Dyke Night helps the Dyke March

Last month Toast Lounge in Somerville transformed its club space into a fulltime restaurant, leaving Kristen Porter's weekly Dyke Night event homeless. Porter, however, has no plans to retire Dyke Night. Next month she'll host a one-off Dyke Night event to benefit another cherished lesbian institution: the Boston Dyke March. Dyke Night will host the official Dyke March after-party on June 13 at the Holiday Inn in Somerville.

Porter said the after-party would double as a fundraiser for the Dyke March. Over the years Dyke Night set aside 25 percent of proceeds from the door of its events to benefit local non-profits, and it had been one of the Dyke March's major funding sources. Porter no longer has a weekly venue to raise funds for the Dyke March, but she hopes the proceeds from the after-party will help defray costs of the march.

"Since I don't have a regular venue anymore that is a bit more challenging, so we are looking for some more community support in general in hopes that it will provide the funds needed to put on the event for the march itself," said Porter.

She said she felt it was particularly important to support one of the few Pride events that has no corporate sponsorship and that rejects the commercialization of most other Pride events.

Many of the details of the after-party have not been finalized, but Porter said more info will be posted on the Dyke Night website, www.dykenight.com, closer to the date of the event.