AGQ-F0205

Fonds Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec (RLQ). – 1996-2024. – 26 cm of textual documents, visual materials and artifacts.

 

 

Administrative history:

 

The Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec (RLQ) was founded in March 1996 during the États généraux de la communauté lesbienne et gaie du Grand Montréal, organized by the Table de concertation des gais et lesbiennes du Québec (now the Conseil québécois LGBT). Since its inception, the RLQ has been raising public awareness of the circumstances of lesbian women and lesbo-queer people within the LGBTQ2S+ community. To this end, the RLQ organizes and participates in socio-political and community movements.

 

The first Journée de visibilité lesbienne (JVL), organized to campaign for the socio-political issues affecting women in the LGBTQ2S+ community, was held in Montreal on 2 October 1982 by Marie-Michèle, Michèle Rolland and Reina Ha-Milton, and attracted 650 participants. Subsequently, many different organizations organized the JVL at various times of the year. In the 2010s, the RLQ and the Centre de solidarité lesbienne (CSL) took up the torch. Since 2019, the Journée de visibilité lesbienne has been organized exclusively by the RLQ, and awards prizes to deserving women in the LGBTQ2S+ community.

 

On the political front, the RLQ campaigned for civil partnerships between people of the same sex. The year 1999 saw the introduction of Bill 32 on civil partnerships between people of the same sex. In the same year, the RLQ signed the brief “Deux — Un droit au cœur de nos vies — La reconnaissance des conjoints et conjointes de même sexe ” de la Table de concertation des gais et lesbiennes du Grand Montréal (now the Conseil québécois LGBT) and the Coalition pour la reconnaissance des conjoints et conjointes de même sexe. Furthermore, demands were made in the RLQ’s 2002 brief “ Égales à qui ?” with the aim of continuing to advance the rights of the community.

 

The RLQ also initiates and contributes to a number of studies on the situation of lesbians, sexual and gender diversity, and women in general in Quebec. One area of particular focus for the RLQ is the situation of older lesbians. In 2000, the project entitled “De l’Espoir à l’Horizon” attempted, unsuccessfully, to set up a helpline for elderly lesbians living in isolation. In 2005, the RLQ launched its first survey, “Vieillir en étant soi-même”, which had been initiated in 2001. The results of this study highlight the isolation of older lesbians in residential care. “ Portraits de lesbiennes aînées” is an educational film aimed at raising awareness among professionals—doctors, nurses, etc.—who work with older lesbians, released in 2006. This film, produced as part of the “Vieillir en étant soi-même” study, has been screened at several organizations and during various community events, including the JVL organized by the RLQ in 2008.

 

Today, the RLQ continues to fight for the rights of lesbian and lesbo-queer people by participating in and organizing marches, partnering with various organizations within the LGBTQ2S+ community, conducting research into the living conditions of lesbians, and publishing collections of texts “[…] célébrant l’amour, la sensualité et la sexualité pour et par des femmes qui aiment d’autres femmes” (Rivest et al, 2022, p. 54).

 

 

Scope and content:

 

The fonds documents the work of the RLQ: combating discrimination and the invisibility of lesbians and lesbo-queer people, as well as educating the lesbian community and the general public about the situation of LGBTQ2S+ women.

 

The fonds contains documents relating to the planning of conferences and founding general meetings, documents concerning the RLQ’s community and political activities, materials used for awareness-raising campaigns, a comic strip, anthologies, books on Journée de visibilité lesbienne, a book on the history of the RLQ, logos, posters, leaflets, glasses, cards, bags and promotional T-shirts.

 

 

The fonds contains the following series:

 

  • AGQ-F0205/S1. Congrès de fondation et assemblées générales
  • AGQ-F0205/S2. Activités
  • AGQ-F0205/S3. Publications
  • AGQ-F0205/S4. Matériel promotionnel

 

 

Notes:

 

Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.

 

Immediate source of acquisition: The fonds was donated to the AGQ in 2022 by the Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec (acquisition 2022-019).

 

Language: The documents are mainly in French. Some documents include English translations of the French texts.

 

Associated material: The Archives lesbiennes du Québec hold documents relating to the Journées d’Inter-Actions Lesbiennes. The documents date from 1982 to 1992. Gris Montréal holds visual materials relating to the Journée de visibilité lesbienne (JVL). The materials date from 2008. The Centre de Solidarité Lesbienne (CSL) holds visual records of the JVL. The records date from 2010 to 2014. The Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec preserves and actively disseminates its own archives.

 

Related groups of records in different fonds external to the unit being described:
The AGQ-F0017 fonds of the Association pour les droits des gai(e)s du Québec (ADGQ) contains documents relating to the Journée de visibilité lesbienne (AGQ-F0017/S7/D087). The documents date from 1984.

 

The AGQ-F0162 Irène Demczuk fonds contains documents relating to the RLQ and family law, in particular concerning the work carried out by Irène Demczuk within the Table de concertation des gais et lesbiennes du Grand Montréal and the Coalition pour la reconnaissance des conjoints et conjointes de même sexe. The documents date from 1984 to 2013.

 

The AGQ-F0213 fonds “Montreal Lesbian and Queer Women’s Oral History Project”, includes an interview with Nathalie Di Palma, a member of the founding committee and a trustee of the RLQ (AGQ-F0213/D03).

 

Finding aids: Digital inventory of the fonds in Excel format.

 

 

Bibliography:

 

Rivest, K., Antoine, J., Vaillancourt, J. (2022). Ligne du temps du Réseau des Lesbiennes du Québec : 25 ans d’Histoires. Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec (RLQ).

 

Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec (RLQ). (2021). Portraits : Journée de visibilité lesbienne 2021. Les Éditions Saphiques du RLQ, p. 14-21.

 

Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec (n.d.). https://rlq-qln.ca/#

 

 

 

 

 

            Dernière modification : 2026-04-27