The largest crowd this event has ever seen circled in the EMU amphitheater as the dazzling drag queens, Rhoda Gravel and Lady Bluemingdale, took to the microphones to begin the event’s 30th anniversary at the University of Oregon. As two drag queens from the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Emerald Empire, the largest gay and lesbian organization in Lane County, they shed light on the variety of people that suffer from sexual abuse.
Diversity seemed to be a recurrent theme, one that Gravel and Bluemingdale thought resonated throughout the night. In many of the acts that were presented couples of different race, gender, and sexuality raised their voices “to help stop sexual violence and abuse.” Before anyone took the stage, various organizations set up booths with information and free giveaways. Participants walked about with free condoms, popcorn, and popsicles while enjoying the sunshine. In spirit, the Radical Cheerleaders chanted and danced to original works like “No means no/It don’t mean maybe/Don’t touch me/My name ain’t baby” and Lesley Gore’s, “You Don’t Own Me.”
More surprising than the free food and bright performances were the amount of people that attended to support this usually neglected issue. Senior, Rebecca Sprinson, the sexual violence and prevention coordinator for the ASUO Women’s Center, was amazed by the amount that showed up. Sprinson praised the recent endorsement from the University’s Fraternities and Sororities that came out to the event.
“[This event] revitalizes people who take part in sexual abuse advocacy and advising programs like SWAT, [the] Sexual Wellness Advocacy Team and SASS, Sexual Assault Support Services, and is a great opportunity to remember why we come out and do this. Why it is so important,” Spirnson said of the event’s expected effect. Sprinson also appreciated the increased level of conversation that Take Back the Night always sparks, whether it be between those who have been through this or are speaking out for the first time.
As the march commenced and the crowd had dwindled to a few dedicated hundred, the drums began to beat and the masses took to the streets. Shoulder to shoulder, they marched to East 8th Avenue and Oak Street into downtown Eugene, chanting and screaming to anyone that was close enough to hear. The crowd rallied to downtown where the speakout took place.
As the public speak-out began the audience grew quiet and as each brave survivor took to the stage the hearts of the crowd opened wide. The night was all about support and community. Many of the speakers acknowledged the family and support they were now apart of since their abuse. As Margo Schaefer, a community activist, had said earlier in the evening, “The most powerful force in the world is love.”
Before the crowd marched to downtown, Warren Light, the Director of the Wesley Foundation, stepped up before the audience and shared his remarks on the cause and even his own experience with sexual abuse. As a fidgety crowd grew restless, Light paused before he implored the audience to “Walk, and be heard. Change the world around you and be heard. Take Back the Day! Take Back the Night!”
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