Frances "Franco" Stevens

Frances "Franco" Stevens Speaking Topics

• Media and the Power of Representation for LGBTQ+ Women and Nonbinary People

  Visibility and representation are the most powerful tools in existence to protect LGBTQ+ people, and Franco Stevens knew this 30 years ago. Her work helped move the nation forward socially and politically by creating space, visibility, and empathy for anyone who identified as lesbian.

  Growing up, Franco never saw any representation of queer women — she didn’t even know it was possible for a woman to be gay. When she realized she was a lesbian, it changed the course of her life. Franco founded the most successful lesbian magazine in the world, raising lesbian visibility in a way that connected the lesbian community, created the lesbian market for advertisers, helped the lesbian community accept femme-identifying lesbians, changed the way lesbians are seen by the mainstream, highlighted the transgender experience, brought attention to lesbian families, raised awareness of attacks on LGBT rights, and amplified the work of lesbian activists.

  We are in the midst of a significant cultural shift around women and queer people claiming their voices and power in unprecedented ways. Propelling inclusive, creative, positive change requires that we inspire, coalesce, and arm the LGBTQ community with stories of making positive change with joy and connection as we and our allies gear up to defend our right to marry, second parent adoption, visitation rights, housing and employment rights, and hate crime legislation. Franco’s story has deep relevance today, charting the course of how far lesbians have come, both politically and socially, in the last 30 years, and making clear all we have to fight for today. Franco engages audiences with her story of how in meeting her own needs she met the needs of hundreds of thousands of others. She speaks to an extraordinary time when the lesbian community galvanized as never before, inspiring audiences to champion community and visibility.

• LGBTQ+ Women Then and Now: The Evolution of Lesbian Community Since the '90s

  With a fist full of credit cards, a lucky run at the horse track, and chutzpah for days, Franco Stevens launched Curve, the best-selling lesbian magazine ever published. Franco's story tracks the power of lesbian visibility and community from the early ‘90s to the present day. Decades later, in the wake of a disabling injury, Franco learned that Curve was about to fold within and she set out to understand the relevance of the magazine in the face of accelerating threats to LGBTQ+ community. To forge a path forward, Franco reached out to women working in today’s queer spaces to understand what queer women need today and how she can continue to serve the community.

  In 1990, Franco created a safe place for lesbians in the form of Curve magazine. Her approach to threats and erasure in the ‘90s was to lift all kinds of lesbians up and make them beautifully visible. The magazine helped build a foundation for many intersectional movements being led by today’s activists in the face of accelerating threats to the LGBTQ community.

  Franco Stevens is of one of the most influential women in lesbian history most people have probably never heard of and her work continues to have a significant today. Like so many inspirational LGBTQ+ icons, specifically women and nonbinary folks, Franco’s story remains largely unknown. Franco speaks passionately about the value of preserving and uplifting LGBTQ+ histories. She celebrates the legacy of a movement while considering the agenda of its future.

Lesbian Visibility Week

As the only organization that champions lesbian, queer women, transgender and nonbinary people's stories and culture through intergenerational programming and community building, The Curve Foundation is promoting Lesbian Visibility Week in the US and Franco Stevens can speak to the history of the community as well as the most pressing issues today.

Launched in 2008, Lesbian Visibility Day marked a significant milestone in acknowledging lesbian identity. Through The Curve Foundation, Franco is working to promote a week in the US dedicated to acknowledging, celebrating, and providing crucial support for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer women. Visibility engendered by Lesbian Visibility Week will empower individuals in the US, enabling them to embrace their authentic selves in all aspects of their lives, whether in the workplace, at home, or within their social circles.

Franco describes Lesbian Visibility Week as a beacon of unity, shining its light on all women, with a special focus on those from marginalized backgrounds, especially BIPOC and disabled individuals. The goal is twofold: to celebrate lesbians, and to extend unwavering support to all LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary individuals. This talk lifts up the value of fostering unity, amplifying the voices of those who face the harshest marginalization, and encouraging authentic connections.

Building a Culture of Inclusion for LGBTQ+ Women and Nonbinary Employees

Many organizations are grappling with massive changes since the pandemic while also trying to make their workplaces more inclusive. Unfortunately, even as organizations across the globe strive to create more welcoming environments, workplace and cultural biases around identity persist.

A stunning 75% of LGBTQ+ employees report having experienced discrimination at work in the last year, with LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary staff experiencing the highest levels of micro-aggressions.

We can change this together.

Your organization can promote LGBTQ+ inclusivity by creating a safe container for your employees to talk about building a welcoming culture for lesbian, trans, and queer women and nonbinary employees. Screening clips from the documentary AHEAD OF THE CURVE is a gentle and disarming way to engage employees in sensitive conversations that will allow your organization to:

• Connect authentically with colleagues
• Reflect on internal bias
• Introduce concepts and language that build empathy
• Learn concrete actions to build a more inclusive workplace