ women) provide services where states fail, defend rights, and give voice to those most excluded. Yet evidence from EL*Cs Observatory shows they remain underfunded, under-protected, and excluded from policymaking. The EU Civil Society Strategy must act decisively on three fronts. Participation: Lesbian CSOs are often dismissed as too niche or absorbed under broader categories, leaving their realities invisible. Undercapacity compounds this exclusion, as most lack staff and resources to engage meaningfully. The Strategy must explicitly include LBQ organisations as distinct stakeholders, support their participation with financial and logistical resources, establish structured consultation cycles, and mandate FRA, EIGE and Eurostat to produce disaggregated data in partnership with community groups. Protection: LBQ activists face harassment, doxxing, and violence, often ignored by authorities. National frameworks must recognise lesbophobia as gender-based and political violence, guarantee access to justice, and provide safe reporting. At EU level, a dedicated protection mechanism is needed, with rapid-response funds, digital security measures, and monitoring of threats through Rule of Law and Charter reports. Funding: Resources remain insufficient, with low success rates, high co-funding, and inaccessible procedures. Lesbian CSOs are disproportionately excluded: 68% have no staff and only 18% accessed EU funds in 202324. The doubling of resources under AgoraEU must be confirmed, with explicit eligibility for advocacy and watchdog activities. EU funds must be made accessible to grassroots groups by reducing co-funding, simplifying reporting, and expanding re-granting through community-based intermediaries rooted in local realities. By embedding these measures, the Strategy can secure meaningful participation, effective protection, and sustainable funding for lesbian organisations strengthening democracy, equality, and human rights across Europe.
Read full responseResponse to Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030
11 Aug 2025
EL*C welcomes the European Commissions strong commitment to advancing gender equality through the next Gender Equality Strategy. If the Strategy is to deliver on the commitment to an intersectional approach, it must fully include lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women both cis and trans ensuring they are neither overlooked nor left behind. This is a key moment to embed that inclusion meaningfully across all eight priority areas of the new Strategy. Doing so is not simply a matter of terminology but of ensuring that LBQ womens distinct needs, experiences, and barriers are reflected in objectives, indicators, monitoring tools, and evaluation processes. The attached submission draws on extensive data from EU sources such as FRA and EIGE to ELCs Observatory on Lesbophobia and five years of targeted ELC research to demonstrate the urgency of dedicated measures. For each of the eight priority areas, the submission offers targeted recommendations. Three cross-cutting actions are essential: 1. Explicitly name LBQ women as a priority group across all policy areas, ensuring tailored objectives, indicators, and monitoring tools. 2. Strengthen EU data systems by improving the inclusion of LBQ women in key tools such as the EIGE Gender Equality Index, applying targeted oversampling in FRA, Eurostat, and EIGE surveys, ensuring precise SOGIESC disaggregation, and systematically integrating LBQ-specific findings into policy frameworks. 3. In the post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, secure long-term, accessible funding for LBQ-led organisations and projects, with dedicated envelopes, simplified co-funding, and support for both services and advocacy. Evidence in the submission shows how LBQ women face persistent, intersecting inequalities in health, employment, socio-economic opportunities, political participation, education, and exposure to specific forms of gender-based violence. These are compounded by anti-gender movements that target LBQ women directly, erasing them from public discourse, restricting rights, and shrinking civic space. Gender-based violence against LBQ women is a complex, intersectional phenomenon that includes acts classifiable both as hate crimes and as gender-based violence, such as attacks in public spaces or abuse within families. Being LBQ also shapes the form violence takes, including sexual violence intended to punish or correct ones sexual orientation, or intimate partner abuse involving threats of outing or social isolation. In health, LBQ women face disparities in sexual, reproductive, and mental healthcare, exacerbated by discriminatory policies and lack of inclusive training. Employment inequalities include pay and pension gaps, workplace discrimination, exclusion from social protection, and the economic toll of unpaid care, especially where Member States do not recognise family ties. In education, positive representation is rare, and anti-LGBTIQ propaganda laws undermine inclusive curricula and fuel hostility. Politically visible LBQ women and human rights defenders face harassment (especially online), threats, and tokenism. Across all areas, LBQ women remain underrepresented in EU-level data. EIGE, FRA, and Eurostat surveys often lack sufficient sample sizes or intersectional analysis, impeding targeted policy responses. Meanwhile, LBQ-led civil society provides essential services, advocacy, and community resilience but faces chronic underfunding and barriers to EU resources. Addressing these structural gaps is essential to realising the EUs vision for equality. The Commission has the tools and mandate to ensure LBQ womens realities are visible, prioritised, and meaningfully addressed in the 20262030 Strategy. EL*C stands ready to work with EU institutions to make this a reality in the next 5 years.
Read full responseResponse to Anti-racism Strategy
8 Jul 2025
The ELC welcomes the EUs commitment to a renewed Anti-Racism Strategy and fully supports ENARs asks for a binding, ambitious approach. We highlight that racialised LBQ women remain largely invisible in EU policies. Based on recent research, EL*C documents that Black, Roma, Muslim, Central Asian, migrant, and refugee LBQ women face systemic racism, misogyny, lesbophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia, manifesting as violence, socio-economic exclusion, precarious housing, and institutional discrimination. Participants report harassment in public spaces and healthcare, hypersexualisation, fear of deportation preventing access to services, and exclusion from LGBTIQ spaces dominated by white cisgender narratives. EU data systems fail to capture these realities due to the absence of disaggregated, intersectional data collection, leaving structural inequalities unaddressed. EL*C calls for an EU anti-racism that explicitly names racialised LBTIQ women as a priority group, mandates systematic disaggregated data collection across race, gender, migration status, and SOGIESC, and develops clear operational definitions of intersectionality and structural racism. EIGE and FRA should research intersectional poverty to inform equality budgeting, with the involvement of civil society in the design and analysis. The Strategy must address intersectional violence as both racialised, gender-based and lesbophobic, ensuring racialised LBTIQ women are protected under EU gender-based violence legislation. Socioeconomic policies must address compounded exclusions in employment, housing, and social services, embed intersectionality into monitoring mechanisms, and incorporate racial justice indicators into EU economic frameworks. Migration governance must become a core pillar of the Strategy, embedding anti-racist principles in asylum and migration policies, conditioning EU migration funds on compliance with equality, creating firewalls between essential services and immigration enforcement, and establishing independent oversight to monitor discrimination at borders and in asylum systems. Policing reforms should ban racial profiling, review harmful practices, and empower the FRA to monitor racism and lesbophobia within law enforcement. Civil society participation must be reformed to ensure the meaningful involvement of organisations led by and focused on racialised LBTIQ women, with transparent, inclusive selection and sustainable funding through instruments such as CERV and EU external action. The EU must also align external policies with anti-racism goals by halting arms exports to abusive regimes, conditioning partnerships on anti-racism standards, and developing early warning systems for genocide-linked racism. Finally, the Strategy should be consolidated through a binding 10-year framework supported by a Council Recommendation, ensuring long-term, coordinated actions across Member States. These measures are essential to tackle structural racism at its roots and build an inclusive Europe where racialised LBTIQ women are protected, empowered, and visible.
Read full responseResponse to LGBTIQ Equality Strategy
24 Jun 2025
The EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community (EL*C), representing over 200 LBTIQ-led organisations across 53 countries, urges the European Commission to ensure that LBTIQ women and non-binary persons socialised or perceived as women are explicitly named and addressed in the next EU LGBTIQ Strategy. Despite progress, major gaps remain in addressing violence, socio-economic exclusion, health inequalities, and chronic underfunding of LBTIQ women-led civil society. Without explicit inclusion of LBTIQ women, these blind spots will persist in policy and implementation. Key Gaps Identified: - Conversion Practices: 1 in 3 lesbians and half of trans people report conversion experiences. Persistent social pressures, especially within family - forced heterosexuality, therapeutic dismissal, or religious coercion - can cause trauma, anxiety. EU action is needed on prevention, survivor support, professional training, data collection, cooperation between Member States. - Data Collection: EU data remains blind to LBTIQ womens realities, especially for older, racialised, disabled and intersectionally marginalised groups. Disaggregated, intersectional data is essential to address gaps in health, housing, employment, and participation. - Violence and Harassment: LBTIQ women face compounded gender-based and SOGIESC-based violence including corrective rape, online hate, state-sponsored lesbophobia, and attacks on activists. Underreporting remains high due to institutional mistrust. - Socio-Economic Inequalities: Combined discrimination in employment, housing, family rights, and financial security leaves LBTIQ women at higher risk of poverty, precarious work, and exclusion from legal protections. - Civil Society Under Threat: LBTIQ women-led organisations remain severely underfunded and politically targeted, while anti-gender movements threaten their safety and democratic participation, including within EU institutions. - External Action: In enlargement and partner countries, LBTIQ women face growing repression, shrinking civic space, and funding cuts. EU external action must actively defend their rights, safety, and leadership. Key recommendations: 1️ Explicit Recognition: Name LBTIQ women as a distinct and visible priority group throughout the Strategy. Their specific realities cannot be addressed by proxy through general references to gender stereotypes. 2️ Conversion Practices: Support prevention, survivor-centred services, professional training, cross-border learning and qualitative data collection to assess the scope and impact of conversion practices, with attention to intersecting factors like gender, race, religion, and disability. 3️ Inclusive Data Collection: Ensure systematic, disaggregated data on LBTIQ women, including oversampling in FRA surveys, explicit mention of LBTIQ women in the Gender Equality Index and encourage better disaggregation in EU funded research. Require Member States to collect and report intersectional equality data. 4️ Violence Prevention and Protection: Fully integrate LBTIQ-specific forms of violence into EU gender-based violence frameworks; strengthen legal protections including Euro-crimes; ensure platform accountability for online lesbophobia via the DSA; and fund specialised community-based services. 5️ Socio-Economic Inclusion: Recognise and address LBTIQ womens economic exclusion in employment, housing, family rights, and poverty. Monitor the Pay Transparency Directives intersectional impacts. 6️ Civil Society Support: Expand regranting and operational funding in exisiting and future funding programmes, ensure LBTIQ civil society participation in EU policymaking, and strengthen safeguards against anti-gender attacks. 7️ External Action: Go beyond decriminalisation in EU foreign policy to protect LBTIQ womens safety, bodily autonomy, family rights, and socio-economic security; scale up foreign aid; and defend inclusive gender equality positions globally. For more details, see report attached.
Read full responseMeeting with Ana Carla Pereira (Director Justice and Consumers) and
20 Feb 2025 · Exchange of views on the implementation of the LGBTIQ equality strategy 2020-2025 and the new LGBTIQ equality strategy post-2025
Meeting with Alice Kuhnke (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and European Disability Forum and
19 Feb 2025 · Anti-discrimination
Meeting with Benedetta Scuderi (Member of the European Parliament)
11 Dec 2024 · LGBTI rights
Meeting with Cecilia Strada (Member of the European Parliament)
3 Dec 2024 · Situation of LGBTQI+ rights in Europe
Meeting with Carolina Morace (Member of the European Parliament)
5 Nov 2024 · Introductory Meeting
Meeting with Kim Van Sparrentak (Member of the European Parliament) and The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Intersex (LGBTQI) Youth Student Organisation
11 Sept 2024 · LGBTIQ+ rights and the future of the LGBTIQ+ intergroup
Meeting with Mélissa Camara (Member of the European Parliament)
3 Sept 2024 · Présentation du travail de plaidoyer sur les droits et la situation des lesbiennes
Meeting with Kim Van Sparrentak (Member of the European Parliament) and The European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association
28 Jun 2024 · LGBTIQ+ rights
Meeting with José Gusmão (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Transgender Europe and
20 Oct 2023 · Public hearing/roundtable: ‘The Implementation of the 'LGBTIQ Equality Strategy'’
Meeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and Amnesty International Limited and
14 Sept 2023 · Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence
Meeting with Lina Gálvez (Member of the European Parliament)
17 Feb 2023 · FEMM files (APA Level)
Response to A comprehensive approach to mental health
15 Feb 2023
The present submission provides information and data on the mental health condition of lesbians, bisexuals, and other non-heterosexual women (hereinafter: lesbians) in the EU. While health-related data on this population is scarce, the research that is available shows particularly worrisome data, especially in the field of mental health. The specific mental-health vulnerabilities that lesbians face can be explained by the combination of stigma faced by non-heterosexual women, linked with the exposure to misogynistic patterns and behaviors as well as with the exposure to the stigma and minority stress related to non-heterosexual sexualities. Additionally, the structural inequalities regarding womens health in general and the heteronormative structures embedded in the healthcare systems have more complicated consequences. In particular, despite worrisome data, especially concerning mental health, there is still widespread invisibility of lesbians, and their healthcare needs, in research related to health and wellbeing. This leads not only to a decreased quality of the treatments provided to them but also to widespread misconceptions, prejudices, and bias from healthcare providers, resulting in discrimination. In a vicious circle, discrimination itself poses a barrier to accessing healthcare, with relevant impacts on the physical and mental health of lesbians. The paper attached provides more details on the limited data available and, analyses of the impact of the recent crisis, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper focuses also on the impact of discrimination in accessing healthcare, using, in particular, the data collected via the FRA LGBTI II Survey 2019. A list of recommendations is also provided, to tackle the gaps in: 1. Research on mental health vulnerabilities for lesbians. 2. Training and awareness of mental health professionals on the specific needs of lesbian health 3. Funding for projects, organisations, and initiatives addressing existing gaps in access to healthcare for lesbians and specific health-related disparities.
Read full responseMeeting with Frances Fitzgerald (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and EUROPEAN TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION and
27 Oct 2022 · Proposal for a Directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence
Response to Prevention of harmful practices against women and girls
31 May 2022
The EL*C welcomes the proposal of the European Commission to introduce Recommendations, focusing specifically on combating harmful practices against women and girls as well as the intersectional methodology adopted in line both with the Gender Equality Strategy and with the LGBTIQ Equality Strategy. In order to ensure an effective application of this intersectional approach, it is key that the experiences of non-heterosexual women are explicitly mentioned and taken into account in the Recommendations. Years of experience in the protection of women’s rights and LGBTIQ rights show us that without such specific mention and consideration, the realities of victims and survivors of harmful practices risk being reduced to those that are heterosexual. In this way, specific vulnerabilities of lesbians might not be considered, resulting in barriers when accessing justice as well as prevention and protection mechanisms. In particular, lesbophobia intended as a powerful combination of misogyny, sexism and stigma on non-conforming sexual orientation influences heavily both the experience of violence by lesbians and the response by support services, law enforcement and judicial systems.
It is important to mention that a heteronormative approach is still predominant in Member States' policies on combating gender-based violence and harmful practices. Heteronormative considerations that the “standard” human being is heterosexual are particularly spread in the case of women and people who are socialised and perceived as such, because of widespread taboos related to female sexuality and of the expectation that women are at disposal of men, especially from a sexual point of view. The consequence of such attitudes is that women are “presumed” to be heterosexual because a woman's sexuality that does not exclusively include men violates some of the gender stereotypes and gender roles that are the cornerstones on which our patriarchal societies are built. These attitudes are widespread, and historically embedded in our societal narratives and, for this reason, they influence policymaking at all levels, including in the responses to gender-based violence and harmful practices. However, even if their experience is often made invisible lesbians are still victims and survivors of harmful practices that affect women and girls in general, including in case of FGM and honour-related crimes.
On the other hand, a crucial aspect of lesbophobia is the widespread belief that women who do not engage in sexual relationships with men are ‘sick’, and ‘abnormal’ and that only the involvement of men will ensure a “healthy” sexual life. Consequently, “curing” or “correcting” a lesbian’s sexual orientation often entails directly sexual harassment and, in the worst cases, takes the form of so-called ‘corrective’ rape. Conversely, distorted beliefs and stereotypes concerning lesbians’ sexuality also expose lesbians to forms of lesbophobic gynaecological violence and discrimination, which negatively impact their access to healthcare systems, especially in settings where sexual behaviours are particularly relevant.
Worryingly lesbian civil society registers a general lack of information and good practices in the field of combating harmful practices. It is now time to start fulfilling this gap. In order to assist the European Commission in this effort, the EL*C has compiled the information as well as the experiences of its members in providing assistance to survivors.
For this reason, the present submission will present the few data available on the specific vulnerabilities of survivors and victims of harmful practices that are not heterosexual and the harmful practices to which lesbians are exposed because of the combination of misogyny and stigma related to non-conforming sexual orientation. A set of good practices, coming from the experience of civil society organisations, and a list of recommendations for the Member States are also included.
Read full responseResponse to Preventing and combatting gender-based violence
18 May 2022
In the past years, throughout Europe, violence against lesbians has increased as shown by EL*C Report on “Lesbophobia as an intersectional form of violence” (https://europeanlesbianconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Lesbophobia-3.pdf), compiled in collaboration with EL*C member organisations and summarising 5 years of research on this field.
As shown by the report, such violence takes all forms, from cyberharassment to “corrective rapes” and femicides. The situation is further complicated by the rise of the nationalist, far-right and anti-gender movements as well as by the Covid-19 pandemic, enhancing the risk of attacks and backlash against women and LGBTI people as well as the exposure to domestic violence. The EU has both an opportunity and a responsibility to meaningfully and effectively address violence against lesbians as well as tackle the specificities of lesbians when dealing with domestic violence, and cyberharassment and online violence.
EL*C welcomes the proposed Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence (hereafter “the proposed Directive”). Improvements to the text are however possible to appropriately take into consideration the specific positions of lesbians that are victims of gender-based violence and domestic violence because they are exposed to lesbophobia, a powerful conglomerate of misogyny and sexuality-related stigma against people that are non-heterosexual. This intersectional exposure to violence makes it crucial that lesbian needs and interests are adequately and explicitly addressed so that they do not "fall through the cracks" of different policies and measures that Member States will put in place to implement the proposed Directive.
1) For this reason, while we welcome the inclusion of LBTIQ women in Recital 11 of the proposed Directive, we insist that an explicit mention of this population should be included in the text of the proposed Directive, in particular in Article 35. LBTIQ women should be identified as “victims at an increased risk of violence against women or domestic violence”. Without such explicit reference, the risks are that the inclusion of considerations concerning the intersection between gender and sexual orientation and its impact on the experience of violence by LBTIQ women will be left to the interpretation of national legislators and this population will not be appropriately taken into account.
2) It is also fundamental that the text of the proposed Directive ensure specific attention for victims experiencing discrimination based on a combination of sex and other grounds. In additions to the provisions that already have this approach (Article 18, Article 27 and Article 37), this should apply to the articles related to:
a. support services (Article 20),
b. guidelines for competent authorities (Article 23),
c. cooperation with non-governmental organisations (Article 41) and,
d. data collections (Article 44).
In EL*C report on lesbophobia, improvements in those areas were identified by lesbian organisations and activists as key to effectively targeted, under-reporting of such phenomena is tackled and support systems for victims are improved.
3) The specific attention provided to sexual forms of violence is particularly welcomed, as lesbians are particularly subject to sexualized forms of violence. So-called ‘corrective’ rape, in particular, is defined as a hate crime in which one or more people are raped because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Such forms of violence are reported also in Europe, even if data is rarely appropriately collected. For this reason, it is key that the in provisions (Article 28), dedicated to the assistance of victims of sexual violence and the recording and preservation of evidence in such cases, take into account also the phenomenon of ‘corrective’ rape.
More detailed information on the needed amendments to the proposed Directive are included in the file attached.
Read full response