Hosted by Roxy Bourdillon, the panel included speakers like Stacy Martin, Shivani Dave, Laura Nichols, and Megan Jayne Crabbe  BY ELLA GAUCI To celebrate Lesbian Visibility Week, Deliveroo hosted an insightful panel on LGBTQIA identities across generations entitled Generation(s) Queer. Hosted by DIVA’s very own editor-in-chief Roxy Bourdillon, the panel included speakers like UK Black Pride’s Stacy Martin, journalist and presenter Shivani Dave, Deliveroo’s Director of Marketplace Support Laura Nichols, and bestselling author Megan Jayne Crabbe.  The panel discussion covered a multitu ..read more

As part of Lesbian Visibility Week, an ambassador from Just Like Us talks about the stigma surrounding LGBTQIA families   BY CHARLOTTE HUGHES, IMAGE BY DIVERSIFYLENS As a lesbian, I used to believe that the most significant barrier to parenthood would be, well, getting pregnant as a lesbian.  Although I have long been aware of the stigma attached to same-sex parenting, it has never shaken my belief that sexual orientation has no bearing on my ability to parent, should I choose to have children.  I suspect this is partly because my own parents did not align with tr ..read more

DIVA Publisher Linda Riley has just showcased her new documentary produced by Jacquie Lawrence BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGES BY JONATHAN PHANG Taking place in the Garden Cinema last night (24 April), Lesbian Visibility Week kicked off its inaugural DIVA Film Festival with the first showing of Linda Riley’s new documentary The Life Of Riley. Produced by filmmaker Jacquie Lawrence, this new film covers the life of DIVA’s Publisher from childhood to now, covering three continents and spanning across decades of activism within the LGBTQIA community.  Many of the stars of the film were in attenda ..read more

Sian Lambert reflects on the importance of visibility IMAGE VIA PEXELS Do you remember when you first saw a lesbian? When you first became aware that lesbian was something that a person could be?  I was nine, Wimbledon was on and my babysitter told me that Martina Navratilova was a lesbian. I didn’t really know what it meant and it would be years before I would attach that label to myself, but I remember that moment with startling clarity. Something about that throwaway comment resonated so deeply.  It seems incredible now, when children’s books can have princesses falling in love wi ..read more

The dating app is sending lesbians and sapphics all over London and New York to learn lesbian history and fall in love BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE BY HER SOCIAL APP If you’re a sapphic woman or non-binary person and you’ve ventured into the world of online dating – chances are, you’ve at some point had a HER account. It’s also highly likely that you’ve gone on a date that has lasted more than six hours (which over 65% of HER’s 14 million users have been recorded as doing). To celebrate these recent findings, the app has partnered with Apple to launch the Lesbian Day Long Date for Lesbian Visibility D ..read more

This Lesbian Visibility Week, we take a look back at the origins of what it means to be a sapphic  BY SOPHIA GRACE, IMAGE BY 2DESIGN Sapphic is an umbrella term that’s often used by women who are attracted to other women, but it doesn’t strictly apply to lesbians. It can be used by bisexuals, pansexuals or those who have different gender identities.  The Island of what?  We can trace the word “sapphic” back to ancient Greece and the Island of Lesbos where the poet Sappho lived there during the 7th century BCE. Sappho wrote poetry that expressed her love and desire for women ..read more

“Together, we amplify our voices, connect our hearts, and organise for a future where every Black lesbian is seen, heard, and celebrated”  BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY KOFI PAINTSIL The Chief Executive of UK Black Pride – the trailblazing activist Lady Phyll – has brought Lesbian Visibility Week to New York this month as part of our #UnifiedNotUniform campaign. Working as an ambassador across the pond, Lady Phyll has been collaborating with our amazing partners to bring Lesbian Visibility Week to the States.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by MsPhyll Opoku (@ladyphyll ..read more

Ahead of the DIVA Film Festival, we spoke to one of the amazing directors showcasing her short film about Black British tomboys BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY MENA FOMBO Mena Fombo is a global speaker, facilitator, and film director who directed the amazing short film Some Girls Hate Dresses which will be showcasing at our Shorts Programme on 27 April as part of the DIVA Film Festival. Her TEDx Talk No. You Cannot Touch My Hair garnered over one million views and sparked international research contributions. She is the founder of the Black Girl Convention and co-founder of Blak Wave Pr ..read more

“LGBTQIA+ women are being let down by this government – and nowhere more so than by their failure to remove the financial burdens that same sex couples face when accessing IVF” BY DIVA STAFF, IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS This week (22-28 April) marks the annual observation of Lesbian Visibility Week (LVW) which was founded by DIVA publisher Linda Riley. So far, Kate Osborne MP has already hosted the first ever House of Commons reception for LVW and has penned a powerful opinion pieces for DIVA reflecting on the current state of the rights of LGBTQIA women. And today, she continued to raise her ..read more

Every year, 24,000 LBQ+ women are ageing out of the system due to the barriers surrounding fertility treatment  BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES This Lesbian Visibility Week, DIVA, Stonewall, and LGBT Mummies are urging you to contact your local MP asking them to push the Health Minister and their Independent Health Boards to implement equal access to IVF for queer women and trans people.  In 2022, the UK Government’s Women’s Health Strategy promised to remove financial barriers to IVF for LBTQIA couples in England. However, as of April 2024, only four of the 42 integrated c ..read more