By Kerry Parnell
SYDNEY — Georgina Abrahams is one of the lesbians who helped organise the conference, "Living as Lesbians — Strengthening Our Culture", held at the University of Technology here July 12-14.
Georgina is motivated by her vision of lesbian culture. "I see our culture as extremely ethical, dynamic, incredibly alive, full of ideas and tolerance and one that contributes to world change enormously", she said.
She believes lesbian culture has gathered strength over the last decade in response to homophobic oppression:"Because we are marginalised, the bonds we have are precious".
Dressing purple and eating green is, for Georgina, an expression of integrity and compassion. A committed eco-feminist, she was delighted with the positive feedback over the vegetarian catering at the conference.
"As lesbians, we are not just making a statement about our sexual preference. It encompasses the whole of our lifestyle and how we relate to the world. That includes what we eat. And that is an important part of our ethics", she said.
Georgina feels confident that the conference has reached out beyond the white middle class stereotype to discover a powerful international lesbian culture. Lesbian networks in the US, Canada, Britain and many other countries expressed interest in the conference. They were particularly fascinated by the festival's Opera House concert, entitled "Living Our Passions".
"Whether it was a Chinese, African or Arabic woman at the conference, I felt the connecting culture for me was our lesbianism. But that's not at the expense of an appreciation of where we all come from", said Georgina.
More than 2000 lesbians had access to the talent and skills of the community through a conference designed to affirm and strengthen lesbian culture. As well as affirming lesbian identity, the conference also strengthened visibility.
Says Georgina: "We live in a city where we hold a lesbian and gay Mardi Gras. This happens in very few other cities in the world. Here we can hold conferences like this and display our banners, our stickers and our lifestyles."
Banners created by conference participants are to be sent to five countries, including Mexico and Japan.
When the Aboriginal lesbian representative of the support group for Koori women, Koori-Wirguls, walked on stage to open the conference concert, thousands of lesbians put their hands to their hearts. For Georgina, this connecting energy is what the lesbian conference was all about.