I turned up early to the Dyke March. I don’t often manage to turn up early to things, but felt it was important this day. I have been on many LGBT marches, but this was my first ever Dyke March.
In the beginning there were only a few of us and we were outnumbered by signs. It only took about ten minutes for the first police officer to approach. ‘What’s happening here?’ she asked. I turned my head to look at the huge DYKE MARCH poster right in front of her while Emelia, the organiser, handed her a flyer. Next she wanted to know how many people we were expecting, a perfectly reasonable question considering the huge WE RECRUIT poster that she must have noticed. ‘We don’t know,’ Emelia answered, ‘There could be 30, there could be 300’. Actually over 500 turned up to the march, with possibly many more by the time it reached its final destination.
The speeches started late, but were well worth the wait. There were 5 speakers, each amazing and inspiring in her own way. Kirsten Hearn (prominent disability campaigner) reminded us that the Political is Personal. Lady Phyll Opoku (UK Black Pride) did a rousing speech on visibility. Paris Lees (META magazine) reminded us that these are our streets too. Shi Tou (Chinese activist) wished for Dyke Marches all over the world, and Clare B Dimyon (who received an MBE for her LGBT work) asked us to value the lesbian identity as much as any other we embody.
A couple of the speeches have been posted online in their entirety, but by only reading them you might lose a little of the magic. Watching them all speaking up there on a little dingy stage was truly awesome. By the time the last speaker stepped off the podium, the crowd around us had swelled so much it was getting in the way of traffic. Once we started walking it seemed to get even bigger, until we were filling the entire road for miles.
I remember standing on Embankment Bridge, looking back and feeling stunned at how many women were walking with us. Where else do you see hundreds of women, along with men, children, bicycles, giant flags and small signs saying SNATCH THE DAY? It truly was an amazing experience and one I hope to do again.
Review of event by Ida Raine, 3 April 2012
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