Get The Lowdown On Lesbian Visibility Week

Celebrate LVW from Monday 24th April — Sunday 30th April 2023.

Lesbian Visibility Week (LVW) is an annual celebration to show support and unity with LGBTQI+ women and non-binary people. It’s a chance to celebrate people and women from these communities and to give them a voice.

Run by Diva Media Group, Europe’s biggest LGBTQ media group, they describe the celebration as ‘the only national campaign and event targeted at LGBQ women’. It was created to raise more awareness of issues that lesbians and LGBTQI+ women face, and to celebrate their contributions to the community as well as their achievements in both their personal and professional lives.

The history of Lesbian Visibility Week

Dating back to the 1990s, the concept of LVW was first introduced in West Hollywood, to encourage more visibility of lesbians within the area and to recognise their unique struggles. Lesbian Visibility Day emerged in the UK in 2008 as a single-day celebration which was endorsed by LGBTQ+ activists, charities, and publications.

It was thanks to Linda Riley, DIVA magazine publisher, who founded the week-long return of Lesbian Visibility Week in the UK in 2020. Her reasoning for the week-long celebration was that:

‘[we] needed, and deserved, more time to shine a light on some of the amazing women in our community, and to celebrate who we are without fear of prejudice, harassment or vilification.’

And she’s absolutely right. Even with the huge steps society has made over the last few decades, there’s still a long way to go to ensure marginalised communities have their voices heard and respected.

Why is Lesbian Visibility Week needed?

We know it’s 2023, but there’s still progress to be made for the LGBTQI+ community to be fully integrated with society and to help prevent the prejudice they experience.

Data from the UK census 2021 showed that Gen Z (ages 16-24) had the highest proportion of lesbian, gay and bisexual people — just under 7% (436,000) identifying as such. It is for those, as well as others across all generations, as to why we need Lesbian Visibility Week.

In support of the new generation, and the older ones who have faced more discrimination and abuse than some of us can even imagine, we need to continue celebrating and raising awareness of the struggles they face.

It’s not just the present, but the past and future that we’re fighting for.

Lesbian Visibility Week 2023 events

If you fancy showing your support for the community and educating yourself a little further on the issues, there are plenty of events this week you can get involved in.

Or, you could host your own party to show your respect — just make sure we get an invite, pretty please?

PinkNews Business Community Live - Celebrating Lesbian Visibility Week

Wednesday, April 26 2023
8:30 - 9:30 am
Via ZOOM

Women in Football fireside chat with Liz Ward & Dawn Airey

Wednesday, April 26 2023
11:00 - 11:30 am
Online event

The resurgence of butch culture

Thursday, April 27 2023
11:00 - 11:30 am
Online event

COREcruitment - April LGBTQIA Networking Event

Thursday, April 27 2023
18:00 - 21:00 pm
Glasshouse Rooftop Bar at the NYX Hotel London Holborn 50 - 60 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AR

The power of grassroots women's football in creating lesbian spaces

Friday, April 28 2023
11:00 - 11:30 am
Online event

25th Anniversary Celebration Of Sarah Waters’s Tipping The Velvet

Sunday, April 30 2023
14:30 - 16:30 pm
The Cinema Museum, 2 Dugard Way London SE11 4TH
Book here

Rosewater: An Evening with Liv Little

Sunday, April 30 2023
19:00 - 20:30 pm
The Feminist Bookshop, 48 Upper North Street, Brighton, BN1 3FH
Book here

Join author, Liv Little, to mark the launch of her debut novel, Rosewater — a multi-generational love story. The evening will start off with a short reading by Liv, then a discussion around her inspiration and her own struggles as a young Londoner, while talking about her writing about queer relationships. The evening will include a Q&A and book signing.