Please
consider for publication, with our express permission.
Mike
Hein, Administrator
Christian
Civic League of Maine
http://www.leaguerecord.com
Portland,
Maine's Dyke March, 2007
by
Mike Hein, Christian Civic League of Maine
June
21, 2007
http://www.cclmaine.org/artman/publish/Maine_3/Dyke_March.shtml
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EQME's
Huntress & Dyke Marchers
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Friday
evening, June 15th, saw Portland, Maine's radical
lesbians come out in force for their 2nd Annual Dyke March.
Approximately 200 self-described dykes, and at least one male
cross-dresser, participated at the rally held at Portland's
Monument Square at 7:30pm. The Dyke March itself began at
8:00pm, and the lesbians marched in the middle of Congress Street,
causing traffic to be re-routed for a short period of time.
This year's version of the annual Portland Dyke March was
sponsored and promoted by EqualityMaine
and two Maine homosexual bars, Styxx in Portland and Maine Street
in Ogunquit. The Dyke March had both a formal
website and a webpage
listing on myspace.com.
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Cross
Dresser at Dyke March
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While
the Portland Press Herald chose not to report on the Dyke March,
both the homosexual friendly Portland
Phoenix weekly newspaper and the homosexual InNewsWeekly
newspaper (in addition to the League Record) did cover and write
news stories about the event.
Darlene Huntress,
EqualityMaine's Public Policy Director, addressed the gathering
using a portable loudspeaker system. She exhorted the dyke
marchers, asking them, "We do have one thing in common, and
specifically tonight, what is that thing that we have in common?
We're dykes, baby!" Huntress advised the radical
lesbian crowd to, "Never stop being who you are, be true to
yourself, go out there this [Southern Maine Gay Pride] weekend,
and show your stuff off."
Regarding the use of the word 'dyke' itself, Huntress shouted at
the crowd, "It's an empowering word. It is a word we
should be proud of, and I say 'Happy [expletive deleted] Dyke
March, y'all!'"
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2006
Dyke March
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From
the InNewsWeekly article: "Since January, we've worked to
create an entire evening of celebrating who we are as individuals
and together. Pulling from our own multitalented local community,
we have speakers, performers, roller derby girls, dykes on bikes,
musicians and artists to make the event something for everyone.
This year we are again inviting dykes and all people who love them
to come out, be seen and build community."
From the Portland Phoenix article: "A good indication of just
how far the GLBTQ [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and
Questioning] community has come in Portland is that...there are
competing [homosexual] Pride events scheduled — on Friday night
alone, there’s a drag show at Geno’s, a party at the White
Heart, and a post-Dyke March shindig at the North Star Café. The
following night, there’s the Pier Dance and a Block Party, both
cherries on top of the Pride Week celebrations."
The Portland Dyke March committee consisted of local Mainers
Audrey Luce, Sarah
Parker Holmes, Jen Hudson, Melissa Hechtman, and Jill
Barkley. Unlike last year's event, this year's Dyke
Marchers did not participate in public displays of nudity.
Immediately following the Portland Dyke March was an all-ages
party at the North Star
Cafe on Congress Street in Portland.