The lesbian custody project

In the United Kingdom the backlash against feminism in the late 1980s was initially directed at lesbians and was specifically focused on lesbians who are mothers, lesbians engaged in parenting, or lesbians wishing to do so. This backlash was initially orchestrated by a small group of far right politicians, well to the right of the Thatcher government, and was not contained in any political consensus but was developed into a major public issue by the media. This paper documents its effect in terms of a systematic legal attack on lesbian parenting. The aim of the paper is to alert readers to the backlash with a view to resistance. Our argument is that the backlash against lesbians is a first line of attack against all women as mothers.