Labrisz Lesbian Association

Labrisz Lesbian Association
Budapest, 1395, Pf. 408.
Budapest, Szentkirályi u. 22-24.
+36-21-2523-566
www.labrisz.hu
labriszlabrisz [dot] hu

Labrisz Lesbian Association was called into life by the stronger and stronger need for an initiative which, apart from providing social space, reflects on the social position of lesbian and bisexual women in a more organized form. It was officially registered in 1999 with 17 members, but the core group of the organization had been facilitating meetings and discussions since 1996. It started with a photocopied, samizdat newsletter edited by a few lesbians, who later organized meetings for their readers. These regular monthly meetings became regular discussion evenings under the name “Labrisz Evenings”, which were held for 10 years, on various topics. Some of the regular visitors of the Labrisz Evenings founded the organization. The most important purpose of Labrisz Lesbian Association is community building, strengthening the self-acceptance and visibility of lesbian and bisexual women, and creating a discourse with society through publications, information and a school programme. We also seek to facilitate the discovery, cultivation and promotion of lesbian culture. In order to achieve its aims, the organization has manifold (community-related, cultural, educational, etc.) activities.

As mentioned above, the first activity of the organization was the facilitation of the monthly discussion evenings around different topics. The primary aim of the discussions was to break the silence and isolation of lesbians and help them accept themselves. It also had a community building function and provided space for individuals to share their problems. This was the only such forum not only in Budapest, but in the whole country, and we have regular participants from the countryside. For many women it helped the first step towards coming out. During the years we have had several foreign and Hungarian guest speakers: Lucy Tatman from Australia spoke about lesbian theology, Zorica Mrsevič from a Serbian women’s group informed us about the situation of lesbians in her country, and Attorney Lilla Farkas gave a presentation on lesbians’ rigths in Hungary. The topics of discussions included: lying and the closet, homosexuality and religion, how we are represented in the media, meeting other lesbians, breaking up, lesbians in sport, lesbian fashion, gay family models and lesbian mothers, coming out, lesbians at the doctor, lesbian herstory.

In  2006 we have started, “Labrisz Relax”, another monthly gathering where women can share their experiences in an informal setting. From 2007 this have served the function of Labrisz evenings, too. The meetings take place in the Labrisz-office. We also started a playing club called "Spade Queen", gathering bi-weekly in Café Vis Major.

In 1999 we started our book series “Labrisz Books”. So far we have published a volume entitled Leszbikus tér/erő (Lesbian space), which contains essays about lesbian herstory, politics, feminism, identity, representation and coming out, as well as a literary anthology under the title Szembeszél: Leszbikusok a szépirodalomban (Counterwinds: Lesbians in Fiction) and the autobiographical collection Előhívott önarcképek: Leszbikus nők önéletrajzi írásai (Developed Self-Portraits: Lesbian Women’s Autobiographical Writings), which includes letters, diaries and other autobiographical writings of lesbians from the early times till today, from Australia through America to Western and Eastern Europe. Together with the Háttér Support Society for Gays and Lesbians in Hungary we published a report on the discrimination of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals in Hungary (2001).

We have achieved the biggest publicity through our school programme – unfortunately in the media and politics rather than in the educational institutions themselves. In the fall of 2000 the organization, with the support of the European Union’s PHARE Democracy Micro-project, started its programme called “Getting to know Gayness”, the aim of which was to create a school environment, among students and teachers alike, where all forms of difference are respected and thus gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people do not suffer from any kind of harrassment. 

We sent a letter to all – about 1300 – secondary schools in the country, informing them about our programme and offering to hold class discussions about the topic. In spite of loud negative reactions from right-wing politicians and the media, the programme has been successful: we have held some hundred lessons in secondary schools, colleges and universities in Budapest and in the countryside. The lessons were held preferably by a man and a woman, who briefly introduced themselves and the program, and then, for the most part, answered the students’ questions. In 2003 we continued the program, extending it to teacher training and counselling institutes. Several teachers have contacted our organization who would have liked to invite us to their lessons, but did not dare to ask for their director’s permission. This gave us the idea of creating the teacher’s handbook Már nem tabu. Kézikönyv tanároknak a leszbikusokról, melegekről, biszexuálisokról és transzneműekről (Not a Taboo Anymore: A Manual for Teachers on Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders), which includes information materials, activities to handle the question of homosexuality, writings about school times, a dictionary, recommended readings and films, as well as the contact information of LGBT organizations. The school programme also included three public discussions, with guest speakers. The first discussion was about the relationship of lesbians and our society, the second about lesbian and feminist organizations and the possibility of a common platform, and the third about our experiences with the school programme.

We regularly take part in organizing the Budapest LGBT Festival, arranging women’s workshops and other events. 

Lesbian Identities Festival (LIFT), the first lesbian cultural festival in Hungary took place in 2005 and included film screenings, workshops, literary readings, a lesbian herstory exhibition and a women’s afterparty. The festival's main purposes are to create a public event attracting the lesbian community in all its diversity, to encourage collaboration and networking between lesbian groups and individuals in the region,  and to make the lesbian community and culture more visible to the public. From 2007 on the festival has been organized annually. See www.labrisz.hu/lift2005, www.labrisz.hu/lift2007, www.labrisz.hu/lift2008 and www.labrisz.hu/lift2009.

Budapest Lesbian Film Committee is a creative working team of the association, founded in 2000. It is a group of independent lesbian filmmakers making low-budget movies. Their first film, entitled “What can a young lesbian do in the big city?” which was supported by the Balázs Béla Stúdió, was a big success in 2000, at the 5th Gay and Lesbian Film and Cultural Festival. The second film, “The Pink Ferret”, a lesbian crime story, has been presented at the 2003 festival. A series of short movies (“Big Films from the Small World”) has been shown at the 2004 festival, including two documentaries, a love drama, a videoclip, and a western parody. In 2005, they presented “Coming-Out Ball” and “A Pilgrimage to the Land of the Goatrouge”, and in 2006 “Bandage, Socks, and Hair”. The filmmakers believe their films colour and strengthen the identity and the world of lesbians living in Hungary. Their narratives and documentaries have their place at the annual Budapest LGBT festivals and have been screened at a number of LGBT film festivals around the world.

Our newest program is a lesbian filmclub, Gobbi-filmclub, on every first Saturday of the month from 6 p.m. at Café Vis Major (V. Szent István krt. 2., entrance from Pozsonyi út). After the films a discussion takes place with invited guests.

We lay great stress on documentation. Our archives collect materials about the life and history of the organization as well as media publications, books, tapes and videos related to lesbianism. Our aim is to explore and publicise Hungarian lesbian culture and “herstory.” In 2008 we started a lesbian herstory project, making interviews with lesbians above 45 in order to create the basis of an archive and an edited volume. "Secret Years", a  documentary based on 11 interviews was shown in the 2009 LIFT Festival.

Labrisz runs a mailing list (labriszinfo) in order to provide a forum for sharing information about lesbian-related programs, issues, initiations.

From 2006 we have rented an office, where we have open office hours on each Monday between 6-9 p.m. (by phone or personally) for people interested in our work or have personal questions.