Spring Break
Women take back the night
CJ Rogers
Issue date: 5/1/98 Section: Undefined Section
"Women unite, take back the night." This was the message chanted by rows of women marching down the streets of Fort Collins with signs and voices in support of the "Take Back the Night" celebration Thursday night.
"Women united will never be defeated" was another of the many messages sent during the march to Old Town.
Hundreds of women walked together from the Lory Student Center while Fort Collins police officers blocked all three lanes of traffic on the left side of College Avenue for about 15 minutes Thursday around 8:30 p.m.
"We have them all the time back East," one pedestrian, who witnessed the march, said.
Take Back the Night began with a short assembly and speeches by members of the Campus Women's Alliance at the LSC.
"Just hearing them and getting their voices out, I think the most important thing was letting women at rally know that they are not alone," explained Corinne Haas, CWA co-chair.
A few participants in the march also shared the microphone to speak to the crowd for a few minutes.
"We had people get up on the mic and speak about their feelings and it was like a unifying experience walking down the street and having people watch us getting our message out," Haas said.
"It was amazing how many people as we were walking down the street were looking out their windows wanting to see what was going on," she said.
One representative from Crossroads Services for Battered Women took time to speak about violence against women, despite Crossroads' decision not to participate in this years' event.
"Hopefully they'll come next year because they missed out," Haas said.
After the assembly supporters headed down Laurel Street conveying their message to the community. Only women were allowed in the march.
"I'm a victim of sexual assault, it's helpful to me that my husband came to support me like this and it's nice to be with so many women from old women to little girls who came in support," said one participant.
The Rocky Mountain Collegian does not print the names of sexual assault victims.
The marchers followed College Avenue to East Mountain Avenue ending their parade in Old Town Square where they were joined by all supporters, both men and women.
"(The rally and march) was exactly how we wanted it, everyone is empowered," Haas said.
Rebecca Folsom and The Goddess Blues Trio, a Boulder band, entertained the participants in Old Town.
"I'm here to protest violence against women and it's been a very empowering night for us all, even though we have had a lot of controversy this year," said Anna Weisheit, a member of CWA.
The controversy was over the emphasis placed on the guest speaker for the men's rally, former Denver Bronco Vance Johnson. Johnson was court-ordered into counseling for domestic abuse and had planned to speak, but early Thursday announced his decision not to attend the men's rally or Take Back the Night.
The decision did not influence the celebration, men's rally participation or Crossroads' decision not to participate.
