SF Dyke March Returns in Full Force for Pride Weekend With Inclusivity at Its Core

“There had been trouble in years past of trans exclusionists, you know, dykes not wanting trans people in our spaces, which is absurd,” Rocket said. “Trans dykes are dykes, and so we wanted to ensure that that was explicit throughout all of our values and it’s the most trans-positive set of values to come out of the Dyke March ever. I’m really proud of that.”

The group expects up to 20,000 people to show up at Dolores Park on Saturday.

Rocket estimates the cost of running the march and rally is around $80,000, including the cost of city permits and trash, bathroom and medical services at the park.

The interim steering committee has so far raised nearly $70,000, and will hold a final pre-Pride fundraiser at Moby Dick bar in the Castro on Thursday.

“I’m really excited for the rally in the park,” Rocket said. “That’s my favorite part, is to exhibit our power, our visibility, our art and culture, and our activism from the platform of the stage.”

The rally will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday with music, drag, comedy and speeches.

Performers include East Bay band Skip the Needle, jazz pianist Tammy Hall, comedian Marga Gomez and drag king Leigh Crow. Speakers include Imani Rupert-Gordon, executive director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights in San Francisco; retired San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson, who was the first openly LGBTQ chief of the SFFD; and Franco Stevens, founder of the Curve Foundation and Curve Magazine.

After the rally, the march will leave from and return to Dolores Park.

In August, Dyke March leaders will hold another town hall to roll out a new organizational membership model, and then hold elections for a new board in September.