I came out late – only to find that lesbians had slipped to the back of the queue | Kathleen Stock
LGBTQ+ activism is everywhere in modern Britain. Alongside lesbians, gay men and bisexual people, each year new orientations and identities arrive to shelter under the rainbow umbrella - from trans and nonbinary to intersex, asexual, polyamorous, queer and beyond. At a distance, it all looks admirably progressive. But when considered a bit more closely, it seems that lesbians - the L" ostensibly at the front of the LGBTQ+ movement - are badly missing out. In policymaking, the charity sector, academic research, data collection, media representation and political attention - to name but a few areas - lesbians have fallen to the back of the queue.
Pride is the emotion usually associated with the rainbow coalition and there are certainly many historic achievements for LGBTQ+ activists to feel proud of. Still, not much attention has been paid to the question of how well the interests of distinct member groups are identified and prioritised, once they are under the rainbow umbrella. A lot of money, resources and public attention flow into this sector - but how exactly are the spoils divided?
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