By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Organizers of the Chicago Dyke March held a forum Nov. 30 at Women and Children First Bookstore in Andersonville to discuss moving the location of next June’s march.

Organizer Rosa Yadira Ortiz said that making the march more accessible to people throughout the city was a concern for the planning committee.

Future parades, Ortiz said, should not have to be “that far of a commute, this ‘voyage up north’ to get to do something gay or queer.”

The organizers acknowledged that moving the location might be a tough sell for some in the community. Last year, the Dyke March was moved to Ashland Avenue again, and though the route shifted just one block, some in the community were incensed.

“People felt that we wouldn’t be seen as much as in some places,” organizer Nicole Perez said.

But Perez said the planning committee and others in the community had concerns that the march had become too commercial.

“When Dyke March was started 12 years ago, the mission statement and purpose of the march (were) designed as a direct action demonstration and not as a parade so much,” Perez said. “We have felt that as years went on, Dyke March had become more of a ‘dyke parade’ and not a ‘dyke march.’ So we wanted to bring it back to that radical idea of it being a direct action demonstration.”

Part of that idea, Perez said, was having the march take place in different neighborhoods every year. She also said she hopes this would allow the March to work in tandem with local community organizations.

The organizers said they are planning to announce a location in February, and will likely decide on the 2009 location at the same time. Pilsen, Little Village, Humboldt Park and Englewood were just a few of the neighborhoods considered at the meeting.

Additional Dyke March forums are being planned at locations and times to be determined in December and January to get more community feedback. For more information, email nicole.perez7@gmail.com.