On Saturday, thousands of lesbians overtook Fifth Avenue, marching, dancing, chanting, and demonstrating their way from 42nd Street to Washington Square Park for the 25th annual New York City Dyke March.
The event stands out from many Pride weekend activities (especially the massive, now-televised Pride Parade), deliberately naming itself as “a protest march—not a parade.” According to its organizers, the march “is a demonstration of our First Amendment right to protest and takes place without permits or sponsors.”
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We recognize that we must organize among ourselves to fight for our rights, safety, and visibility. Thousands of Dykes take the streets each year in celebration of our beautiful and diverse Dyke lives, to highlight the presence of Dykes within our community, and in protest of the discrimination, harassment, and violence we face in schools, on the job, and in our communities.
While maintaining the sexy, celebratory, and irreverent fun of Pride, Dyke March connects to its history of protest. First organized by the New York Lesbian Avengers in 1993, today’s march still focuses on its original mission statement to inspire “grass-roots lesbian organizing, especially given the anti-gay bills being pushed by the right wing.”
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LGBT rights activist Edith “Edie” Windsor (R)
