Reproductive Justice & Lesbianism
Ends on
Sinister Wisdom is excited to announce a special issue dedicated to reproductive justice (RJ) and
lesbianism1/queerness. This issue seeks to answer: what is the role of lesbians in the RJ movement?
We want to explore the ways in which RJ matters to our community. Reproductive justice is a framework
that was coined by women of color in the 1990s from the intersections of reproductive rights, social
justice, feminism, and the broader struggle for liberation. The National Black Women’s Reproductive
Justice Agenda2 defines RJ as the “human right to control our sexuality, our gender, our work and our
reproduction.” It is a framework that addresses not just the legal right to access reproductive health
services, but also the social, economic, and political conditions necessary for individuals to have the
resources and support to make autonomous reproductive choices.2 RJ encompasses not only
reproductive rights like in vitro fertilization, abortion and contraception, but also intersections between
healthcare access, family-building options, the ability to make informed choices about our reproductive
health and bodily autonomy.
This issue embraces a non-essentialized understanding of lesbianism. We expand this understanding to
represent the diversity of lesbian lives and experiences. We do not seek to create further exclusion in the
process. Lesbians are not exclusively cisgender women, and we are excited about and encourage
submissions that hold and explore the nuances of trans and nonbinary lesbian experiences within
reproductive justice. We hope to broaden, rather than constrain, both the lesbian label and the RJ
movement.
We invite contributors to this issue to explore diverse topics within the umbrella of reproductive justice.
These are the six tenets of reproductive justice we will explore in this issue. Tenets three, four, five and
six were inspired by the women of the global majority who gathered at the International Conference on
Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt in 1994. We hope these are a good starting point to
inspire submissions at the intersection of reproductive justice and queer/lesbian lives.
- Right to access affirming, affordable health care
- Affirms & supports our diverse genders and sexualities (e.g. high quality menopause
care, access to safe and affordable gender-affirming surgeries) - Prevents illness and supports us to be well throughout our lives (e.g. accessible and
appropriate preventative screenings, access to healthy food) - Research that is reflective of our communities
- Centers the most marginalized (e.g. disabled lesbians, trans lesbians, lesbians living with
HIV, young lesbians)
1. Right to tools/skills that promote bodily autonomy
- Access to comprehensive & inclusive knowledge about anatomy and how bodies work
(e.g. how to perform self examinations; cervix angles, how to and why track
menstruation cycles) - Access to comprehensive, sex-positive, pleasure based, queer and trans-centered sex
education - Freedom from shame & violence around the complexity of our bodies (e.g. disability,
fatness, transness, woman-ness, menstruation, old age)
2. Right to have children, decide how many, and under what conditions to give birth.
- Access to queer-affirming, culturally competent fertility care
- Queer birthing justice: second parent adoption, addressing racial politics of sperm
donation (i.e. Black lesbians access to Black sperm donors)
3. Right not to have children
- Access to abortion services, contraception, non-coercive sex
- Dignity for family structures that do not include children
4. Right to parent one’s own children in safe & healthy environments
- Equitable and affordable access to necessities like childcare, shelter, food and education
- Genocides and famine in Haiti, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Palestine: “The
current colonial genocide of Palestinians by Israel draws direct parallels to reproductive
injustice under and after colonialism, with the treatment of Palestinian mothers
comparable to the way that [people of the global majority] in the U.S., especially
Black and Indigenous people, are disproportionately affected by reproductive
injustice.”3
- Affirms & supports our diverse genders and sexualities (e.g. high quality menopause
5. Right to be free of reproductive coercion and violence
- Centering self-determination for queer, lesbian, bisexual, trans & non-binary sex workers.
- Decriminalizing sex work and combatting stigma & discrimination against sex workers in our
communities. - Healthcare providers assuming you desire pregnancy
Submission Guidelines and Timeline
- Decriminalizing sex work and combatting stigma & discrimination against sex workers in our
Submissions are accepted from September 15, 2025 through March 31, 2026 through the
Reproductive Justice Sinister Wisdom Submittable. Please submit one document, even if you are
submitting multiple pieces, up to 15 pages. We encourage essays up to 5000 words, poems, photography
(especially of lesbians and queer people involved in reproductive justice!!!), visual art (.jpg or .gif), and
oral histories. If there is something you’d like to submit in a format not listed, please email Leonne Tanis at: otherwisecnm@gmail.com.
Written submissions can be in any language — but must include an English translation. You are welcome to use a pseudonym if you are concerned about privacy. Submissions are open to writers and artists of all experience levels, no previous publication experience required. Visit Sinister Wisdom Submission Guidelines for more information. Be sure to include a brief bio and any social media links with your submission!
And please share this call widely through your network!
Direct any questions to Leonne Tanis at: otherwisecnm@gmail.com
Team Bios
Leonne Tanis, CNM, WHNP-BC, is a midwife and reproductive health nurse practitioner, who practices
in New York City. She identifies as a Black, Haitian-American lesbian and her interests include building
intergenerational queer communities and practicing reproductive justice in marginal communities.
Drewe Haddox is an artist and abortion doula based in Detroit. They love couchsurfing with queers
all over the world and dancing in zumba class.
Izzy Nuñez is a Colorado (eco)lesbian who loves growing food, singing karaoke, and basking in
queer community.
Margaret Zanmiller is a lesbian living and writing in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Additional team members: Kelsey McGarry, Eira Iris Lipkin, Claudia Vargas, Yemi Combahee
1 Lesbianism defined as intimacy between people of marginalized genders.