Persistent Radical Resistance: A Political Analysis of the Dyke March

The Dyke, as a queer political identity, embodies a radical feminist Marxist resistance to the neoliberal nation-state. Challenging the liberal assimilation, white cisgender patriarchy, and corporatization of Gay Pride parades, the Dyke March has served as a site for visible resistance that centers dykes, lesbians, and queers. The Dyke March is one of the broadest reaching, longest lasting protest marches in the United States. The first ever Dyke March took place in Washington D.C. on April 24, 1993, the night before the National March for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. Every year since, Dyke Marches have been organized in cities and towns across the United States and around the world, most often during their Gay Pride weekend. Despite its importance and necessity, we know little of the origin and global expansion of the Dyke March. In democracies, protest marches are a critical way for minority viewpoints to gain recognition, to shape the political agenda, and to build community space (Gillion 2013). Both within and outside of the broader LGBTQ political movement, the Dyke March began as a site for radical democratic politics and intersectional mobilization. Dyke Marches depend on the voluntary civic engagement of participants to continue and oppose institutional hierarchy, state affiliation, and market support. Drawing on over 20 face-to-face interviews with Dyke March organizers in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles as well as numerous secondary documents, I analyze the origins of the first Dyke March in the US and discuss what factors facilitate its continued global success. I suggest that Dyke Marches persist as successful protest marches because they: 1) are embodied in specific places (urban community sites with targeted protest march routes); 2) draw on a chorus of diverse voices for definition (inclusive coalition of leadership); and 3) enact radical democratic governing principles. Beyond their value in sustaining the diversity of the LGBTQ movement, the longevity and breadth of Dyke Marches illustrates the powerful democratic impact of any political action governed by inclusion, equality, and citizen participation.