Dyke March

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A Dyke March is an all lesbian and/or bisexual gathering, much like a gay pride parade. The purpose of a Dyke March is to increase lesbian visibility and activism. Dyke Marches occur the Friday or Saturday before LGBT Pride Parades. Larger metropolitan areas have events both before and after the March.

The first Dyke March was held in New York City in 1992, on the Saturday before the annual Pride Parade. It was intended as a woman-only event, organized by the direct action group, the Lesbian Avengers.

The first national Dyke March was in Washington, D.C. in 1993. This event was also planned by the Lesbian Avengers. Close to 10,000 women marched at this event. The large turnout can be attributed to the fact that the Dyke March coincided with a larger march on Washington. There was a global feel to this Dyke March as lesbians from the United States and other countries marched.

The first San Francisco Dyke March was held few months later, in June 1993, and is still celebrated every year on the Saturday evening before the annual GLBT Parade.

In San Francisco, the LGBT Pride Parade is very corporate-sponsored, and the event seems more like the Rose Bowl Parade than a protest march. The Dyke March is more informal, with marchers creating their own signs and many women showing up to participate, rather than to just watch. The streets along the march route are lined with thousands of enthusiastic spectators.

The SF Dyke March begins in Dolores Park and ends in the Castro District, at the "Pink Party", which lasts all night. The San Francisco Dyke March is attended by over 50,000 people.

Since its inception, the SF Dyke March Committee (a small group of committed dykes volunteering their time without pay) has never applied for nor received a permit from the city, exercising the right to gather without the need for expensive permits or corporate sponsors.

New York City's Dyke March is another well-loved tradition. On the Saturday before Pride, lesbians gather in Bryant Park as they prepare to march down Fifth Avenue towards Washington Square Park.

The reason for the creation of the various Dyke Marches was to protest what many women saw as the control of Gay Pride events by white gay men at the expense of lesbians in general and women of color in particular. Many of the Lesbian Avengers were also concerned that New york's Gay Pride March was losing its political edge as it became more accepted by the city courted by corporate sponsorship. While the Dyke March in New York has always been nominally open to all women, there has been a movement to push for transgender women and bisexual women to be more accepted and visible in the March and within the queer women's community. Men have been asked to stand on the sidewalks during the New York Dyke March and cheer on the marchers, and a small number of primarily gay men often join the marchers after they reach Washington Square Park. As with the San Francisco March, the organizers do not seek out a permit, and put a high emphasis on the political. Even though there are many club nights and parties after the March, the event is not so much about entertainment as it is about promoting the visibility of lesbians within the larger LGBT community. Dyke Marches are now held in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, Canada as well as Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and other cities around the United States.