International Lesbian Day Date in the current year: October 8, 2024

International Lesbian Day is celebrated on October 8. The origins of the day are unclear. According to some sources, it was first observed in New Zealand in 1980 with a Lesbian Day March on International Women’s Day (March 8). Other accounts claim that the day started about a decade later. Be that as it may, the observance has been around since at least the early 1990s.

International Lesbian Day is mostly marked with various community events, such as celebration dances and conferences. Brisbane, for example, hosts the annual International Lesbian Day conference that aims to celebrate and promote lesbian rights, as well as to highlight key well-being and health issues affecting same-sex attracted women (alongside lesbians, this includes women who identify as bisexual, pansexual and queer).

On October 8, lesbians in different countries come together to celebrate their identity and discuss specific issues that homosexual women face on a daily basis, as well as to make themselves seen and heard both within the LGBTQ+ community and outside of it.

In addition to International Lesbian Day, which is relatively unknown outside of Australia and New Zealand, there’s Lesbian Visibility Day observed on April 26. Another awareness day with an inconclusive origin, Lesbian Visibility Day celebrates lesbian culture, diversity and role models.