Stacey Gomez, a graduate of Next Up Ottawa's fourth cycle, is working as the Action Coordinator at the Centre for Gender Advocacy at Concordia University in Montreal. Check out this article and video to hear her eloquently explain why she participated in organizing a new march to oppose sexual violence.

“We wanted to offer an alternative to Take Back the Night,” said Stacey Gomez, a march organizer.

“We don’t just want the night, we want the whole day to feel safe.”

 ***

The Night Is Not Enough: Calling for an end to sexual violence

About 50 marchers took to downtown streets on Tuesday night under the banner of “The Night Is Not Enough.”

(Source: John Meagher, Montreal Gazette, published September 7, 2016)

The march to oppose sexual violence was organized by the Centre for Gender Advocacy from Concordia University, and was presented as a departure from previous Take Back the Night marches.

“We wanted to offer an alternative to Take Back the Night,” said Stacey Gomez, a march organizer.

“We don’t just want the night, we want the whole day to feel safe.”

Gomez said Tuesday night’s march was meant to be more inclusive.

“The feedback we’ve got from people we have relationships with is that Take Back the Night has a legacy of excluding trans people, sex workers and other communities, including people of colour,” Gomez said.

“I believe that the women’s movement has been excluding different communities for different reasons,” she said. “Often it’s been focused on the needs of white women who are middle class and for that reason it has had limited reach and perspective.

“I believe discrimination is why these communities were not previously included. Their voices were not included.”

Read the full article and watch the interview with Stacey here.