J'en Suis, J'y Reste has run the lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, intersex and feminist centre for Lille and its region since 1998, from a house on rue de Condé. It is self-managed and works as an umbrella: around a dozen member associations sit under it, covering trans solidarity, support after sexual violence, neurodivergent and anti-ableist organising, family planning, and legal help for foreign nationals.
For a visitor it is a place to go rather than an office. There is a bar, brunches, a lesbian film club, and discussion groups for aromantic and asexual people, for bi and pan people, and for trans and non-binary people. Alongside those run art workshops, a crochet group and a queer zine club.
A programme comes out every month and the centre keeps a page setting out what the building can and cannot accommodate. Members come from across the region and from over the Belgian border, which is close enough here to matter.
The people in this picture are AI-generated.
