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Proud "dykes" come out of the woodwork to march in Minneapolis

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Photos and video by Sheila Regan

By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet
July 01, 2009
The Twin Cities Avengers held their annual Dyke March on Saturday. Around 200 participants chanted, danced and cheered as they celebrated their pride in an unpermitted march significantly devoid of any commercial influence. Starting at the Walker Art Center, they marched down Hennepin Avenue and around Loring Park. Participants in the march said they liked the Dyke March because it was more inclusive than the official Pride Parade that happened the next day, and didn’t have the commercial sponsorships that have come to mark the Pride Festival.

The first Dyke March—organized by the New York activist organization Lesbian Avengers and the National ACT UP Women’s Committee—was held in Washington DC in 1992. The event drew 20,000 people, according to the TC Avengers Web site. Since then, Dyke Marches have become an annual tradition in cities all around the country.

The TC Avengers are an offshoot of the original Lesbian Avengers, but changed their name to be more inclusive of all of the GLBTQ community. According to their Web site, the group aims to resist “systems of domination in ways that relate to the needs of constantly changing local and national queer and transgender communities."
One participant, who said she had been attending Dyke Marches in the Twin Cities since 1997, said “I love the march because of all of the people coming out of the woodwork. It’s our day to just be ourselves and be proud.”
Sheila Regan is a Minneapolis theater artist and freelance writer.
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©2009 Sheila Regan
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Awesome!

Submitted by James (not verified) on Wed, 2009-07-01 09:01.
Good article, I would have liked to read more. I think there were closer to 500 people there, though..

--

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2009-07-01 09:03.
Thank you for covering this event. Over 500 participants were counted at the dyke march-- well over 200. I'm just curious-- why is dykes in quotes in the headline?

"Dykes"

Submitted by Jay Gabler on Fri, 2009-07-03 09:00.
I wrote the headline for this article, and I put the word "dykes" in quotation marks because, while the participants in this march were obviously proud to identify themselves as "dykes," that term has a history of being used in a derogatory sense. While these marchers are claiming the term as a positive moniker, many would still be uncomfortable having that term applied to members of the GLBTQ community by a news publication. I put the word in quotes to make clear that the decision to identify these marchers as "dykes" was theirs, not ours.

Thank You

Submitted by Michael Da Medic (not verified) on Wed, 2009-07-01 23:33.
This white male breeder Nurse was proud to be a Street Medic for this and the Trannies march, the same day at 3 pm. My two favorite parts were when the cop and a freaking Segway saw us marching down Hennepin, by the Basilica and he felt compelled to lead us. Then the chants of Corporate Crap, Don't Buy It Stonewall Was A Riot.

Count

Submitted by Sheila Regan (not verified) on Fri, 2009-07-03 12:31.
Well, I thought I counted 200, but that could be a conservative estimate. Suffice to say there were a lot of people having a great time.

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