"Lesbians in the provinces are alone. Utterly alone." With this premise, Christiane Kloweit and Ina Röder Sissoko investigated the lived realities of lesbians in small towns across the GDR in 1989. Their findings were presented at the GDR’s first lesbian conference in Halle. Judith Geffert examines the history of this conference—held during the autumn of political upheaval in 1989—and its significance for the visibility of lesbian life, while drawing parallels to the situation of lesbians living outside major cities today.