Members of Montreal’s LBTQ2S+ community took to the streets on Sunday, as the first Dyke March took place since 2015.
Unity was at the forefront of the march.
“While we like corporate pride and it’s really fun, we wanted to have something that returned to radical roots, that was inclusive of all sorts of queer people,” said co-organizer Rachel Patenaude.
The march is an annual event held in cities across the globe.
Patenaude said the march has historically been a protest and a way to promote lesbian visibility.
“We don’t police people’s identities,” said Patenaude. “These could be bisexual people, lesbians, trans people of all kinds.”
The celebration of unity and diversity is a message that resonates with many of the more than 200 people who joined in the march on Sunday.
At the meet-up point in Jeanne-Mance Park, participants took turns speaking out.
Volunteer Megan Mills Devoe said more needs to be done to protect the community.
“It’s not over you know, we’re still not safe,” she said. “We’re still not respected in the way that we should be and demonstrations like this one, they’re so important because this can’t continue.”
She added that queer women constantly have their identities invalidated and that lesbians are often sexualized.
“I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve had a man offer to change me or fix me, and that is totally okay in so many spaces that are not lesbian centered,” said Mills Devoe.
The event echoed a message of solidarity for disabled, Indigenous, Black and racialized people, as well as those in the trans communities.
“This march has been made possible in great part by trans, dykes, lesbians; people who fall under the broader trans umbrella,” said trans activist Celeste Trianon. “We’ve always been at the forefront of queer justice and that’s something which we’re still fighting for.”