Lesbian Movement in Telemark

Translator's Note: This is a machine-assisted translation completed on April 25, 2025. While care has been taken to maintain accuracy, this translation has not yet undergone human review or validation. Please note that specialized terms, historical references, and nuanced content may benefit from expert review.

Lesbian struggle is women's struggle - women's struggle is lesbian struggle.

The year is 1978. In the small village of Ulefoss in Telemark, six women meet on the threshold of a new era. An era marked by significant societal changes, expectations, women's liberation, and rights struggles, as well as radical political movements. The six women form the Lesbian Movement in Telemark. This is the story of a small but strong organization that, with conviction and power, created space for lesbian liberation and women's liberation at a time when both lesbians and homosexuals were viewed with great skepticism.

The Lesbian Movement in Telemark was active from November 1978 until the end of 1984. The movement was a small organization, always with a modest number of active members, but their engagement extended far beyond the borders of Telemark county. Anne-Mette Vibe and Nina Bauer Bølgan are two of the members who started Telemark's first gay organization. At its peak, they had 8.5 members plus two cats. The half member was a heterosexual support member who came and went.

– In retrospect, when I have told others that I was part of the Lesbian Movement in Telemark, people have reacted with: You were so enthusiastic, you were so big. But we were not many. We probably made more of an impact than I realized, recalls Nina Bauer Bølgan.

Our informants look back on their time in the Lesbian Movement in Telemark as a period marked by optimism and hope, with the belief that significant political changes for women were possible. They were busy women, several of them with children, and they lived scattered between Porsgrunn, Ulefoss, and Notodden.

They met about once a month, and minutes from all the years they were active have been preserved. The minutes, correspondence, articles, and magazines owned by the organization have been donated to the Queer Archive at the University of Bergen. This article is based on documents collected in the Queer Archive at UiB, as well as interviews with some of those who were active in the organization.

A radical, feminist organization 

The Lesbian Movement in Telemark was inspired by the Lesbian Movement in Oslo. The Lesbian Movement was started in 1975 as a reaction to lesbian feminists feeling that the Norwegian Association of 1948 (DNF-48) did not take lesbians seriously but was an organization that primarily catered to men's interests. The Lesbian Movement was active proponents for establishing the Women's House in Oslo, which opened in 1976.

– Both Nina and I were part of the Lesbian Movement in Oslo, and it was probably there that we met Lisbeth (Nilsen, editor's note). Gerd Brantenberg was one of the driving forces behind the Women's House, and for us, she was the leading figure. Joining the Association of 48 was completely out of the question. Kim Friele and the Association were only working for the men; they had no feminist stance. When we moved to Telemark, it was natural to bring the ideas from the Women's House to the Lesbian Movement, says Anne-Mette Vibe.

The tension between gay men and lesbian women was also a topic that influenced the discussions in the movement, which we will return to later.

The movement defined itself as a radical feminist organization, and what this definition entailed would eventually become a recurring theme at their meetings. They described their purpose as follows:

"The purpose is to gather lesbians in Telemark. We meet once a month to discuss how lesbians can become strong together – and for social gatherings. LRT is a radical feminist organization. We will work for all lesbians to become secure and free individuals. It takes strength to break the silence that lesbians are subjected to. Visibility is the foundation for the continued struggle for lesbian liberation. We should not have to live in fear of our own lesbianism. Our organizational form can be compared to feminist groups. We have no elected leaders and no board. Everyone should have the same influence on what we work with (flat structure). LRT collaborates with other gay and lesbian organizations, as well as the women's movement in Telemark." (Lesbian Movement Telemark, n.d.)

Who were they? 

The six women who started the Lesbian Movement in Telemark had backgrounds from the Lesbian Movement in Oslo, the New Feminists in Porsgrunn, and the Gay Movement in Vestfold. Only one of them was from Grenland, while the others had moved to Telemark. The main reason for their move to Telemark was work, along with a desire to show that one did not need to live in Oslo to have a good life as a lesbian. Lisbeth Nilsen became a librarian in Ulefoss, Nina Bauer Bølgan taught at the teacher's college in Notodden, and Anne-Mette Vibe worked as an adjunct at Skien Gymnasium.

That Ulefoss became the powerhouse for LRT was pragmatically due to its location between Porsgrunn and Notodden.

At the time of its establishment in 1978, there were no other gay organizations in Telemark. Organization secretary Geir Hagland from the Norwegian Association of 1948 described Grenland as a "dark land" for homosexuals in an interview with TA in 1978 (Telemark Arbeiderblad, 1978). He visited Grenland to spread information about homosexuality through lectures and stands in both Skien and Porsgrunn.

The connection to the Gay Movement in Vestfold was strong, and many homosexuals from Grenland were members there and actively participated in membership meetings and parties. Our informants do not agree with Hagland's description of Grenland as a "dark land." On the contrary, Anne-Mette Vibe says she was positively surprised by the active women's political environment in Porsgrunn.

In 1973, Porsgrunn became the first Norwegian city to establish its own women's house. The inspiration came from Kvindehuset in Copenhagen. Tone Anne Ødegaard bought the house at Storgata 182, which functioned both as a residence and a women's house. "Our goal is to create an information center with outward activities. We want to conduct outreach information work so that as many people as possible become familiar with what we stand for. The house itself should be a place where all women can drop by and sniff around without having to engage too much." (Ryste, 2003)

– I saw Porsgrunn as a place to survive as a lesbian feminist. Before I chose to move from Oslo, it meant a lot that I read that Porsgrunn had Norway's first women's house. Porsgrunn also had Bjørg Vik, a well-known and strong voice for feminism. It was fantastic to meet such a strong women's movement. It was to rediscover something we had in Oslo, just on a smaller scale, says Vibe. – But there was also a big difference between Skien and Porsgrunn at that time, maybe it is still like that. Porsgrunn had the women's movement and a strong labor movement. Skien had Christianity and the bourgeoisie, Vibe recalls.

Without drawing it too far, we see here a different understanding of the zeitgeist that characterized Grenland at this time. The representative of the national gay organization focused on the lack of an organized offer for homosexuals, and that this was likely due to the low-church environment, with its conservative attitudes, lying like a dark cloud over the region.

If we look a few years ahead, we might find a clue as to why the same area could be experienced so differently. In 1983, a letter to the editor was published in Varden from the Lesbian Movement in Telemark with the headline "Modern Norway?" (Varden, 1983). Gyldendal publishing house released a seven-volume work titled "Modern Norway" in 1982. The movement reacted to the fact that homosexuals and the homosexual liberation struggle were not mentioned, despite the publisher's claim that: "It is today's Norway that emerges in this work. Our own society in all its diversity of life forms, conflicts, and values." The Lesbian Movement concluded the letter to the editor with: "Silence is also a form of discrimination."

It didn't take long before a counter-letter was printed. Under the title "What does 'lesbian movement' want?" "Hetro" wrote: "What does this group have to do in such a book work? (...) It is of little or no interest to mention anything about such a deviant group." The letter ended with the following salvo: "It was this type of sin that triggered God's wrath over Sodom and Gomorrah, remember that. It would have been appropriate with a new 'movement' here now, for example 'Action Lesbian Movement out of Telemark.'" (Varden, 1983)

The women in the movement laugh when we ask them how they reacted to this letter; they were not affected by it. But for one of the founders of the Forum for Homosexuals and Lesbians in Telemark, Arnfinn Bernaas, the letter was more upsetting. 

– I was upset by such hateful and contemptuous mention of lesbians, and I felt I had no choice. I just had to throw myself into the discussion, even though I had just started my new job. I was quite nervous when I sent the letter to the newspaper, Bernaas recalls. He took a personal risk by sending the letter to the local newspaper. He had to inform his parents that he was now publicly gay in his hometown, and he was also worried about the reactions he would face at his new workplace. (Høie, Ulriksen 2024)

– It gave me an aha moment to hear Arnfinn's story. Only Käthe had an affiliation with Grenland. Arnfinn had to consider his family; we had no one to consider, says Anne-Mette Vibe today.

We can interpret the different reactions to this type of negative outcome in the press in light of the fact that most of the women did not feel a strong affiliation with the region and therefore were not so upset by a letter to the editor in the local newspaper. Another possible explanation is that they identified more as women and as part of the women's movement, and that the reference to Sodom and Gomorrah did not seem particularly relevant to them as lesbians. Their strong affiliation with the women's movement made them in some degree experience women's liberation as equally important as the liberation struggle for homosexuals. Although this was not in opposition, it was probably easier for them to shrug off this letter.

Tensions between the different women's groups

In 1978, before the Lesbian Movement was founded, there were two March 8th parades in Porsgrunn. According to Vibe, this was due to the usual split between the New Feminists and the Women's Front, which applied across the country.

The following year, in 1979, the headline in Porsgrunn Dagblad read: "Women show unity for March 8th day." In the article, Tove Seierstad from the Women's Front and Kristin Halvorsen from the New Feminists were interviewed, and under the subheading "Important to show solidarity," they stated:

"There is a lesbian movement in Grenland. Lesbians feel the oppression more strongly than anyone else, so we do not turn our backs on them. They need support because they are oppressed, and therefore we give it to them, as women and as human beings." (Reite, 1979)

Despite the agreement between the women's movements and the invitation to participate in the March 8th parade, the Lesbian Movement did not get the slogan approved: "Lesbian struggle is women's struggle – women's struggle is lesbian struggle." They therefore chose to withdraw from the event, and in a letter to the editor in TA on March 8, 1979, they explained their choice as follows:

"The Lesbian Movement in Telemark is currently very concerned with the position of lesbians in the women's movements. Based on our thoughts on this, we chose a slogan that is well-known and used in the women's struggle in Oslo. We are a newly started organization in Telemark that works for lesbian liberation. We want to strengthen the contact between lesbians and conduct information work. We collaborate with the Gay Movement in Vestfold, which organizes homosexual women and men in Vestfold and Lower Telemark." (Telemark Arbeiderblad, 1979)

The following year, in 1980, the Telemark lesbians wrote in a report:

"To avoid the same commotion this year, we chose to be a bit tactical. We therefore proposed: 'The fight against the oppression of lesbians is all women's fight' and 'Legal security for lesbian mothers.' It went through smoothly.

On the actual day, we showed up in full force, very happy to see each other there and then. The parade counted just under 300 participants, which was a bit more than the previous year. There wasn't exactly a crowd under our slogan, but some showed up. Käthe gave an excellent speech after the parade, and it warmed our hearts to hear 'Lesbian Movement in Telemark' echo across the Town Hall Square in Porsgrunn when she read out who had participated."

At the end of this "report," they included the following little gem from the party at Folkets Hus: "Late in the evening, Nina made eye contact with one of the serving ladies and asked with a smile: 'Would you also support the discrimination of homosexuals?'"