ILIS Herstory

Discover our lesbian and feminist herstory - to shape the future !

Lesbians have always been involved in the activism for women's rights, LGBTQI rights, social justice, access to healthcare and medicines, sexual and reproductive rights, environmentalism, peace, decolonial struggles and anti-racist vigilance. Strangely enough they are way too often erased, forgotten, and overlooked. This is what is known as the “lesbian invisibility”. And this is precisely why Evien Tjabbes, a long-standing member of ILIS and now actively involved in the current international lesbian network, called EL*C, which we will discuss shortly, convinced Virginie Jortay and Malin Björk to gather the traces and write our ILIS HERSTORY.

ILIS was an incredible lesbian network founded in 1980 that organised international conferences and disseminated information worldwide. ILIS undeniably contributed to lesbian visibility and laid the foundations for struggles that are still relevant today.

In this five-episode podcast, we invite you to discover the remarkable herstory of ILIS, the first international lesbian network, which too few of us know about - and which continues to echo in today´s lesbian movements and organisations.

Timeline and documentation

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Virginie Jortay

Virginie Jortay. Creative and Editorial development. Writing - editing and mixing. Virginie is a novel writer, theater and music director. Member in the editorial Board for Scumgrrrls, a trilingual Belgian lesbian feminist magazine (2002-2012). She directed the Superior School of Circus Arts (ESAC) in Brussels. Currently involved in writing, podcast production and performing arts.

Malin Björk

Malin Björk leads the interviews and contributes to writing. Malin is a lesbian activist and former member of the European Parliament from Sweden (2014-2024). Member of EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community (EL*C) . Co-chair of the European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet. Member of the Editorial Board for Scumgrrrls. Editor of Les Pénélopes, a feminist online newswire (2000 - 2006). "With this project we will continue to write the herstory of feminists and lesbians"

Evien Tjabbes

Evien Tjabbes is the historical advise, makes contacts with activists and follows the complete process of this podcast. Evien is a former member of ILIS, co-founder of Interpot and a present board member of the EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community (EL*C). "I feel the urgency to retrieve and safeguard the unknown herstory, experience and knowledge of my former colleagues in ILIS and Interpot and connect these with the present generation of activists".