Lesbian.org Favorites!
I feel strongly about the potential for the internet to increase lesbian visibility and to help build lesbian "community" around the world. No other medium exists through which we can so easily share our news, information, stories, resources and images, with each other and with the world, and with information comes freedom -- freedom from self loathing, as we learn about the millions of other like us, and freedom from prejudice and fear, as the world learns a little more about what it means to be a lesbian.
But the medium alone is not the message. We need lesbian content to share with each other, and so I encourage all the lesbians making web pages right now to focus not simply on collecting links to other sites, but on telling their stories, sharing their information, providing news, resources and insight about what it means to be a lesbian in today's world. What follows is a list of the sites I've found that do just that, most of them exceptional both in content and design. If you happen to know of any other lesbian-specific sites I should look at, please let me know!
A Dyke's World
This site is actually composed of lots of parts, and they're all great! The site is the work of Indina Beuche in Germany, and it's a nice blend of great information, interesting stories, hard-to-find lesbian links, and really fantastic graphics, design and layout.
Some of what you'll find on a Dyke's World: Sweet Music -- Sisters on Stage, an annotated list of links to lesbians in the music industry; an annotated guide to some of our worst enemies, so you can know what they're up to and be prepared to fight them!; lots of great web design resources; and of course a great lesbian hotlist!
The Lesbian Mother's Support Society and the Lesbian Mom's Page
I just love the fact that these pages exist. Both of them are fairly straightforward in terms of design, but they offer great resources for lesbians who are or want to become mothers. It can't be easy to find understanding doctors and lawyers and teachers, but the resources here will help any lesbian mom or mom wannabe find her way in a world that wants to think of "lesbian mom" as a contradiction in terms!
The Isle of Lesbos: Lesbian Images in Art
Painstakingly compiled by Alix North, this collection of lesbian images in art spans four centuries and three continents. Included are thumbnail and full size versions of each image, and hopefully coming soon are the artist's bios, or at least some more information about these unusual images.The Isle of Lesbos: Lesbian Poetry
Another collection compiled by Alix North, the lesbian poetry pages contain a broad selection of works by women who are either self-identified lesbians or who have written about women-loving-women in some way. Each selection is accompanied by a bit of history and background, as well as suggestions for further reading. Not only does this site offer hours of quality lesbian reading material, the beautiful design makes the site itself a work of art.
