Radical lesbians

Two movements of radical lesbians are known. One was the U.S.-based movement of the mid to late 1960s. The other was the Radical lesbians movement (Front des lesbiennes Radicales), or FLR, which began in France in 1980 and became organized in 1981 under the name Front des lesbiennes Radicales. An offshoot of the latter movement developed shortly after, in the French-speaking province of Quebec, Canada.

Radical lesbian organizations in the mid to late 1960s in the U.S. were small, well known, and outspoken; among "charismatic" leaders were Rita Mae Brown.Radicalesbians was a group in New York, N.Y.

The principles of radical lesbianism are similar to those of English-language lesbian separatism, however, there are some important basic differences. In her preface to Monique Wittig's The Straight Mind, Quebec radical lesbian Louise Turcotte explains her views that "Radical lesbians have reached a basic consensus that views heterosexuality as a political regime which must be overthrown." Turcotte notes that Lesbian Separatists "create a new category" (i.e., separation from men and heterosexual culture)" and that the radical lesbian movement aims for the "destruction of the existing framework of heterosexuality as a political regime." Turcotte goes on to discuss Adrienne Rich's landmark essay, Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence, noting that Rich describes heterosexuality as a violent political institution that has to be "imposed, managed, organized, propagandized and maintained by force." Rich sees lesbian existence as an act of resistance to this institution, but also as an individual choice, whereas the principles of radical lesbianism see lesbianism as necessary, and consider its existence as necessarily outside of the Heterosexual political sphere of influence.

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