In 1999, during a debate on diversity in lesbian cinema at the Cineffables Festival, a comment by a bar owner known for her discriminatory practices sparked outrage. In response, around forty lesbians from “forced migrations, colonisations (past and present), and descendants of slavery” came together on November 6 and decided to organise in order to “denounce discriminatory practices in nightlife spaces” and the “armchair humanist antiracism” that characterised the lesbian scene at the time.
For five years, they organised events and gatherings at La Barbare, a self-managed women-only space in Bagnolet, and published both a collection of texts and an anthology, Warriors/Guerrières (2001), to showcase the works of racialised lesbian authors and artists, whether American or French-speaking.
Nawo Carole Crawford, as a racialised lesbian living in France, knows firsthand what it means not to be fully seen, understood, or accepted in one’s authenticity, with one’s rich and multiple identity. This is why she has long been an activist fighting for the rights of women, lesbians, and racialised LGBTQ people, as well as a pan-African activist committed to African independence and to combating racism against people of African descent and the African diaspora. While a member of Paris Black Pride between 2017 and 2019, Nawo sought to bring greater visibility to racialised LGBTQ communities in France.
Paola Bacchetta is Professor and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the founding director of the Berkeley Gender Consortium and currently directs the Institute for Gender and Sexuality Research. Her books include: Co-Motion: On Feminist and Queer Solidarities (forthcoming, Duke); Fatima Mernissi For Our Times, co-edited with Minoo Moallem (Syracuse); Global Raciality: Empire, Postcoloniality, and Decoloniality, co-edited with S. Maira and H. Winant (Routledge, 2019); Femminismi Queer Postcoloniali, co-edited with L. Fantone (Ombre Corte, 2015); Gender in the Hindu Nation (Women Ink, 2004); and Right-Wing Women, co-edited with M. Power (Routledge, 2002). She has published over 70 articles and book chapters on feminist, lesbian, and queer transnational theory, decolonial theory, and racialised lesbian and queer movements. A long-time activist, she is also co-coordinator of the Decolonizing Sexualities Network.