A major lesbian parade has been planned to take place in London
on 31 March - more than twenty years after the city's first.
The march will start in Soho Square and travel through the centre
of the capital in a bid to boost lesbian visibility.
The event is the first since the Lesbian Strength marches in the
1980s, which ran for a handful of years. The history to how and why
they ended is not well documented.
"We're doing Dyke March London to support dyke visibility, in all
our sameness and differences," organiser Emelia Holdaway told
DIVA.
"Being visible is an act of protest and an act of power, it
creates community and Dyke March London is also about good old
fashioned community building and empowerment."
In the United States, there are annual Dyke Marches in many
capital cities, usually held the day before the city's annual Pride
march - in Boston, Santa Cruz, San Diego, Chicago, LA, NYC, New
Orleans, Seattle, Washington as well as Toronto (pictured), Mexico
City, and Vancouver.
"The first one was held in 1993 in Washington and was organised in
response to the National March on Washington being organised by the
National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce," adds Holdaway.
"It was felt that the National March would have little content
relevant to lesbians, so word was put out to have a Dyke March the
day beforehand. Organisers expected maybe a thousand people, but
word spread like wildfire and 20,000 turned up to march.
"After that, it became an annual event, with Dyke Marches now held
in many cities. It is from this tradition of Dyke Marches that
we've drawn our inspiration - and name".
