Everything in this world is subject to change. Sometimes, it’s a change for the better, sometimes it’s a change for the worse, but still, without change, there would be no advancement, no evolution, no improvement. Honestly, how boring would that be?

Some changes affect the whole planet. Like the climate change, for example, or the financial markets crisis. This week, we witnessed the inauguration of a new American President, Barack Obama, “Mr. Change” himself, and the changes that he promised and that people hope for will most likely affect not only the U.S., but the whole world. (By the way, Congratulations and good luck, Mr. President!)

Some changes affect us on a more personal level, like the beginning or the end of a relationship, a new apartment, or leaving a job. I’ll get back to that later.

And then there are the changes that affect a certain community. Like the lesbian community, for example.

The other week, an article for the German “Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin” caused quite a stir among lesbians all over Germany and even here on eurOut. Entitled “Wenn Frauen sich mehr trauen” (loosely translated „When Women Become More Daring”), it describes – among other things – ­how the image of lesbian women and their perception by the public has changed in the last couple of years. Unfortunately, the “other things” were a mixture of outdated clichés and questionable arguments, like comparing sexual orientation to political attitude that can be revised anytime, making this article hard to read for any at least half-decent lesbian. And that’s too bad, because some of the statements in the article were, in fact, worth to take a closer look at.

I’m not talking about the statement that “Lesbians have arrived in the social mainstream”, because that’s simply not true. What might have arrived is an image of the hip, chic woman à la Katy Perry or Lindsay Lohan who likes to “experiment” or is even in a relationship with another woman but still wouldn’t call herself lesbian. As Sandra pointed out already, there’s a word for women like that, and it’s called “bisexual”. But while “real” lesbians are certainly very far away from the social mainstream, in spite of recent outings by women like Anne Will, Dunja Hayali, Jodie Foster and Cynthia Nixon or shows like “The L Word”, it’s true that these women and shows have started to change the perception of lesbian women by the public, thus reflecting a development that I have observed in the lesbian community for a while now – that you don’t have to look a certain way anymore when you’re a lesbian. Or in other words: You don’t have to look like a lesbian to be a lesbian.

And there’s more. Whereas – as the article points out – in the 1970s and 1980s, being a lesbian in Germany and probably other countries as well usually meant being part of a political movement against male dominance, resulting in the rejection of everything that was masculine (even male dogs), the “new lesbians” have a much more relaxed relationship with men. That doesn’t mean that they go as far as sleeping with them (as the article implies), but they don’t mind going out with them to party and have fun, or meet them in business and social networks. Being a lesbian is no longer about hating men (if it ever was), but about loving women, and even the broad public seems to finally notice that.

As always, where there is change, there are those who are against it or feel left out. As the article describes it, it’s a generation gap, and some of the women who went out on the streets and fought for more rights now feel betrayed. They complain about this new generation of lesbians who have longer hair, wear lipstick, shave their legs (and other body parts) and go to events at which men are not only allowed, but welcome, and they bemoan the demise of the political message. As annoying as this can be (and believe me, I have been the target of this kind of complaints more than once), I think it’s important to give those women credit for what they achieved, and to try to include them in the process of change by appreciating their opinion and remembering where we came from and the long way that still lies ahead of us. After all, all of the statements in the above mentioned article to the contrary, we’re still far away from general acceptance and the “social mainstream”, and that’s where the article that’s so full of clichés proves itself wrong. On the other hand, it’s also necessary for the preceding generation to accept that times have changed, and that the young lesbians nowadays try to achieve those goals differently, for example, by living their life openly and honestly. Because sometimes, just being open about who you are can be enough of a political statement and bring about what we all – the older ones and the younger ones – aim for and don’t have yet: equal rights and not just tolerance, but acceptance.

In other words: Change.

Another change that affects me personally as well as this website is that I’m no longer an editor for eurOut. Unfortunately, the challenge of co-creating this website, as exciting as it was, proved to be incompatible with my day job and my private life. I will stay with eurOut as a writer and columnist, though, and this column will return on February 8th, 2009.

The title of this column refers to the song “Changes” by David Bowie.
Picture: blog.newsweek.com

Posted on eurOut on January 25th, 2009