The NYC Dyke March 2022
Photo: nycdykemarch.com
In 1993, the Lesbian Avengers, a direct action group focused on lesbian visibility and survival, organized its first-ever Dyke March in Washington DC, hours before the LGBT Rights and Liberation parade. That year, the New York Avengers organized the logistics of the march, arranged for marshals, and created a manifesto addressing the necessity of a grass-root lesbian organization, especially given the anti-gay bills being pushed at the time by the right-wing. After hearing about their manifesto, women in LA made a large banner, and dykes in Philadelphia made a huge vagina statue that was carried around like a puppet through the streets of Washington D.C. Over 20,000 women participated in the first march.
Due to the success of the protest in Washington DC, the New York Avengers decided to organize a march in New York City, in June of 1993, and shortly after that, San Francisco and Atlanta also held their first Dyke marches at the time. Since then, the Dyke March became one of the most important events for the LGBTQ+ community, protesting the discrimination, harassment, and violence Dykes face in our society. “The march is specifically for Dykes, and open to all who identify as Dykes, including, but not limited to, trans Dykes, nonbinary Dykes, bisexual Dykes, and lesbian Dykes. This is true both in the present Dyke March, and at the march’s origin,” says Claire Callahan, who is part of the current NYC Dyke March organization.
The main purpose of a Dyke March is to show and encourage activism within the lesbian community, and a demonstration of the First Amendment right to protest, recognizing that we must organize among ourselves to fight for our rights, safety, and visibility. In New York City, the Dyke March is also an alternative to the official NYC Pride March, for those who don't feel included in the conversation.
“The Dyke March has always existed in a world where Pride celebrations specifically focus on cis gay men, especially white cis gay men. The Dyke March has always been a place where folks who feel marginalized in mainstream Pride celebrations can both rejoice in their queerness and protest their oppression. For many Dykes who march with us each year, the Dyke March is the Pride event where they feel most welcome and most celebrated,” Callahan explains.
When the first NYC Dyke March happened, the LGBTQ+ community was being targeted by anti-gay bills all over the country - including bills against LGBTQ-themed books at school libraries. Three decades later, the story is repeating itself. For Callahan, this is another reminder of the importance to keep fighting for our rights. “The fight doesn’t end with superficial recognition of a basic right to exist but material changes on a sociopolitical level. The story seems like it’s repeating itself because we had a brief blip in a history of oppression that allowed some measure of security for a narrow subset of our community. We don’t want to diminish that progress, as the cultural and material environment that present-day marches exist in is different and by and large safer, but the bar isn’t basic cultural recognition of our existence, it’s total liberation. When that’s taken for granted, and the fight stops, both past and present events show us that we forsake the most oppressed members of our community and risk having what we’ve won taken away.”
In 2022, the NYC Dyke March’s theme is D4T: Dykes for Trans Liberation, focusing on T4T (trans for trans) relationships and love in a year when the trans community is being heavily targeted by right-wing groups and members of congress all over the United States. According to Callahan, this was a way to “focus on joy, rather than minimize trans experience to suffering", an expression of love "that Dykes - many of whom are themselves trans - have for trans people - many, but not all, of whom are themselves Dykes.”
The support to the trans community comes in a time of extreme necessity, proving once again the importance of the Dyke March as a visibility movement for any marginalized group within queer spaces. “There are, of course, a number of abhorrent laws being proposed and enacted throughout the nation, but this isn’t an invitation to feel superior to less-safe states, but to reflect on the ways in which marginalization can happen even within more progressive spaces. That’s the issue we’re primarily centering with this year’s march, though obviously a number of issues that feel especially relevant this year also directly impact and threaten Dykes. We expect to have many marchers directly calling attention to those, as well”, Callahan explains. The organization is also fundraising for G.L.I.T.S., an organization giving material support with crisis support, healthcare, and housing directly to trans people.
How to join the NYC Dyke March?
The Dykes will step off at Bryant Park on Saturday, June 25th at 5 pm, and make their way to Washington Square Park. If you want to volunteer, information is available on their website, http://nycdykemarch.com.
You're also invited to join the organization during the year, according to Callahan - “We love having an abundance of marshals working to keep the march safe, and, in the off-season, they can join our planning committee to help coordinate the march, surrounding events, and other outreach!”
The NYC Dyke March Tradition
The first NYC Dyke March route began at Bryant Park and ended in Union Square Park where a rally was being held by Heritage Pride. The Second Annual New York City Dyke March was held in June of 1994 and led to the solidification and continuation of the yearly NYC Dyke March. But this time around, it was the 25th anniversary of Stonewall, as well as The International Lesbian and Gay Association Conference and the Gay Games being held in the city. Hundreds and thousands of lesbians and gays were in New York City. This made the second march have just as large of an attendance as the first, and became known as the International Dyke March, with over 20,000 Dykes in attendance.
In addition to the manifesto, the Avengers also created a “float” at the D.C. March, and in most Dyke marches today, we still see similar beds on wheels full of kissing dykes, as well as the famous banner that demarcates the front of the march every year, which was originally improvised at Bryant Park with markers and oak tags. Speaking of traditions from the first marches, at the International March in 1994, there were so many Dykes in Bryant Park, that the Avengers didn’t know how to communicate to them that it was time to line up behind the banner on 42nd street, and they all followed a group of drummers that began marching towards the banner out of the park. To this day, twenty years later, we still depend on the drummers to lead the Dykes out of Bryant Park to begin the March.
The event is marshaled by several groups of volunteers who are trained to lock arms and block off the streets. According to one marshal, Savannah Magruder, the N.Y.P.D. is aware of the march and its history in the city. They help direct traffic as the marshals block off the streets and move the march forward.
Watch the NYC Dyke March 30th Anniversary Panel
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