The San Francisco Dyke March is working around the renovation at Dolores Park this year by returning to its roots with a shorter rally taking place before the march.
Dolores Park is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation that broke ground in March. The park is scheduled to reopen next summer. The closure of a portion of the park has affected some groups.
In the meantime, plans have changed for this year’s Dyke March, which starts at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 28 with a rally at the corner of 18th and Dolores streets. Previously, the pre-march party has been held hours earlier inside the park.
The 22nd annual Dyke March, which is themed, “My Body, My Business, My Power,” will kick off with the women’s motorcycle contingent at 6 p.m. The march will go through the Mission, down 18th to Valencia, up 16th Street, and down Market to Castro Street, where it will merge into the Pink Saturday party.
Members of the Dyke March committee decided that it was time to take the opportunity to bring the rally back to its political roots. They want to remind people that the movement for lesbian rights is just as relevant today as it was 22 years ago when dykes first took to San Francisco’s streets.
“I feel that it’s more important to go back to that and show people that we are not just here to throw a party in the park,” says Meredith Crawford, 48, who is a committee member of the San Francisco Dyke March. “There is a message that we have, although it changes from year to year.”
Elizabeth Lanyon, 29, another committee member of the San Francisco Dyke March, agrees.
“There is a political aspect to the march – we are a part of the LGBT community,” says Elizabeth.
The Dyke March welcomes volunteers. For more information, visit www.thedykemarch.org.
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Originally published by the Bay Area Reporter.
