The Dyke March needs help to return full-throttle

It’s Lesbian Visibility Week, and you can help the Dyke March get back on its feet here.

Sure, sure, Pride Sunday at the end of June has retained some of its political significance through decades of corporatization and explosive growth (though that may be rapidly changing in these ultraconservative times). And I love that the Trans March on Pride Weekend Friday has grown in popularity and community spirit, providing an essential space for all genders to speak out and support our trans family, especially in this terrible time.

For many of us, Pride Weekend Pink Saturday’s Dyke March has carried on the radical essence of Pride as well, since 1993 unleashing queer womens’ power in an inspiring, raucous outpouring of joy and anger. Here was where homegrown queerness felt truly embraced, its radical slogans unfurled, its nipples on full display. From the Women’s Motorcycle Contingent to the packed rally in Dolores Park, with speakers, musicians, and performers (and the best cruising all weekend), the Dyke March felt like the true legacy of Stonewall revived.

The past decade has seen some confusion for the Dyke March though, with a temporary new route for the march frustrating participants (to the point of an anarchic and wonderful breach in 2015), changes in leadership, the pandemic and a disorganized-feeling restoration: no real rally, a tepid march, a paucity of Freaky Dyke Energy.

Now, a volunteer group of community leaders is aiming to rev the Dyke March back up to its full power, and to “preserve dyke space in the park on Pink Saturday as a form of social protest.” One of those leaders, M Rocket, told me, “We just want to get the Dyke March back to where it was, as this huge, well-organized community event that filled the park and the streets, and amplified the voices that need to be amplified right now.”

But of course in the intervening years since there was a thriving rally and march, the price of these things has skyrocketed, from EMS staff and sound systems to park and street permits. Thus, an important community fundraiser has been launched, with the goal of raising $100,000. (Sponsorships are available “for like-minded individuals as well, and you can even throw your own fundraising party!) Here’s what the money is for, according to organizers:

• A stage and sound system with entertainment in Dolores Park
• ADA-accessibility like interpreters and trolleys 
• Porta potties, park clean up, trash pick up (yeah, we pay for all that)
• EMS/Ambulance service (these professionals keep us safe!)
• City permits, signage, walkie talkies rentals…  
• and much more

The SF Dyke March stands for:

• Dyke Visibility
• Inclusivity of all dykes, however they identify
• Building community and coalitions: there is room for everyone
• No politicians allowed to speak at the rally
• Being anti-war and pro-peace

There will also be a “Super Big Gay Dance Party” fundraising event at El Rio on May 10, bringing together some of SF’s most legendary women’s party crews. More info on that here.

Look, we’ve already lost Pink Saturday celebration in The Castro, and even the future of the sprawling Pride celebration itself seems in doubt (although many of us look to a future not shaped by corporate largesse and political expedience). Let’s not lose the Dyke March, too!