“In all the news reports, they are lumped together with women, as if misogyny and lesbophobia were synonymous. As if being a lesbian didn't matter, as if the very words and expressions of our comrades, very lesbian, weren't important,” says lawyer Luciana Sánchez in this column. Sánchez is one of the lawyers defending the six members of the Ni Una Menos collective, who were harassed and arrested by the police for being lesbians in Buenos Aires while carrying out outreach and propaganda activities for the International Women's Strike. By Luciana Sánchez Photos: Ariel Gutraich Yesterday, six LESBIANS were arrested. They were arrested for allegedly painting the word LESBIAN on a wall. They are comrades who are LESBIAN leaders, on Lesbian Visibility Day. I accepted their defense because they are my LESBIAN comrades and because I am a LESBIAN. The cops arrested them for being LESBIANS, they insulted them for being LESBIANS. The case is full of LESBOPHOBIC acts. where they are publicly shamed in photos for being LESBIANS. When they testified, they all said they are LESBIANS. That they are members of the PERMANENT LESBIAN ASSEMBLY.

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They described how their fear of the attack deepened, given the greater vulnerability of lesbians to sexism and, particularly, institutional violence. They described how, since the new Macri government took office, civil attacks and institutional violence against lesbians, simply for being lesbians, have intensified and increased. Lesbophobia has increased under Macri. Ultimately, these women have the courage to make this very clear.

Feminism that plays into the hands of patriarchy

It makes me so angry to read all the comments, even from colleagues, where all of this, which is also a key part of the defense strategy, is rendered invisible. It's not even mentioned that our comrades are lesbians. They're lumped together with women, as if misogyny and lesbophobia were synonymous, as if being a lesbian didn't matter, as if there being six lesbians didn't matter, as if our comrades' own VERY LESBIAN words and expressions were irrelevant. This act of stripping our comrades of their own voice, their own gender identity, their own political struggles, is PATERNALISM. Do they really think our comrades accidentally blurted out that they're lesbians, that it was a coincidence, that they didn't think about it, that they don't take risks, that they aren't sending a lesbian message to all the lesbians in the country, in our neighborhoods, who are attacked daily by macho men and police officers?

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Do they disregard the words of our comrades, do they disregard the defense strategy? Do they think they'll be any less of a man or woman because our comrades are focusing the discussion on the fact that they were attacked by LESBIANS? I'm ashamed for them how this mechanism, so familiar to us lesbians—to silence us, to make us invisible, to shift the focus—is reproduced in feminist struggles, because it plays into the hands of the patriarchy. I'm ashamed because I know our comrades, and I saw and heard them yesterday, with immense courage, express their lesbianism in a politicized, proud, and forceful way, many times in front of the cops, the prosecutor, and in the thousands of interviews they gave after regaining their freedom. [caption id="attachment_2272" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Lesbian Visibility Day, Buenos Aires[/caption]

There is not a single note that reflects the reality of our female colleagues.

There are very specific people responsible for this invisibility. Know that you are doing us very, very, very wrong. You are causing us great harm. Be quiet once and for all, or quote what our sisters are saying faithfully and respectfully. Save your lesbophobia for when heterosexuals suffer violence. Save it, at least on Lesbian Visibility Day. MAKE IT RIGHT. Issue corrections to all the articles where the word "lesbian" is not mentioned, or is marginalized.

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There isn't a single article that reflects the reality of our fellow lesbians. It's, quite literally, shameful and incredibly lesbophobic. What's at stake is our freedom as lesbians and our voice and means of expression as lesbians. Our expressions are protected because we are lesbians, not because we are women. Read, do some research. Show some respect.