Brasilia Feminist Lesbian Association: Venus’ Boot

Venus’ Boot’s mission is to promote and strengthen human, social, economic, sexual and reproductive, cultural and environmental rights for lesbians by coping with discrimination on the basis of sexual-affective orientation, race/ethnicity, gender, socio-political and generation, and promoting visibility and the protagonist role of lesbians.

The most important activities are found in the Lesbian Visibility Month in August, which ends with the Lesbian Walk in Brasília, held since 2005. Women’s monthly meetings, courses, workshops and cultural events that emphasize the female and lesbian protagonist role are held at the headquarters of the institution – Purple House.

Project

The Brazil Fund-supported project aims to map knowledge about the Law 11340/06 – Maria da Penha Law (LMP) – in the Federal District (DF), with an emphasis on lesbophobic violence, as well as disseminating it in many administrative regions of the DF through training workshops.

Interviews with women and men about their contact with the LMP will be conducted, including in cases of violence against/among lesbians. The survey data will be tabulated and shared on the website of the organization – www.coturnodevenus.org.br – and other partner institutions.

Context

The Maria da Penha Law is the first federal piece of legislation that recognizes the homo-affective union of women, having included lesbians under its protection. This can be seen both in the case of violence in interpersonal relationships, in which the Law mentions “regardless of sexual orientation” (Article 5, sole paragraph), and in the case of intra-family and domestic violence committed against lesbians (as in the case of “corrective rapes” committed by fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews, in-laws, neighbors, friends, etc, of the abused woman).

However, the lack of publicity about the acknowledgment of lesbians in the LMP creates ignorance and difficulty in accessing these rights, preventing lesbian women in domestic violence situations to benefit from this law.

This lack of acknowledgment of lesbians in the context of the LMP reflects an absence of social acknowledgment, which prevents the homo-affective relationships, discriminates and does not legitimate the rights of lesbians as human rights.