Lesbian Action for Visibility Aotearoa
LAVA is a group of lesbians¹ committed to working for lesbian¹ visibility and sex-based women’s rights.
LAVA is decidedly partisan, unashamedly biased in favour of lesbians¹, and fiercely protective of women’s rights.
We don’t IDENTIFY as lesbians¹ - we ARE lesbians¹.
Lesbians¹ are women = adult human females. We are not “queer” or any of the +variations. We reject the word “cis” as derogatory.
We make no apologies for being an exclusive space for lesbians¹.
LAVA stands in solidarity with all women who are fighting to retain or reclaim sex-based rights.
We are same-sex attracted, not same-gender attracted.
We are concerned about young lesbians¹ who are facing pressure to transition because of their gender non-conformity.
The New Zealand Human Rights Act protects lesbian¹ rights. We are concerned that the Human Rights Commission is continuously undermining them. Check out their website and see if you can find the word “women” in their section about women’s rights.
We want to enjoy women-only services and spaces as well as lesbian¹-only services and spaces. We also expect to be included in the “Rainbow” Communities' decision making.
LAVA rejects “gender identity” as a dangerous ideology that denies the reality of biological sex.
LAVA rejects the distortion of the definition of lesbian¹ to include men with or without penises and whatever they “identify” as.
LAVA rejects the distortion and/or erasure of the language we use to describe ourselves and other women.
LAVA rejects the exploitation and objectification of women’s and girls’ bodies for pornography, prostitution, sex slavery, and anything else that serves male sexual gratification.
We accept the necessity of sometimes working with others who may only agree with us on a specific issue (we stole this fab sentence from Plebity.)
¹The idea that “lesbian” needs the qualifier “female” is ludicrous. The idea that “woman” needs the qualifier “female” is equally ridiculous. But these days words seem to easily lose their meaning. So just in case you were in any doubt: In the real world and throughout this website, the word “lesbian” means “adult human female who is exclusively attracted to other adult human females”. The word “woman” also means “adult human female”. See some explanations here. Our glossary is a work in progress.
What is a woman?
Obviously, every woman is unique. However, there are quite a few things we have in common. In times when the erasure of females looms large, when it becomes clear that women are not even considered human - we might need to remind some people with degrees who and what we are.
What is a lesbian?
Holly Lawford-Smith: “Who would have thought we’d ever need to spell it out so clearly as we do today: Adult human female attracted exclusively to adult human females.”.
We have paid for being women in blood
Watch the whole intense video here.