At the initiative of the delegations from Quebec and France present at the International Preparatory Meeting of the World March of Women in the Year 2000, held in Montreal, October 16, 17 and 18, 1998, demands concerning lesbians' rights were proposed. These demands provoked heated discussion and reactions of discomfort or opposition on the part of some delegates. The two demands on equality of rights for lesbians did not elicit the hoped-for consensus and therefore must be submitted for adoption to each participating group in its respective country.

Some participants thought the meeting went too far when it included demands on lesbians rights in the March's political platform. Others, by contrast, argued that the assembly showed a lack of knowledge about lesbians' circumstances and a lack of solidarity with them. Notwithstanding the emotion elicited by the debate, the two demands are now an integral part of the political platform of the World March of Women in the Year 2000; in that respect, the meeting in Montreal represented an important step forward.

The question of equal rights for lesbians has never gone beyond the level of discussion at UN governmental conferences on the situation of women. In 1995, however, during the preparations for Beijing and then at the NGO forum in Huairu, NGOs fiercely defended a proposal to include prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the Beijing Platform for Action. Some governments supported the proposal, but it was not incorporated into the final text. Instead the rights of lesbians were subsumed in a more general demand on women's sexual autonomy. Some governments stated that their interpretation of the forms of discrimination prohibited in the Platform for Action included discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This may be a useful tool for women in those countries, but much remains to be done to put an end to discrimination of lesbians on a larger scale.

Three years later, at the international meeting in Montreal, delegates of feminist groups from some 65 countries discussed the subject again. Building on the work done in Beijing, the situation of lesbians throughout the world was considered by most delegates as worrisome enough to be included as a specific issue in the political agenda of the World March of Women in the Year 2000.

The Montreal meeting also made clear the need for women's organizations to be better informed about lesbians' experience with violence and their lack of protection in international instruments on human rights. On October 18, 1998, the Quebec delegation committed itself to writing an information document on the subject. The Fédération des femmes du Québec's Comité pour la reconnaissance des lesbiennes was entrusted with the task.

This document was written in a spirit of openness and respect. Of course a few pages are not enough to break down false beliefs, taboos and prejudices that have been deeply entrenched in the collective memory for centuries. However, every time women decide to break the silence and talk about their living conditions and world views, preconceived notions give way to a better understanding of their reality. These voices are and have been the strength of feminism. Patriarchal society has imposed silence on love between women. This silence allows violence against lesbians to continue, and their lives, freedom, personal safety and integrity are threatened in many countries of the world.

The project of a world march to eliminate poverty and violence against women is a unique occasion to analyze and exchange thoughts on the situation of lesbians. If we manage to do this, we will have taken an important step; we will have begun to march.
Reading this document will serve as an introduction to such an analysis. We suggest you take the time to read these pages written in good faith and to the best of our knowledge and data available. We hope you will find the contents helpful in making an informed decision about the relevance of supporting the two demands below. We would like you to let us know about your decision by filling out the attached reply slip.

The World March of Women in the Year 2000 will be an imposing event in the history of modern feminism. We must take up the challenge of solidarity within the women's movement. We have the power to do so.

The demands

• That, based on the principle of equality of all persons, the United Nations and States of the international community recognize formally that a person's sexual orientation should not bar them from the full exercise of the rights set out in the following international instruments: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
• That the right to asylum for victims of discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation be adopted as soon as possible.

In this document, the terms sexual orientation and lesbian are used following the Government of Canada's (1998) definition:
"Sexual orientation refers to the gender (or genders) of the people we have feelings of attraction and affection toward both emotionally and physically."
"Lesbian is to be a woman who has feelings of affection and attraction, both emotionally and physically, to women."

Government of Caada, Gender and Sexual Identity: The Journey Begins (1998)
http://www.marchemondiale.org