She added that she lost count of the number of people who harassed her.
"It was a flag from my congregation which celebrates my queer, Jewish identity which I have done for over a decade marching in the Dyke March with the same flag," she told Windy City Times. However, the Dyke March Collective also ejected three people carrying Jewish Pride flags (a rainbow flag with a Star of David in the center).Īccording to one of those individuals≺ Wider Bridge Midwest Manager Laurel Grauershe and her friends were approached a number of times in the park because they were holding the flag. The protestors were eventually asked to leave. People of all races, genders and gender identities formed a wall two lines deep and held up sheets of tarpaulin, trans pride flags and bed linen in order to completely conceal the extremists from the revelers in the park. Dyke March attendees barricaded them with a beautifully illustrated counterpoint to hatred. It seemed as if the entire gender, racial and sexual spectrum was represented, walking hand-in-hand and demonstrating a powerful unity as they chanted "We are Dyke March" in English and Spanish.ĭeclarations of support for minority communities and against gentrification and abusive government and social institutions echoed along 26th Street while Munoz leant a hand directing traffic at each intersection.Ī small group of Christian extremists were waiting for the marchers at the Piotrowski Park rally area. The march proceeded peacefully with support demonstrated by passing cars and bystanders waving from local businesses and homes along the route through the heart of Little Village. Ricardo Munoz and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to have the west-bound lanes shut downbecause the city would not issue a permit to organizers. With a few representatives from Dykes on Bikes and a contingent of youth leading the way, the marchers shut down half of 26th Street after organizers (historically called the Dyke March Collective) negotiated with 22nd Ward Ald.
More than 1,500 LGBTQ individuals and allies gathered at Little Village Academy at Lawndale and 26th.
The 2017 Dyke March Chicago demonstrated two opposing personalities as it moved, for the first time, to the Little Village neighborhood.