This article is routinely updated with the latest developments. Be sure to check back soon to see if your actions are featured!
Women around the world are taking to the streets to protest Lesbophobia. Incredible activism has been documented at Pride and Women’s marches globally. Lesbians and allies revolt for a myriad of reasons: to protest the sterilization of dysphoric children and to represent Lesbians in the face of our erasure, just to name a few. Radical women are joining forces, marching to the beat of a feminist drum all the way from Auckland to L.A.
In late June, three Lesbians took to the streets of Baltimore. We posted about their actions on our Facebook page, but misogynists swarmed, and Facebook deemed this content “offensive.” We unpublished our page and deleted that post, but it is impossible for us to scrub all of the “offending” content, since we are radical feminists. For an update on our Facebook page, click here.
The following WLRN post was found to be “offensive” by misogynists:
Yesterday at Baltimore Pride, three brave dykes marched behind Mayor Pugh for the parade’s entire duration. They were cordially invited to march with Mayor Pugh to represent Baltimore City’s LGBTQ Commission. One of them wore a shirt that read, “If you call any woman a terf you are a misogynist.” Each woman carried a double-sided, pro-Woman and pro-Lesbian sign. Their six slogans were:
Dykes Don’t Like Dick! / Women Are Oppressed Because of Biology Not Identity / Violence Against Lesbians is an Epidemic / Woman is Not a Feeling / Lesbian Not “Queer” / Change Our Society Not Your Body
Many people shouted obscenities at these women. Some chanted, “Terfs aren’t welcome at Pride!” One man even jumped the barricades to verbally harass these radical lesbian feminists.
Fortunately, several groups cheered with glee for Women and Lesbians, saying “Facts!” and “Raise that sign high!” Countless women wanted to take photos with these marchin’ dykes. Please join the chorus of support on Twitter with #BaltimorePride and let @MayorPugh50 know that Lesbian voices are actively silenced by members of their own so-called “community.” If you do not have a Twitter account, feel free to fill out this form and let Pride organizers know that “terf” is a slur, that Lesbians ARE NOT represented by the “LGBTQ” acronym and DO NOT feel safe at Pride-related events: http://baltimorepride.org/contact/
These radical lesbians took direct action just days after the Baltimore Transgender Alliance encouraged violence against women by stating “terfs will be hung (sic) by their necks” in the description of a public Pride event page.
People gather at Baltimore Pride. Two signs that read, “Women are oppressed because of biology not identity” and “Violence against Lesbians is an epidemic” stand out in the crowd. 
Members of the crowd watch three Lesbians march on the street carrying signs that read, “Woman is not a feeling,” “Change our society not your body,” and “Women are oppressed because of biology not identity.” One woman snaps a photo of the marchers. 
Three Lesbians march on the street holding signs that read, “Violence against lesbians is an epidemic,” “Lesbian Not Queer,” and “Women are oppressed because of biology not identity.”
These Baltimore Dykes are not alone; they were not the first women to crash a Pride parade, and they surely won’t be the last!
In February, two fearless feminist activists, Charlie Montague and Renée Gerlich, dropped a banner that read, “STOP GIVING KIDS SEX HORMONES – PROTECT LESBIAN YOUTH” at Auckland Pride. Montague and Gerlich marched down the middle of the road and told an unsuspecting rainbow-clad reporter, “The Lesbian and gay community are the ones being most affected. We don’t think we should be medicalizing and giving surgery to children just because they’re non-conforming.” For more information on their action in New Zealand, please read Gerlich’s press release.
Boots hit the streets each and every month this year. Radical dykes and allies stomped through various Pride parades in Chicago, Melbourne, Belfast, Los Angeles, Brighton, Seattle, and New York. Women linked arms, sang songs, and carried banners and signs that challenged the patriarchal status quo, as seen below:
Women wearing black shirts with “DYKE” in white letters march through NYC streets hand-in-hand. 
A sign from Chicago reads, “Dear daughter, You can have short hair, no make up, hairy legs, wear “boy” clothes, and still be a woman. Love, Mom.” 
Dykes in New York City hold a lavender banner that reads, “LESBAINS! Still here, Still fighting” flanked by a giant labrys and two interlocked female symbols. 
One brave feminist in Queensland holds a sign that reads, “Don’t Believe the Hype, Transactivism Is Misogyny.” Behind her men carry signs that read, “Trans Women are Women.” 
LA Lesbian activist Gaye Chapman stands by her sign that shows several slogans: “LESBIAN – FEMALE – HOMOSEXUAL”; “Don’t believe the hype, transactivism is misogyny”; “Same bio-sex oriented”; “LESBIAN PRIDE 2018”. A giant labrys with “XX” on either blade is front and center. 
A fearless dyke marches at Seattle Pride with a sign that reads, “It’s STILL OK to be a Lesbian.” 
One woman carries a sign in Belfast that reads, “Some people are Lesbians and Lesbians don’t do dick. Get over it! Lesbian Not Queer. Sexuality isn’t based on gender identity. You guys just hate Lesbians.
For more information about Gaye Chapman and her radical flag, check out this interview with Julie Moss from Feminist Current.
Unfortunately, radical Lesbians at San Francisco’s Pride were not as well received as Ms. Chapman, or the Baltimore Dykes for that matter. A small group of women were met with verbal and physical violence for the crime of representing Lesbian interests. This cohort of radical feminists was “bullied and harassed from the very beginning” of the march by a mob that grew to nearly fifty people. One woman’s double-sided sign, which read “Biology Is Not Bigotry” and “You Can’t Silence Us With Violence – Resist Lesbian Erasure,” was ripped to shreds by inconsolable transgender activists. Once free from this anti-female intimidation, another woman stated, “We stared into a mob of anger and did not back down… We were fierce and powerful.“
Dykes march together, bellowing behind a black banner that reads, “San Francisco” in white and “DYKE MARCH” in red. 
An Amazon’s sign reads, “Lesbians Owe You NOTHING!” 
One Amazon holds her torn sign high. It reads, “You Can’t Silence Us With Violence – Resist Lesbian Erasure.” 
One Amazon’s sign reads, “Dangers of puberty blockers: high blood pressure, breast cancer, infertility, thrombisis, liver disease, dysfiguring acne, abnormal glucose tolerance, weight gain, cardiovascular disease. Transitioning children IS child abuse! ~80-95% of gender dysphoric kids come to identify with their biological sex, oftentimes finding happiness as lesbian and gay individuals.” On the back it reads, “Change Our Society Not Your Body.” 
Two Amazons march in San Francisco with a sign that shows raised fists under two rainbow flags. The sign reads, “LESBIAN AND PROUD!” and “LESBIAN VISIBILITY”
Three days later, the National Center for Lesbian Rights erased Lesbians from homosexual history in an ill-informed Facebook diatribe. The NCLR claims a man started Pride, but in reality, a Black butch dyke named Stormé DeLarverie initiated the first protest. The NCLR publicly thanked organizers of the San Francisco Dyke March for condemning Lesbians who represent Lesbian interests at events established by and for… you guessed it: Lesbians. Ironically, both organizations failed to mention any of the well-documented violence, intimidation, and harassment enacted by trans-activists against Lesbians in San Francisco. According to the NCLR’s narrative, these women “violently harassed and threatened other marchers” and “chanted transphobic slogans” at SF Pride:
“It has come to the attention of The Dyke March that there were women with anti trans signs, speaking words of hate and using violence. In the strongest terms we want to confirm the identity of transwomen as women and our commitment to ALL Dyke’s; including transdyke, MTF, transfeminine, transmasculine, genderqueer, and gender fluid dykes. We, under no circumstances, support this display of transmisogyny and are saddened by those actions. We appreciate the solidarity and visibility shared. We are reenergized for the fight and can’t wait to see ALL our Dykes again next year. In love and solidarity, The San Francisco Dyke March” 
Image reads: “The first pride was a protest led by transwomen of color. Transphobia has no place in the Queer community. Period.” Post reads: “We recently learned that at Saturday’s San Francisco Dyke March, a small group of approximately 12 people chanted transphobic slogans and violently harassed and threatened other marchers. The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) strongly condemns this anti-trans hate and violence. NCLR has worked to advance equality for our full #LGBTQ community for more than 40 years and will continue to fight transphobia in all its forms. NCLR thanks SF Dyke March organizers for speaking out against transphobia and standing against this violence. #Pride #SFPride #sfdykemarch”
Women’s Liberation Front, a non-partisan organization dedicated to the liberation of women and girls in all aspects of life, published a statement rebuking this heinous lesbophobia. WoLF encourages the NCLR “to retract its slanderous and factually-unsupported allegations” as well as “to remember its stated purpose, of protecting and fighting for lesbian rights and lesbian liberation.”
In response to worldwide lesbophobia, London feminists took control of London Pride on July 7. Women from Get The L Out, an organization formed in opposition to Lesbian erasure, stood at the front of the parade holding banners that read “Lesbian Not Queer”, “Lesbian = Female Homosexual”, and “Transactivism Erases Lesbians” among other slogans. When parade organizers tried to make them leave, these radical women lay down in the street and blocked the entire parade. Finally, organizers gave up trying to silence them, so they stood and marched as leaders of London Pride.
Activists lay their bodies down, blocking London Pride from beginning, in protest of Lesbian erasure. 
Activists lead London Pride carrying banners that read “Lesbian = Female Homosexual” and “Transactivism Erases Lesbians.” 
A group of womyn activists stand together with their banners in the streets of London. A woman at the front smiles and poses with to “peace” hand signals.
These feminist activists distributed leaflets to the crowd detailing how “new ‘queer’ LGBT politics… coerces lesbians to accept the penis as a female organ.” For more information on this incredible action, please visit GenderTrender’s awesomely detailed post, or watch the interview Get The L Out had with Skynews:
The following month, Lesbians in Brighton, England protested the erasure of Lesbian Herstory at Brighton’s Pride March. They carried an enormous purple banner to honor Stormé DeLarverie, the Butch Lesbian whose brawl with New York cops instigated the Pride we know today. According to this first-hand account by Janice Williams, their purple banner held the only instance of the word “Lesbian” in the entire Pride parade.
On the very same weekend, nearly thirty radical feminists wearing capes and uterus t-shirts attended the Vancouver Dyke March. Their group, The Lesbians Collective, was harassed by Morgane Oger as they prepared for the march. Mr. Oger, the first transgender-identified male to hold public office in Canada, is the same man who threatened litigation against a woman earlier this year. Her crime? Telling everyone real facts at the Vancouver Women’s March:
Organizers of Vancouver’s Dyke March attempted to ban the double Venus symbol, an everlasting representation of Lesbianism, so that’s exactly what The Lesbians Collective carried. The women held bright neon signs with photos of their Lesbian Sheroes, like Max Dashu and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Volunteers, parade marshals, and regular lesbophobes tried to intimidate these women into quiet submission, but their misogynist tactics ultimately failed. These powerful feminist messages cannot be silenced.
Nearly thirty women wearing bright pink and purple capes gather before the march for a group photo. Their giant banners read, “Trust in G.O.D. Grumpy Old Dykes, Sapphists, Lesbians” and “West Coast Womyn, radfem.ca” 
Women link arms and march with signs of Lesbian Sheroes: Gladys Bentley (blues singer born in Philadelphia on August 12, 1907, openly Lesbian, married another Female singer), Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz (Lesbiana Mexicana), Ellen Page, Max Dashu, Mary Daly (Radical Lesbian Feminist), Daughters of Bilitis (Phyllis Lyon, Del Martin, Lesbian Heroines), Ferron, and Audre Lorde (Lesbian Hero). 
Women in the crowd hold signs that read, “Support Lesbians NOT Lesbian Erasure”, “I love my Lesbian daughter”, “A lesbian is the rage of all women condensed to the point of explosion”, and, “Hannah Gadsby: ‘I don’t identify as transgender. I identify as tired.’ LESBIAN HERO” 
The Grumpy Old Dykes, Sapphists, and Lesbians lead the march holding their banners high and wearing white t-shirts with pink uterus shields that read “LESBIAN”. One reads sign in the background reads, “Lavender Menace, My Lesbian Heroes.” 
Women in the crowd march with their signs held high. One reads, “A day without lesbians is like a day without sunshine.” Another sign shows Mary Daly wielding a giant labrys.
For a closer look at this awesome action, visit Danielle Cormier’s first-hand account: Lesbians are being excluded from the Vancouver Dyke March in the name of ‘inclusivity’.
3 thoughts on “Dykes Take Pride”