It's been quite a few years since we've seen a loud and proud throng of queer women rallying in Dolores Park and marching in the annual Dyke March, as the event was getting smaller and more disorganized before being officially cancelled last year. But it is back on for Saturday, June 28.
Dyke March has always had the air of a renegade protest march, in comparison to the increasingly corporate, downtown-dominating SF Pride Parade that happens on Pride Sunday. But putting the march together took serious organization, and the longtime leaders of the Dyke March either aged out or bowed out of the organizing over the last decade.
Infighting in the organization, as well as some lack of experienced leadership and a dearth of sponsors, led to the Dyke March getting canceled in 2024 — though a small, unsanctioned march happened anyway, marching from Dolores Park to the Castro, much as it did every year since the pandemic, despite the lack of organizing.
But the actual, organized Dyke March, at its peak, included thousands of marchers, trolley cars for the elderly and disabled, and a full, roaring contingent of Dykes on Bikes leading the way, just as they do at the Sunday parade.
That will all hopefully return this year, as the march organizers say the 33rd Dyke March will take place on Saturday, beginning with a rally in Dolores Park that starts at 11 am, and the march leaving from 18th and Dolores at 5 pm (ish). The march has had different routes in the past, sometimes circling through the Mission and disrupting traffic before heading to the Castro. But the Chronicle reports that it will take its "usual route" to the Castro and back to Dolores, which may mean marching up Dolores to 16th, or down 18th to Valencia, turning, and then heading up 16th to Market and over to Castro Street? Or just straight up 18th Street.
We only know that Dolores Street between 18th and 20th streets will be closed to traffic Saturday afternoon to accommodate the crowds, and we wouldn't recommend trying to drive around Castro or 18th Street that afternoon either.
The rally at the park will include performances by East Bay Dyke superstars Skip the Needle, jazz pianist Tammy Hall, as well as comedian Marga Gomez, and drag king Leigh Crow with her band Velveeta. The rally stage will also feature speeches by retired San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson, and Imani Rupert-Gordon, president of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights (formerly known as the National Center for Lesbian Rights).
As for who should join the march, organizers say, "All Dyke contingents and individuals, as well as all cis and trans women-identified people of any orientation, are welcome to join the Dyke March. Allies, please cheer your support from the sidelines."
Organizers are also still seeking volunteers and donations to cover $100,000 in expenses for the march — a fundraising goal which they said this week had reached 70%. You can register to volunteer here, and donate here.
The organizing also continues after the march this week, with Dyke March Town Hall events scheduled for August 20 and September 27. At the September town hall, there will be an election for new board members for the Dyke March organization.
As SFist recounted last year, the first dyke marches occurred in June 1993, simultaneously in New York, San Francisco, and Atlanta. The marches were spearheaded by the New York chapter of the Lesbian Avengers, a group that had just two months before organized a contingent to march in the massive 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.
A decade ago, participants in the Dyke March tried to reignite the rebellious nature of the march by forming a splinter group, in opposition to a sanctioned parade route and prescribed, two-hours-earlier-than-usual start-time in June 2015. The splinter march, vowing to "take back Dyke March," said it was acting "in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and in protest against the displacement of people and queer community institutions in San Francisco."
Previously: Dyke March Raising Funds to Come Back Strong