D.C. Dyke March: Thinking outside the boxes
By
Minnie Bruce Pratt
Published Jun 13, 2005 8:45 PM
The annual Washington, D.C., Dyke March on June 11
celebrated 12 years of radical lesbian defiance with a rally and march of some
700 people.
Some 700 took
part in this year’s D.C. Dyke March, chanting against racism, sexism and
anti-LGBT bigotry.
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The crowd was predominantly young lesbian women, with
noticeable participation from D.C.'s African American lesbian community. There
was also a solid showing of gay non-trans men, including the supportive local
chapter of Radical Faeries; a large contingent from the local lesbian and gay
Deaf community; members of the local bisexual women's group; representatives
from the D.C. Drag Kings troupe; and many transgender people, including some
from the National Center for Transgender Equality.
The tradition of
an LGBT Pride Month “dyke march” began on the eve of the 1993 March
on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Equal Rights and Liberation. That night
more than 20,000 people poured into the streets to advance without a parade
permit, defying state restrictions. There are now more than a dozen annual Dyke
Marches in North America.
The 2005 D.C. march theme was
“Thinking Outside the Boxes.” Organizers said this year's Dyke March
specifically welcomed people of all identities in order to emphasize that,
“Every day folks along the queer spectrum are embracing and inventing new
ways of describing their identities, including ways of honoring shifting and
multiple identities.”
The organizing committee, chaired by Al
Miner--who identifies as a “Jewish tranny” and a “primarily
masculine and gender-queer person”--mirrored this commitment to diversity.
Miner noted that the all-volunteer members include Shana McDavis-Conway, an
African American bisexual: Joy Hunt, a white lesbian who works for the Advocacy
Institute; an Arab American college student and drag
king; Jen Halpern, a white lesbian; Natalie Illum, a differently abled poet and
activist; and Sarah Glaubinger, who identifies as gender-queer.
Marshals for the march were trained by Marty Langelan, a
nationally recognized expert on violence against women and a former president of
the D.C. Rape Crisis Center. Marshals included Jaya Karla, a 17-year-old Indian
American student who is interning at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Stacey Long addressed the crowd before the march began. Long
talked about her partner Wanda Alston, an African American lesbian who was
tragically killed in March. Alston had served as D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams's
special assistant on LGBT affairs and as head of the recently created Office for
LGBT Affairs.
Long spoke of how Wanda had been an activist
passionately committed to the movements for civil rights, women's liberation and
LGBT rights. Long called on all who were gathered together at the march to
continue the struggle in the spirit of Wanda's activism.
'Rage and pride!'
Leslie Feinberg, transgender lesbian activist and
a managing editor of Workers World newspaper, recalled the lessons for today of
the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. She pointed out that Stonewall was made by people
with many different identities, including multiple oppressions: Black, Latin@,
white, homeless street youth, sex workers, transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transsexual. She emphasized that these individuals, who did not face a common
oppression, made history when they fought back together, shoulder to shoulder,
against police repression.
Feinberg said that the difference
between Stonewall and today is the potential for a broader class-wide struggle.
The 1960s Vietnam War years were a period of economic upturn based on military
spending. The government “guns and butter” social programs and
higher levels of employment made it easier to isolate the liberation movements
and student struggles.
“Today,” Feinberg said,
“there's no butter, there's no margarine, there's just guns. The cities
are being starved to pay for endless billions for war that both aisles of
Congress are approving. The overall standard of living is declining and access
to jobs, health care, education and affordable housing are scarce. So in order
to wage the broadest, most diverse struggle against capitalism and its wars for
global empire, we have to unite to fight against all forms of oppression.”
The crowd cheered Feinberg's call to support the right of the
Iraqi people to resist imperialist occupation and the demand to bring the GIs
home now. They roared in response to her call for unity in the struggle against
the military draft, racism and sexism and vocally vowed to fight for the rights
of Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants and Deaf and disabled
communities.
Organizer Al Miner, who first heard Feinberg speak at
a conference sponsored by Al-Fatiha, an organization of LGBT, intersex and
questioning Muslims, said that Feinberg's anti-corporate message was also
important to the march. Miner added the committee invited Feinberg because they
wanted someone who could appeal across generational lines, and who embodied the
message that multiple identities and diversities are to be celebrated, not swept
under the rug.
Miner said of the D.C. Dyke March, “It is with
rage and pride that we make as much noise as we can, not only for our own rights
but for other groups who so often get left behind. We don't have a permit, we're
not a 501.C.3 organization, we wouldn't want to be--we don't need support from a
government that murders people in the name of
patriotism.”
Miner added, “I don't give a damn how hard
a sell it may be to garner rights for Muslims or transfolks or whoever--when any
group has their basic civil rights withheld, we all suffer. This year's march
theme is to remind our community of just that.”
Miner wants
the political theme of this year's D.C. Dyke March to have a far-reaching
impact: “I hope everyone who came to the march will go back to their own
organizations or communities and share that message of inclusion--and that
includes other dyke marches. It's so simple: Why not include everyone? There is
strength in numbers, after all.”
As a lesbian
activist, Pratt worked for 10 years in D.C. to connect the struggles against
racism, LGBT oppression and imperialism.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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