Celebrate! Samois and The Gay Day Parade

Having formed the same month as the 1978 Gay Day parade,1 it was a full year before Samois was able to march together in the 1979 Gay Day Parade, which occurred under the spectre of the White Night riots.

After helping to quash an attempt to regulate parade dress and ban leather, Samois not only marched in the parade, but also sponsored an information booth, where they sold their newly minted booklet, What Color is Your Handkerchief.2

In 1980, the group marched again, this time with a contigent of 21, including one child. However, that year, they did not sponsor a booth as part of The Women’s Outreach Committee’s boycott which had been organized to highlight the economic challenges of the parade.3

Again in 1981, the group marched but did not sponsor an information booth,4 and there is no historical record as to whether or not the group was still in existence by and if so if they participated in the 1982 parade.

Key-words:

Samois, lesbian, Gay Day Parade, SM, sado-masochism, What Color is Your Handkerchief, Women’s Outreach Committee