On the cover: from center to right, Ilaria Todde and Silvia Casalino at Libreria Tuba, Pigneto, Rome
Last week I was at Libreria Tuba in Pigneto (Rome) to understand what the first Italian Dyke March is about, which will take place on Saturday 26 April for the Lesbian Visibility Day. The two Dykerectors, Ilaria Todde and Silvia Casalino, provided some information. The march takes place on the occasion of the fourth European Lesbian Conference to be held from 23 to 26 April in the capital, organized by EL*C, Euro Central Asian Lesbian Community, at the Pineta Palace Hotel. It is a network of associations, groups and collectives from Europe and Central Asia. The aim is to create spaces for sharing and strategy between activists and organizations working with women and people in the LGBTQIA+ community. The objective of the march is to defend the rights of lesbians, recently attacked by the Italian government with the deletion of the names of lesbian mothers from the birth certificates of their own children.
Dyke March Roma poster, credits: Frad
The topics of the European Lesbian Conference
“Lesbians have always been part of all the struggles to advance society – says Silvia Casalino – intellectuals, artists, politicians for peace, against nuclear, to help migrants, but in the end we very rarely questioned what the specific things are that concern us as lesbians”. The Italian division of EL*C consists of six paid people with access to the Senate, institutions, and significant cultural realities.
An analysis of the current situation of lesbians will be carried out during the conference. Gender issues, relations, policy, climate justice, accessibility, and tourism will be discussed. There will be activists from Central Asia, Ukraine, and Palestine, as well as the founder of Black Pride in London, Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah.
What’s Dyke March
Dyke March’s first attempts were made in the eighties in Canada, first in Vancouver and then in Toronto. The first official was held in 1993 in Washington D.C., in the United States, organized by the Lesbian Avengers, until 2007. After twelve years of interruption, she returned in 2019. ” The lesbians did a series of fire-eater shows – explains Ilaria – to show that they were not afraid of anything and that women could do anything possible”. They swallowed and spat fire to protest the murder of an African-American lesbian, Hattie Mae Cohen, and a disabled white gay man, Brian Mock, by skinheads who set fire to their home in Salem, Oregon. Almost a year ago, in the poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, three lesbian women died from the fire triggered by a Molotov cocktail thrown by a man in their room, only one of them survived.
Route and related events
The festivities begin on the evening of Wednesday 23 April with an aperitif at the International House of Women. There will be performances by Roman artists such as Frad (who designed the poster for the Dyke March) and Nancy Tungsten . From 24 to 26 April, there will be a conference at Pineta Sacchetti, which has parking facilities. Three days cost thirty euros (single ticket 17.18 euros). You can write to the association to find a suitable solution if you cannot cover the ticket cost.
The Dyke March will start at 15:30 from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II to the Fori Imperiali. The route can be found on the Instagram page Dyke March Roma. After the march, a party will be organized by the collective Saffo at L’Alibi Club.
Fiore Avvelenato 