Calling All Dykes: Take Up Your Space

 

“When LGBTQ+ rights are under attack, what do we do?”

“Show up, fight back!”

“When trans* lives are under attack, what do we do?”

“Show up, fight back!”

““When Indigenous lives are under attack, what do we do?”

“Show up, fight back!”

“When black and brown lives are under attack, what do we do?”

“Show up, fight back!”

“When disabled queers are under attack, what do we do?”

“Show up, fight back!”

 

Our community’s history is rich with protest. Our bodies have come to the front lines for battles rooted in multiple oppressions, aimed at every piece of our identities. Today is no different. The San Francisco Dyke March has marched the streets of this city 27 times and now, the political landscape of our nation more closely resembles the first time we marched rather than the last.  

 

We are being erased from U.S. history - unable to access healthcare, unable to use the bathroom, unable to walk the streets without fear of deportation, incarceration, police murder, or hate crimes.  We are no longer included in the US Census and every day looms with the threat of further roll backs of our rights under the guise of religious freedoms.  The intersections of our Dyke identity are threatened more and more as the days pass.

 

This year, the San Francisco Dyke March is a call to action. Do not mistake it for something else. We’re calling all. Dykes. To show up. To take up your space. To fight against our erasure by being visible in a nation that says there’s no place for us. To be visible in our community. To be visible in our love for one another.

 

This city - built on indigenous land, a sanctuary to the undocumented, to the queers, to those challenging societal norms, to those seeking refuge from hate - is taking a day to focus on us. On Dykes. We’re visible. We’re together. We’re strong. We’re organized. We’re loud. We do not fight oppression alone. We show up en masse. When one of our intersections fall, we show up. We fight back.

 

Each March reminds us that complacency is not an option. Our community with cracks in the foundation but no options for division - we must uplift voices who have been deprioritized over & over again.

 

Dyke is not just a sexual orientation. It’s a political identity. It stands for community. It stands for solidarity. It stands for radical fight. It stands for trans*, black, brown, queer, bisexual, lesbian, disabled, chronically ill, fat, femme, butch, indigenous, gender expansive love. It does not stand by erasure. By displacement. By appropriation. By hate.

 

The San Francisco Dyke March is a call to action. We’re calling all dykes. Each and every one of you - to take up your space and hold it close to you as we hold on for our lives. As we hold on to each other.

 

Say it with me. Dyke. One More Time. Dyke. Calling All Dykes: Take Up Your Space.