My Dyke March Speech...

Good evening :

My name is Marquita Thomas, founder of Out&About, a social, networking and activist organization for lesbians of color. I am also the producer of Serafemme, the queer women of color music festival taking place August 20th at West Hollywood Park Baseball Field

I would like to thank the mayor of West Hollywood, the City of West Hollywood, Christopher Street West and the Committee for Lesbian Visibility for continuing the dyke march and for addressing the need for lesbian visibility.



When we take on the issue of lesbian visibility, we address the question of where are you?. To that, we respond: We are in West Hollywood, we are in Silverlake, we are in Leimert Park, we are in San Francisco, we are in Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Kalamazoo, we are in the faraway unknown parts of the map and as close as the seat next to you. We are teaching children, raising families, in the Senate and on your television. We are making you laugh, making you think, making you wonder and changing the world.



Having said that, we can not address the issue of lesbian visibility with just where we are physically, we must too address where we came from and pay homage to our lesbian ancestors without whose contributions we would not be standing here today. After answering the question: Where are you? we must also answer the question of who are you? and in one collective resounding voice we must say:



I am we.



I am the woman who was institutionalized for dressing as a man.



I am Lucy Ann Lobdell



I am the woman beheaded, stoned, assaulted or jailed for being gay.



I am Sakia Gunn. I am Brandon Tina



I am the pink and black triangles of the Holocaust.



I am the Stonewall Rebellion.



I am the women who defiantly wrote songs and poetry about their love for women



I am Ma Rainey; I am Bessie Smith; I am June Jordan; I am Audre Lourde; I am Rita Mae Brown;



I am the political lesbian who did not accept exclusion from traditional political organizations



I am the Daughters of Bilitis; I am Elaine Noble; I am Margarethe Cammermeyer;



I am the lesbian fighting to adopt a child and the lesbian couple trying to conceive.



I am the black lesbian persecuted by her pastor. I am the lesbian of Asian descent dealing with the absence of accurate and decent representations in the commercial and political sectors of mainstream artistic circles.



I am Merle Woo; I am Ivy Bottini.



I am the immigrant lesbian who fled her country to avoid persecution; I am dont ask, dont tell; I am the underrepresented lesbian youth and lesbian elders; I am the lesbian clergy.



I am the gay activist fighting against the federal amendment;



I am all the lesbians who stand at the forefront of revolution and inspire change:



I am Meshell Ndegeocello; I am kd lang; I am Jasmyne Cannick; I am Lorri Jean; I am Sheila Kuehl ; I am Pat Langlois; I am Patti DiLuigi; I am Rita Gonzales; I am Jen Gomez; I am Marquita Thomas. I am love. I am Pride. I am equal.



Thank you.