Guiding Principles

The Dyke March Committee would like to thank all of the participants of our 2006/2007 Community Consultations. Read on to learn more about the background, the process and the outcome of our consultations: The Dyke March Committee Guiding Principles.

OUR GOALS

  • To reground in the history of the Dyke March
  • To explore a vision for the Dyke March with the Community
  • To develop a list of guiding principles (values) to be utilized in decision-making around what and how we plan and coordinate the Dyke March

THE FIRST CONSULTATION

When: November 25th, 2006

Who: 60 community organizations and groups were invited to attend, along with members of the public. 22 individuals attended.

What: Feedback was provided around the following points:

  • What does the Dyke March mean to you?
  • What does the Dyke March represent?
  • What do you want from the Dyke March (what would you keep about it, drop about it, like to create)?

FOLLOWING THE CONSULTATION

  1. The feedback from the session was collected and recorded
  2. The Dyke March Committee pulled common themes from the feedback received and drafted the Guiding Principles document

THE SECOND CONSULTATION

When: February 25, 2007

Who: The same 60 community groups and organizations were invited, along with the participants of the first consultation, and members of the public. 15 individuals attended.

What: The group reviewed the draft Guiding Principles and provided feedback.

FOLLOWING THE SECOND CONSULTATION

  1. The Guiding Principles were reviewed by the Dyke March Committee and the Board of Pride Toronto.
  2. The Guiding Principles, although a living document, are now finalized for this year and are available on the Pride Toronto Website
  3. Based on the Guiding Principles, the Dyke March Committee along with the Board of Pride Toronto created two new policies in relation to the section process for Honoured Dyke & Honoured Group and Accredited Photographers on the March

UPCOMING

  • The Dyke March Committee will continue to use the Guiding Principles to guide their processes and decisions.
  • The consultation team at Creating Realities will provide a summary report to Pride Toronto. Pride Toronto will review the summary report and explore implementing the recommendations provided.

Dyke March Guiding Principles

The Dyke March Guiding Principles are based on the comments and feedback received at the November 25, 2006 and February 25th 2006, community consultation meetings.

The Dyke March (DM) Guiding Principles (GPs) are a living document. The DM GPs are not rules in the authoritarian sense, but rather are intended to act as a reference point from which the DM Committee will work to fulfill the Mission, Vision, and Values of the Dyke March and Pride Toronto.

To give structure and direction to the GPs, the DM Committee Mission, Vision, and Values statement was used as a point of reference around which GPs are organized. The DM Mission Statement identifies the DM as a "participatory, political, visible, safe, and community-driven event". GPs have therefore been grouped under these 5 headings, as well as a 6th heading of "evolving". It is recognized that many points fall within more than one of these categories, and in these instances the GP will reflect this despite its categorization.

PARTICIPATORY

  • The DM is an inclusive event that recognizes the diversity and complexity of identity, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, culture, and age within women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S[1] communities
  • The DM welcomes and includes all members of the women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities who feel, in the spirit of a Dyke March event, that they would like to participate.
  • The decision to participate in the DM rests with the individual participant, and is to be accepted and respected by DM organizers, marshals, and participants.
  • DM organizers will seek to create a positive environment for all DM participants. Discrimination or harassment will not be tolerated.
  • The DM recognizes that the reasons for participant involvement in the DM are as numerous and diverse as DM participants. The DM welcomes all forms of expression from participants [2] - political activism through celebration.
  • The DM places a priority on remaining a barrier-free event. This includes both physical barriers along the DM route and physical, social, and economic barriers to entry and/or participation.

 

 

[1] Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, Questioning, 2 Spirited.

[1] No form of expression, however, may condone violence, hatred, degradation, negative stereotypes, harassment or discrimination of any kind.


POLITICAL

  • The DM is to remain a March in spirit and organization.
  • The DM is a continually evolving event in both execution and ideology. The DM strives to remain current and relevant to the women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities.
  • The DM will continue to serve as a platform for political statement and activism. Participants are encouraged to use the DM for these purposes as they see fit.
  • The DM Committee recognizes the power of the DM as a space for sexuality, gender expression, solidarity, defiance, subversion, representation, rebellion, education, celebration, resistance, and many other purposes. The DM Committee encourages participants to claim and fill the space of the DM with the expression(s) and intention(s) they find most relevant. It is only through continued diversity of expression that the DM will retain its relevance to participants and the broader community.


VISIBLE

  • The DM places importance in creating and supporting visibility of the women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities in all their diversity.
  • The DM emphasis on visibility is for the purposes of awareness, education, expression, activism, and celebration of the women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities. This visibility is relevant to observers along the DM route, in Toronto, across Canada, and throughout the world.
  • The DM strives to balance the objectives of DM visibility with that of remaining an intimate experience for participants.


SAFE

  • Ensuring the physical safety of DM participants is an utmost priority of the DM Committee.
  • To the greatest extent possible, the DM Committee is committed to providing participants with a safe physical space while avoiding a significant police presence or physical barricades.
  • The DM Committee is open, and will provide support as appropriate, to initiatives that address and/or mitigate the issue of negative voyeurism along the DM route.


COMMUNITY DRIVEN

  • The DM strives to remain a community driven, grassroots event.
  • The DM Committee recognizes and supports the role of the DM as a community space that promotes the values of diversity, inclusion, and empowerment.mTo this end, the DM Committee strives to provide a welcoming, friendly, and enjoyable atmosphere for all DM participants.
  • The DM Committee seeks to strengthen the women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities by hosting DM community events throughout the year. These events will also act as recruitment for DM marshals and organizing committee members, as well as make the DM Committee readily accessible to the DM community for dialogue on event ideas and feedback. The DM Committee is also committed to actively engaging with women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities.
  • The DM strives to remain a predominantly corporate-free space. Groups are not to participate in the DM with the primary intent of promoting a corporate interest. Women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S employee groups affiliated with corporate entities are welcome to represent their group in the DM. In these instances, corporate identifiers (if present) are to be secondary to the community and/or employee affiliation in all sign age, as per the guidelines in the Opportunity Guide.
  • Local independent businesses whose primary affiliation is with the women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities are welcome to participate in the DM. In these instances, corporate identifiers and/or business related sign age is to be secondary to a community-relevant message, as per the guidelines in the Opportunity Guide.
  • The DM Committee recognizes the need to explore enhanced opportunities for the participation and involvement of DM friends and allies. The DM will actively seek to identify and pursue these opportunities in accordance with the DM and Pride Toronto Mission, Vision, and Values statements, as well as these Guiding Principles.


EVOLVING

  • The DM Committee will continue to keep and honour the history of the DM, and will maintain the DM spirit through future evolutions and iterations of the DM.
  • The DM Committee is committed to maintaining the history of the DM as a grass roots event, and will include this perspective in striving to balance the growth of the DM.
  • The DM Committee and Pride Toronto may, as the women's and trans'LGBTTIQQ2S communities express the interest and need, examine the term dyke as it is applied in Dyke March and its relationship to LGBTTIQQ2S community involvement in the DM.
  • The DM Committee endeavors to be accessible, accountable, and transparent to the women's and trans' LGBTTIQQ2S communities in its undertakings.