On the possibilities of democracy in Europe’s civil society ruins
BY THE EL*C TEAM, IMAGE PROVIDED
The NGO era, some say, is over. In the past decade, mainstream organisations have lost legitimacy, resources, and capacity. Many are collapsing just as far-right groups gain power across Europe, joining governments, spreading hate against human rights defenders, and finding an ally in Donald Trump, who has gutted USAID and slashed global human rights funding overnight.
From our “modest” point of view, lesbian groups look far from dead. Our NGO, the EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community (EL*C), was founded eight years ago to rebuild the lesbian movement from the ground up. Today, it has grown into a network of more than 220 groups that, in just two years, redistributed €3 million to grassroots collectives across Europe.
This funding was a lifeline for lesbian CSOs, many of which still survive on less than €5,000 a year. It proved that community-rooted intermediaries can channel resources where public systems and large NGOs fail. As a result, lesbian CSOs are re-engaging in political discussions and advocacy, providing indispensable community services, building visibility at the national level, and contributing to democracy in their countries.
But why did mainstream NGOs weaken while the lesbian movement grew stronger? Not by chance. Lesbian organisations were the first to confront shrinking civic space and hostile funding environments, long before larger NGOs sounded the alarm. Forced to adapt early, they forged resilience and survival strategies that now stand as a blueprint for the rest of civil society.
But resilience comes at a brutal cost. EL*C’s Observatory on Lesbophobia, launched in 2021, shows that lesbian activists endure daily harassment, smear campaigns, and violence simply for being visible. When they remain invisible, they are dismissed as “irrelevant,” shut out of consultations, and denied access to funding schemes reserved for big NGOs.
At a time when Ursula von der Leyen proclaims from the State of the European Union address that democracy and rule of law are at the centre of Europe’s project, our demand is simple: lesbian organisations must not be treated as an afterthought.
Their added value lies in their ability to confront multiple issues at once. They have been pushed into invisibility while advocating on some of the most visible and contested debates of our time: family structures, reproductive rights and abortion, gender non-conformity, and more. Because lesbian CSOs address both gendered oppression and LGBTQIA+ issues, investing in them means advancing gender equality and LGBTQIA rights together— strengthening democracy for all.
If the EU is serious about defending democracy, it must recognise lesbian CSOs as actors in their own right, protect activists under attack, and ensure that funding rules actually deliver resources to grassroots communities.
Here’s the truth: if civil society is dying, lesbian organisations are its rebirth. They are radical, resilient, and indispensable. The lesbian movement has been declared dead many times. And each time, it re-emerges stronger.
Civil society organisations are dead. Long live lesbian CSOs.
The title is inspired by The Mushroom At The End Of The World by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing.
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