7th annual Winnipeg Dyke March draws colourful crowd

Dozens of LGBTpeople and their allies took part in the seventh annual Winnipeg Dyke March Saturday.

The event is held every year in the leadupto the annual Winnipeg Pride Parade, which takes place Sunday.

Organizers Sara Barsky and Joey Lowen said the inclusive event celebrates every letter of every iteration of the LGBT acronym and more, but it also highlights members of the community they believe often receive less attention.

"The Winnipeg Dyke March is a women-inclusive march.... It's queer and trans-inclusive, it's about being accessible and community-based and taking up space in a week that doesn't always recognize people from the more marginalized area of the queer community," Barsky said.

"I feel a lot of mainstream pride organizations and mainstream pride events, not just in Winnipeg but all over the place, exclude a lot of marginalized community membersand I hope that the dyke march is more representative of the community that I see every day," Lowensaid.

The dyke march offers a more positive alternative tomany mainstream pride events, which oftenfail to acknowledge and adequately celebrate"all of the actualwork and time and emotional labourthat goes into being a part of [the] queer community every other day of the year," Barsky said.

"It's just this one day of expensive parties ... you need to look a certain way to show up there," Barsky said. "That's not what we do here at dyke march. Anyone is welcome. It's open to allies. It's free.... We're always open to those conversations about being accountable to our community."

The group met at the RiverOsborneCommunity Centre at noon andthen marched throughOsborneVillage toMemorial Park in downtown Winnipeg.

Organizers hope the event helps raise awareness about the mental health, gender equality, accessibility and safety issuespeople in the LGBT community face every day.

The march also celebrated the National Day of Action for Sex Workers' Rights.