Thousands gathered in Dolores Park on Saturday afternoon, despite the abrupt cancellation of the official Dyke March earlier this week. That, too, went on.
Koja Ray, who is on the new five-person planning committee formed after the Dyke March organizing team disbanded earlier this year, said this afternoon that a march was likely.
“People will walk, because people have always walked,” she said, noting that the march had been unofficial for several years. The disarray appeared to be greater this year, and KQED reported that the original organizing group disbanded over issues of “racism and trans inclusion, the deaths of several leaders, and burnout.”
Nevertheless, a few hours later, the march went on. Those lounging and dancing at Dolores Park then headed through the Mission, shouting “We love dykes.” Some tossed beads out the windows of their homes; some cheered from the sidelines as the crowd passed by.
Led by women on motorcycles and a few police officers, the crowd grew larger and louder as a jazz band joined in.
If the march wasn’t as big as in years past, the crowd at Dolores Park came closer. There was still the zoned-off hillside facing Dolores Street, where Ray gathered with friends. Marked by yellow caution tape reading “Dykes Only,” longtime marchers originally created the zone in 2016 in response to “increasing homogenization.”
“There was such an influx of all kinds of people, and it started to feel like it wasn’t about dykes anymore,” said Tijanna O. Eaton, an organizer of the Dykes Only Space. Nonetheless, the event continued to be an everyone-is-welcome party on the day before the major San Francisco Pride parade.
Ray said her new group is already working on Dyke March 2025, when the official march will likely resume. The organizers are also committed to bringing back the rally which, in earlier years, included live performances and many more vendors.
“It’s hopeful, but there’s no guarantee,” she added.
Chelsea, who hosts monthly LGBTQ trivia nights in Berkeley, said spaces like the Dyke March are invaluable.
“This is pure community,” they said, watching as a crowd formed around people leaping in and out of double-dutch ropes. “And without spaces that bring community, we have no place to talk about the most important issues that face us.”
It’s also a big party.
At 16, Rose Eskew, now 23, left Texas for good with a one-way Greyhound bus ticket to Oakland. As a trans woman, Eskew said the safety she experiences at Pride events keeps her coming back.
“I’ve found so much connection and been able to find like-minded people,” she said. “People who are trying to make a better world.”
Kayla said she’s always very aware of her privilege as a queer person in San Francisco, or the “gay capital of the world.”
“So many people aren’t able to celebrate this outwardly,” she said. “It’s important for us to be out here and represent those who aren’t able to be in spaces like this.”
Basking in the sun, behind tents with DJs and dancing young people, Kim and Isabella Gilford drank beer on their picnic blanket. Kim remembered the first time she went to the Dyke March at Dolores 20 years ago. For Isabella, it was her first time attending.
“As I lay here today, I have the same feeling I had then,” Kim said. “Everyone’s happy. Everyone’s smiling.”
Nodding, Isabella beamed and looked around. “I love the vibe. I love the freedom,” she said.
The cancellation of the official Dyke March did not worry Kim at all.
“That’s how it all got started; there was no official plan,” Kim said. “People just felt it.”
Thank you for covering the pure dyke march joy!!! It will change as the world does but that can’t stop us from marching forward!!