Paloma Rodriguez, 26

“I am a lesbian feminist.

“I work in an organization called ‘Lesbians and Feminists Working for the Decriminalization of Abortion.’ Most of us are young, under 30. We operate a phone line to give information to women about how to have an abortion with pills —Misoprostol —which is a safe and efficient method.

“We can work on the issue of abortion from a lesbian perspective; and we work to make the issue visible, loud and public. We are always trying to get press because we don’t want abortion to be an issue that is relegated to some clandestine space in society.

“We are trying to take abortion out of the closet, because we know that there are mechanisms that try to silence, hide and criminalize dissident desires—the desire to be lesbian, the desire to have an abortion. This is about owning our bodies, because being a lesbian and fighting for abortion is about understanding the body as our territory; it’s a space we use to construct our own identities.

“Sometimes people think lesbianism is just a sexual practice between women. And that’s true, but it’s not just that. The lesbian perspective is a political perspective that questions heterosexual norms and challenges heterosexuality as a political regime linked to a patriarchal model that discriminates against lesbians, gays, transsexuals, and also women.

“There are some lesbians who have been lesbians since the crib and find their way to the feminist movement. And there are other women who are feminists who in their process of critique, reflection and exploring other desires, eventually become lesbians.”

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