Just the other week, on July 22nd, we celebrated the Dyke* March in Berlin.
Yes, the parade is the ultimate paradise for lesbians but it’s also a demonstration to show the world that we exist and that we are here proudly celebrating who we are and the community that we have been building for decades from the shadow. “Look over here, look over there, lesbians are everywhere!”
The streets of Berlin were filled with thousands of Dykes and our supporters. It was a very nice march, without commercial slogans, where you could really feel the positive energy of the community, full of joy, colors, music, hugs, and people expressing their love proudly.
For me it was very emotional to see the generational diversity, from young people, probably experiencing their first march (It’s so good you are out, darling) to older ones with a long history of the organization and fighting for our rights behind their backs.
It was very important to see that we are all very different, from butches to cis lesbians, trans, nonbinary, intersex, and lesbian families, altogether making ourselves visible, because, yes, it was a really nice and peaceful parade but the message was clear: We want to be visible! Celebrating ourselves with joy and pride is a way to remember the rights that we have achieved and the fight that continues in search of equality and inclusion. Lesbians have always been out of fashion but never mind, we know how to build union and awareness for ourselves.
I would like to highlight two things that I am especially proud of. The first one is that at the beginning of the march there was a small group of people (no more than 10) who wanted to express themselves against trans people, the incident was strictly rejected by the organization and those people had to leave the parade. The second thing is that it was not a march in opposition to all the others, but complementary to the agenda of the pride month which represents the energy of tolerance and love that you could feel being there. We loved that and we are totally here for it!
See you next year Dykes!
text & photos: Julieta Segura